by Cynthya Gluck (pictured), a reporter at The GroundTruth Project
Journalists could unwittingly cause mass confusion if President Trump falsely declares his own victory, and news outlets rush to repeat it.
Trump has reportedly told aides he will declare victory early tonight if he appears to be “ahead.” The president was quick to deny it, but the concern remains: How should journalists respond if Trump jumps the gun?
“I wouldn’t actually base a headline with his declaration,” said New York Times national security correspondent David E. Sanger in an interview with GroundTruth. “I would headline with the facts. Remember, his declaration has no effective, legally binding value.”
The author of the best-selling-book-turned-HBO-Documentary “The Perfect Weapon,” Sanger wrote that “the most direct threat to the electoral process now comes from the president of the United States himself” following the first presidential debate. During the broadcast Trump said there would be no way the 2020 presidential election would be conducted without fraud, and that he would try to throw any outcome if he was not re-elected.
The Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan says that journalists will have to act against their nature and practice the virtue of patience.
The media columnist writes that any answer that comes Tuesday night or beyond could be “misleading, incomplete or just plain unavailable,” forcing journalists to get comfortable with uncertainty and to explain relentlessly.
In a similar vein, former GroundTruth fellow Matt Negrin, now senior digital producer at The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, is confident that President Donald Trump will claim victory before the final count is in. He has declared his plea for all of his Twitter followers to see: Rather than repeat his lie, “Can we please say ‘Trump FALSELY claims victory’ instead?”
“I know it’s crazy to say, ‘Can you please not cover the President of the United States saying he won the election,’ but if it were me, I wouldn’t,” Negrin said in a Zoom interview.
In The Road to Now’s four-episode special series “Making the Call,” he speaks with Edward-Isaac Dovere, who covers former vice president Joe Biden for The Atlantic, about why he believes Trump will not concede. He also interviews Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro about what journalists need to know in order to prepare for the event in which Trump claims that voter fraud cost him the election.
Versha Sharma, senior correspondent at NowThis News, tweeted in agreement to Negrin’s calls for being precise in the event that Trump gives a fictitious claim to victory. Her newsroom is preparing for what exact language they will use to call out the lie.
Robert Hernandez, associate professor at USC Annenberg, urged broadcast news organizations to not go live to Trump if he lies about the results, asking reporters not to compromise their integrity for a live shot.
This article first appeared in Navigator, GroundTruth’s newsletter for early-career journalists. Reprinted with permission.
