Guides for Reporters

Regularly updated guides to assist reporters. Here is the first guide. Click here to download it as a available as a PDF.

GOAL: To accurately report on local extremists, their beliefs, tactics, and aims, without amplifying their messaging, or allowing ring leaders to use the media (that’s you) as an advertising tool.

Repetition can be a powerful recruitment tool, which means, your reporting can become promotional if you are not careful.

CHALLENGES

  • Many extremist groups are skilled at seeking out media attention through disruptive rallies, speaking events, and activism that help them push fringe narratives into the mainstream.

  • Journalists can be reluctant to call out racism, xenophobia and homophobia for fear of being labeled as biased.

  • Storytelling favors characters; but treating leading advocates of hate in the same way we treat other sources can implicate us.

Inform, but don’t become a tool for extremists.

WHEN INTRODUCING HATE GROUPS

DO:

  • Offer precise descriptions of their belief systems, their organizing activities, and their ultimate goals.

  • Include historical background. Explain where and how they fit into the larger picture of extremism.

  • Give voice to experts, academics and researchers who can define individual hate groups and their goals, and explain why they are a threat to democracy and poisonous to communities.

DON’T:

  • Repeat the self-descriptive language extremist group leaders come up with to advocate for their goals. (Avoid misleading terms like: traditional values, pro-family, freedom-loving, etc.)

  • Adopt the derisive language group leaders use to talk about supporters of democracy and their efforts to promote inclusivity (i.e. Don’t embolden extremists by repeating fabricated terms like “cancel culture,” “the woke agenda,” “politically correct,” etc.)

WHEN CHOOSING THE NARRATIVE

DO:

  • Focus on process stories that outline extremist organizing tactics, and contextualize these groups inside the larger right-wing ecosystem.

  • Highlight ways these groups influence policies and impact public opinion through their activism.

  • Write stories about actual people who have been impacted by local hate groups.

  • Feature:

    • Victims.

    • Organizations and leaders who are actively opposing hate groups on your beat.

    • Political networks, public officials and allegedly mainstream leaders who support these groups via funding/sponsorships, training, and/or collaborations.

DO NOT:

  • Get seduced by the charismatic nature of extremist leaders, who are often catapulted into the spotlight because of their media skills.

  • Cover rallies or report on upcoming events, using the language extremist groups provide. (That language is intended to use the media as an advertising tool.)

  • Write long features that glorify, glamorize or sympathize with hate-group leaders. Instead, focus on the ripple effect. Write those features about people on your beat who have been impacted by extremism.

  • Practice wishful thinking by writing stories about hate groups on the decline, when all indicators suggest they are on the rise.

WHEN CHOOSING YOUR LANGUAGE

DO:

  • Call a spade a spade. Get comfortable calling out racism, white nationalism, Christian nationalism, and xenophobia. That’s not editorializing. That’s being truthful.

DO NOT:

  • Be afraid to use the term “hate group.”

  • Use language that lionizes or glamorizes hate group leaders.

STAYING SAFE

DO:

  • Understand that these groups are inherently violent.

  • Keep your personal and family information off the web.

  • Use encrypted emails and avoid using personal accounts.

  • Be judicious about emails and texts. (Assume they will be used against you.)

  • Make wise decisions about whether or not to attend meetings, events, gatherings or interviews alone.

  • Inform the authorities if you are being threatened or harassed.

For Inquiries, Contact Kyle

KyleSpencerdemocracy@proton.me

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Learn about Kyle HERE.