Democracy is eroding worldwide, according to numerous indices. U.S. democracy has been on a downward trend since 2010 – years before former President Donald Trump took office, according to Protect Democracy’s Director of Policy Communications Aaron Baird. But journalism is key to a functioning democracy and how we cover this historic moment is critical. [Transcript | Video]

4 takeaways:

➀ “Separate the real authoritarian threats from the political noise,” Baird told Paul Miller fellows.  Specifically for journalists, Protect Democracy’s The Authoritarian Playbook outlines seven tactics used by aspiring authoritarians:

1. Politicizing independent institutions
2. Spreading disinformation
3. Aggrandizing executive power
4. Weakening checks and balances
5. Quashing criticism or dissent
6. Corrupting elections
7. Stoking violence

“Keep in mind that the seven tactics we cover don’t happen in isolation. They are dynamic and they interact and they build on each other,” Baird said. Knowing what makes a real authoritarian threat can help journalists contextualize coverage better for the public.

➁ “It’s not biased to say a duck is a duck,” Baird said. “Being unbiased doesn’t mean don’t take context into account and it doesn’t mean don’t draw conclusions about what’s happening.”

But not every bird is a duck, he acknowledged. “Not every … contentious political event is a fire alarm threat to democracy.” Journalists must be able to distinguish between the food fights and the real threats to democracy, because covering noisy politics can prevent the public from understand what’s really happening, he said. “It risks desensitizing us to the very things we need to be most sensitive to keep our democracy healthy.”

➂ Is it systemic? And other questions to ask. Look at whether the authoritarian risk to democracy is systemic, Baird said. Ask yourself if this serves to consolidate power? Is the individual acting alone? How do their allies respond? Authoritarian moves that are supported by institutions or political parties are much bigger threats than moves taken by individual actors alone. For example, Donald Trump’s ongoing efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “While Trump’s individual efforts to undermine the election, were dangerous in and of themselves and checked a lot of the boxes we’re talking about, the large number of Republican members of Congress who voted against certifying the election, many of whom are now running on the lie that it was stolen, represent an even more severe risk.”

Other key questions in the framework of distinguishing between events include:

• How significantly does this deviate from modern precedent?
• With what frequency or degree is this happening?

➃ Report on legislation affecting elections.  As one of the seven tactics of an authoritarian, corrupted elections are one of the biggest threats to democracy in the United States, Baird said. Some lawmakers have attempted to change voting regulations, most of which would introduce fear, doubt and error into elections. “You’ve got several hundred different pieces of legislation that do everything from impose more severe criminal penalties on election administrators for making what some might consider good faith mistakes, ranging to putting in place mechanisms that could overturn the results of elections that one party didn’t like.” Read reports and use Voter Right’s Lab’s State Voting Rights Tracker to review pending and current legislation in 50 states and Washington, D.C.

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