News Fix #52: Reporting without a net

I'm back with your weekly news fix, and I'm happy we're in this together. If you're new here, welcome! Get in touch anytime; I would love to hear from you.

Since the Supreme Court rolled back the Voting Rights Act in April I've been struggling to articulate why I have felt this particular blow to our democracy so deeply. There are, unfortunately, many blows to our democracy to choose from.

The death of the Voting Rights Act stands apart, however, because it begets structural changes across the country that target the mechanics of multiracial democracy and government responsiveness writ large. This is not a decision that can be easily undone by a different President or a different Congress.

I came to news as a second career, after working in civil rights, among other things. I didn't understand the big picture mechanics of news; how we decide what “news” means, what it is supposed to do in the world, and how we know if its working. Answers were not easy to find.

We have so few frameworks of our own in news to guide our work or increase its efficacy. Instead, we rely on the laws of this country to do some of this heavy lifting. Civil rights laws give those of us in news some fundamental framing for our work. These laws define vulnerability, discrimination, harm, and what fairness and democracy look like.

Most importantly the Voting Rights Act in particular made local government more accountable to more local people. It made it more possible that ordinary people, acting on reported and verified information, could hold officials accountable.

I hope you'll read this piece I wrote for you. It's about how news and the Voting Rights Act became so intertwined in the first place, why it mattered so much for accountability, and how reporters across the country are trying to create impact in the absence of responsive officials and systems.

If you think these ideas will spark conversations worth having please share the piece. I really would appreciate it.

Thank you to Adrienne Johnson Martin, Joseph Jaafari, Nicole Lewis and Nik Usher for allowing me to interview you, and to Carla Murphy for editing help.

Until next week, take care.