Today's trust tip: Our new free elections training arrives in text messages

Hi there. Mollie here.

There are 42 days until Election Day. How ready do you feel to explain and defend your coverage?

We know it’s been a challenge to plan for the elections amidst all the other breaking news happening in 2020. But if you’re a journalist who is working hard to be a reliable source for your community during this election season, don’t let your work be discarded as part of “the media.” Instead, defend your coverage, explain it, and demonstrate to your audience why you’re a credible source.

We at Trusting News want to help support you in doing this crucial work in as many ways as we can. That’s why we’re excited to share a new resource with you all — a FREE SMS course with tips for earning trust with elections coverage. 

Through the 10-day course, you’ll learn about common misassumptions people make about your journalism and how you can defend your credibility and earn trust with your audience as you cover local and national elections. 

The course includes tips and resources on topics like: 

• Defending your work
• Telling your own story
• Meaningfully engaging with users
• Getting credit for the ethics and fairness behind your coverage 

You can sign up for the course here. You pick the time, and you’ll automatically get one text every day that includes additional resources and examples. (Hurray for not having another Zoom call on your calendar!)

More elections resources:  

• NEW // GET EXTRA STAFFING! Our partners at Election SOS have just launched a fellowship program. Your newsroom can apply to get extra help for the next couple of months in the form of a college student or recent grad. It's free! Learn more here, and apply by Sept. 29.
• With our partners at API’s Trusted Elections Network, we conducted a 15-minute webinar on tips for earning trust with elections coverage. In the mini webinar, Lynn Walsh and Joy Mayer share tips for how to defend your election coverage if its credibility is questioned, explain your ethics, sourcing and processes to your audience. You can watch the replay here. 
• We also have dozens of examples of how other newsrooms we work with are showing transparency and earning trust through their elections coverage. See those here.

Trusting News aims to demystify trust in news and empower journalists to take responsibility for actively demonstrating credibility and earning trust. It is a project of the Reynolds Journalism Institute and the American Press Institute.