Dear newsrooms: Have more conversations about practicing journalism to inform, not inflame

This is republished from my Feb. 5, 2025 LinkedIn story.

Five days, 550+ reactions, 130+ comments and 59 reposts later, I have observed three things from my viral-for-me post:

• No one wants journalists to stop covering presidential press conferences.

• People with good-intentioned critiques of journalism are not anti-journalist or anti-journalism.

• We need to have more critical and constructive conversations about journalism and how it's practiced.

Here's the backstory: On Friday, Feb. 3, I wrote about the way some national media outlets covered the president's press conference on the tragic plane and helicopter crash in Washington, D.C.

I shared an image of a roundup of headlines about how the president said it was DEI — the concepts of diversity, equity and inclusion — that probably led to the accident. He said this was his opinion, without evidence.

My post centered on why national news outlets should reevaluate how they handle harmful and coded rhetoric like this. I offered an idea to innovate.

We know from past pressers that these events are unpredictable. Yet, most outlets are using their standard operating system to cover them.

We are in an unprecedented news cycle navigating alarming political developments seemingly every few minutes. It is a good time for journalism to err on the side of minimizing harm for the sake of our shaken democracy.

I suggested that organizations post a full transcript of the event with an editor's note saying an analysis will follow soon after. Headline: "Trump press conference on DC plane crash: full transcript."

This would satisfy the need to report on the event, offer transparency into the journalism process, and give journalists time to vet the information.

I immediately received lots of positive emoji reactions to the idea. The dozens of reposts show people agree they would welcome a change.

In the comments, many also were open to the idea.

People asked good questions about audience engagement on a transcript versus a story (I say, don't make assumptions about audience behaviors and why not try it? You could still get traffic with good SEO).

Some said they appreciated the current stories because they revealed what was said at the press conference.

Overall, I found it heartening to read how people on LinkedIn engage with journalism and want to see it evolve and serve communities in ways that inform, not inflame.

I appreciated this comment from Cassie M. Chew, who shouted out NBC4 Washington for cutting to the press conference live, but then not continuing "to report the unsubstantiated remarks." Instead, the station continued coverage about the accident.

So it can be done!

The takeaway for news leaders is this: In these unprecedented times, have more conversations about what we do and how we do it. Convene with your own journalists, other industry leaders and your audiences. Don't be afraid to modify the standard approach and try something new.

You might be surprised by the results.