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Hi friends,

Due to the overwhelming and tragic events of the past 24 hours, today’s newsletter largely focuses on Russia’s attacks on Ukraine. News coverage has a long history of impacting the outcomes of war and international conflict (for more on that, I recommend this book) so this is a story we’ll surely be following in future issues.

As always, we welcome your feedback, questions, and suggestions. Find us on Twitter or just reply to this email with your thoughts.

Be well,
Aubrey Nagle
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Headline Check ✅

Here we analyze and reframe a news headline to demonstrate how this important real estate can be optimized for user experience.

Sanctions that the U.S. imposed on Russia in an attempt to avoid a full invasion of Ukraine made headlines earlier this week. The tweet accompanying the above headline from CBS News was critiqued for blaming ongoing economic issues on these relatively new sanctions — a specious argument that doesn’t even really reflect the story inside. But the headline does something else harmful: erasing Russia’s actions from the narrative.

The conflict is not just a “Ukraine crisis” and naming only Ukraine in headlines unduly places blame on the victims of Russian aggression. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the problem and headlines and reporting should be sure not to elide Russia’s actions and antagonism. The New York Times headline on the same topic below does this well.

One Good Tweet 🐥

It’s just what it sounds like: a good Tweet that we think everyone should see!

On Tuesday, Texas governor Greg Abbott sent a letter directing the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services “to conduct prompt and thorough investigations of any reported instances of Texas children being subjected to abusive gender-transitioning procedures.” Journalist Vivian McCall’s thread on the announcement is a must-read; she explains how politics-as-a-game coverage has led to such a terrifying moment for trans Texans.

A Link to Make You Think 🤔

Our must-read of the week.

The increasingly complicated Russia-Ukraine crisis, explained

The 24/7 news cycle often means that individual articles and broadcasts frame updates to ongoing stories in a way that assumes the audience is keeping up with every daily brief. But not everyone has the time to do that. That’s why explainers on complex stories like Russia’s attacks on Ukraine are necessary for news organizations to highlight and amplify. Vox has kept a running list of updates in a timeline format that is helpful for those trying to catch up.

Questions with Answers 📫

Each week we’ll seek to answer a question facing the news industry about language, style, or framing — including answering questions sent to our inbox! Need advice? Send a note to reframe@resolvephilly.org and your question could be featured in a future issue.

Question: When will/can journalists describe the attacks Russia has begun on Ukraine as a “war”?

Answer: This is a question with many answers that’s surely being discussed in newsrooms around the world today. When breaking news unfolds before our eyes, newsrooms do their best to keep up with accurate descriptions of events at hand. But, in cases where caution is required and an inaccurate descriptor might be read (perhaps in bad faith) as sensationalist or overdramatic, you may see reporters and editors rely on quotes from institutional voices to determine language choices like these. For instance, today many mainstream U.S. news headlines and articles refer to the attacks of the past day as a “large-scale” or “full-scale” invasion via quotes from defense officials.

War is loosely defined as armed conflict between groups or nations, but it’s possible that many outlets hold back on using “war” to describe current events unless an official declaration is made by a country involved (despite Vladimir Putin’s latest speech which stopped just short of such a decree). Though some outlets like the Guardian and USA Today have reported that Russia has “declared war” and earlier this week some stated Ukraine is bracing for “war” and that the U.S. is preparing for “war refugees,” I predict many U.S. outlets will refrain from calling these attacks “war” until either a high ranking U.S. official uses the term and thus can be quoted, or public discourse makes avoiding the term untenable.