To the Election Journalists Doing it Right

This post won’t get a lot of likes. Heck, it might not even get one.But journalists were never supposed to write for praise, anyway. They're meant to publish and broadcast what is important and true, even when it’s not popular.So I’m writing to tip my hat to those journalists—reporters, editors, producers and publishers—who, for the past 18 months, have tried their hardest to deliver fair, clear election information to the citizens of the United States.Who, despite working ten or more hours some days trying to fact-check, have been called “dishonest” and “liars” by members of multiple political affiliations.Whose reporter notebooks are filled with quotes, statistics and websites jotted down merely because they might impact someone’s life.Who will host pizza parties in their newsrooms just so their reporters don’t approach the ethics border by partaking of the food at election watch parties.Who walk in the footsteps of Murrow and Cronkite, of Tarbell and Hemingway, and of Woodward and Bernstein.Who refused gifts from candidates.Who resisted the influence of advertising or subscription revenue so their news coverage could remain pure.Who have tried to get to the meat of each candidate's policy rather than just relaying flamboyant rhetoric.Who removed themselves from a story when they felt they may have had a conflict of interest—either real or perceived.Who agonized over one word in a sentence or headline to make sure it was as impartial and accurate as linguistically possible.Who chose their profession because of its element of civil service.Who take the responsibility as an honor.Who cringe when others in their profession fall short of that responsibility.Who hold The Journalist’s Creed and the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics close to their hearts.Who, like Thomas Jefferson, believe that if they had to choose between “a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government,” they would not hesitate a moment to choose the latter.Who still believe, like John Adams argued when defending the unpopular Redcoats in the 1770 Boston Massacre trials, that “facts are stubborn things,” and that despite “our wishes, our inclinations and the dictates of our passions,” those facts cannot and should not be denied.Who care about the future of journalism because they care about the Constitution and its purpose.You know who you are—you are the ones holding others’ feet to the fire. Your words matter to the world.There is plenty to be done to improve the field of journalism (that essay might be my next).But in this moment, I say “thank you” and hope this post helps you stand a little taller on this important day. I’ll be listening, watching, and reading well into Election Night, and you have my gratitude.(A special thank you to the journalists who mentored and influenced me as a political reporter, including Missy Shelton Belote, Phil Brooks, Mike Smith, Charles Davis, the late Stuart Loory and many others. I'm sitting this election out while I finish my Master's Degree, but have enjoyed cheering--and critiquing--from the sidelines).