Better News: WITF uses democracy beat to restore trust and push back against political rhetoric

WITF, the NPR station in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania recently started a democracy beat as a way to build trust, counter misinformation and tamp down political rhetoric.

Special projects editor Tim Lambert oversees the democracy beat and Scott Blanchard is WITF's director of journalism. They talk to Better News podcast host Michael O'Connell about the origins of the democracy beat and how this new approach impacts the station's election coverage.

Read the report Tim Lambert wrote Better News: How WITF is using democracy reporting to build trust and tamp down political rhetoric.

The Better News podcast is a partnership between It’s All Journalism and the American Press Institute to a) showcase innovative/experimental ideas that emerge from the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund and b) share replicable strategies and tactics that benefit the news industry as a whole. Sign up for the Better News newsletter to receive news about the latest resources, case studies, and insights. For more news about the IAJ podcast, sign up for the weekly IAJ newsletter.

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