LETTER: We (Still) Have Her Back

To: News Division Heads, Editors in Chiefs, Bureau Chiefs, Political Directors, Editors, Producers, Reporters, and Anchors

From: Fatima Goss Graves, Kiara Pesante Haughton (National Women’s Law Center Action Fund), Jessica Mackler, Christina Reynolds (EMILYs List), A’shanti F. Gholar (Emerge), Ai-jen Poo (Care in Action), Melanie L. Campbell (Power of the Ballot Action Fund), Teresa Romero (United Farm Workers), Jacqueline Ayers, Alexis McGill Johnson, Melanie Roussell Newman (Planned Parenthood Action Fund), Amanda Litman (Run for Something), Alencia Johnson (1063 West Broad), Leah D. Daughtry (Power Rising Action Fund), Jocelyn Frye (National Partnership for Women and Families Action Fund), Stefanie Brown James (The Collective PAC), Bel Leong-Hong (AAPI Victory Fund), Sulma Arias (People’s Action), Rebecca Pringle, Kim Anderson (National Education Association), April Verrett (SEIU), Mini Timmaraju (Reproductive Freedom for All), Michelle Ringuette, Randi Weingarten (American Federation of Teachers), Lorella Praeli (Community Change Action), Gwen Mills (UNITE HERE), Liz Shuler (AFL-CIO), Anathea Chino (Advance Native Political Leadership), Jenna Arnold, Tina Tchen, Ashley Allison, Ilyse Hogue, Maria Teresa Kumar, Maya Wiley, Donna Brazile.

Re: NEWS COVERAGE FOR THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

We write to you as the nation nears the historic moment when Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the Democratic nominee for President. This milestone follows months of political tumult and comes with fewer than 100 days on the calendar before Election Day. This election cycle is truly unprecedented, and the quality of your coverage matters more than ever. 

Vice President Harris will become just the second woman to earn a major party’s nomination for President and the fourth woman to appear on a major party ticket in U.S. history. She also becomes only the second person of color– and the first woman of color– to top a Republican or Democratic presidential ticket.  

Four years ago, we saw these same attacks following the age-old playbook, and many individuals and organizations came together to ask the media to report responsibly in a letter called “We Have Her Back.” Today, this urgency is even greater, the stakes are higher. That is why individuals and organizations representing a broad set of issues have come together to respectfully call on you and your newsrooms to double-down on equitable reporting of Harris, and specifically, a commitment to being anti-racist and anti-sexist in your coverage of her. 

Women – and women candidates – are subject to toxic and misogynistic standards that are often perpetuated in public and by the media. Stereotypes and tropes centered around diminishing the qualifications, leadership, looks, relationships, and experience of women candidates for office are always part and parcel with her campaign. This is exacerbated for women of color. 

We have already seen this playing out in the week since Vice President Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee. We have seen dramatic spikes in misinformation on social media and recycled toxic narratives and falsehoods about her appearing in news coverage, often going unquestioned or inadequately contextualized. We implore you to take extra care not to repeat the lies and misogynistic narratives being hurled at an incredibly accomplished and qualified candidate. Misguided pieces that ignore her record and repeat sexist and/or racist attacks do a grave disservice to the American people and only contribute to the growing division. Your coverage of all candidates should be grounded in the merits of their records and their rhetoric and actions on the campaign trail – it must not perpetuate misinformation and falsehoods. 

Already we have seen media coverage that has normalized misogynistic, racist, and toxic discourse, contributing to harmful stereotypes and creating an unequal playing field on which women and candidates/leaders of color must overcome outsized obstacles. By raising awareness, we implore you to avoid perpetuating these narratives. For example:

• Reporting on doubts women may not be qualified leaders even when they have experience equal to or exceeding men leaders.
• Reporting on other candidates’ racist and/or sexist comments about women of color candidates without properly contextualizing and calling out that commentary as false, racist, or sexist. Do not merely refer to these comments as “harsh” or “tough” or “what some may call racist” – you must name it in plain language. 
• Reporting on a woman’s ambition as though the very nature of seeking political office, or any higher job for that matter, is not a mission of ambition.
• Relationships with partners, staff, colleagues and donors are characterized differently if the woman is not seen as subservient or supportive.
• Reporting on whether a woman is liked (a subjective metric at best) as though it is news when the “likeability” of men is never considered a legitimate news story.
• Reporting, even as asides in a story, on a woman’s looks, weight, tone of voice, attractiveness and hair is sexist news coverage unless the same analysis is applied to every candidate.
• Reporting on rumored or confirmed past romantic relationships, as if they have bearing on the candidate’s policy or executive experience. 
• Reporting on questions of electability of women is, in itself, a perpetuation of a stereotype about the ability of women to lead.
• Reporting on the heritage of Black women or women of color that perpetuates a misunderstanding about who is “legitimately” American.
• Reporting on and using pictures of a woman’s, particularly Black women’s, show of anger at injustice or any other kind of passion in communication perpetuates racist and sexist tropes that unfairly suggest that women are too emotional or irrational in their leadership – or worse, “hate America”.

These examples are not all encompassing or comprehensive – there is more that women and especially women of color must endure. As arbiters of news and opinion, we look to you to cover Vice President Harris – and women candidates up and down the ballot – fairly and with clear consciousness to avoid fueling the systemic biases we know they face. 

Count us as a resource in this effort. Our doors are open to you to have discussions and engage on the issues. Because again, we expect better than the double standards we’ve seen to date. We will continue to collectively and individually monitor ongoing coverage and bring attention to those we believe take our country backwards with sexist and/or racist coverage.

We believe in the tremendous power of your newsrooms and the vital societal role that news media hold in our democracy. The words you publish today affect the safety and prosperity of communities tomorrow. It is up to you to meet this moment; your great institutions, the ideals you serve, the American people, and our great country, deserve no less.

Thank you.