2020 is The Year of Truth, and Truth can’t be protected unless the fourth estate is doing its job.

We are calling upon the news outlets and the Associated Press to ensure that all election coverage is given the gravity it deserves by:

1. Do not repeat baseless claims of voter fraud.

2. Reject coverage that fuels partisanship, hate and violence.

3. Cover and confront Trump’s attempts to derail the election directly. Don’t default to “both-sides” framing.

4. Support and amplify local-news reporting on voter-suppression tactics.

What is at stake is more than just the election; more even than the integrity of the democratic structures we rely upon to guide a free society. In a country where police murder Black peoplewith impunity, and the President empowers those murders both explicitly and implicitly, our lives are on the line.