“Our job is to be truthful; not neutral,” CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour told Tim Adams of The Guardian. 

If you’re as confused as I am about what the Trump administration is doing, here are a few suggestions to help all of us, citizens and journalists alike, to have more clarity. This might help people change policies that are cemented in blame, shame and punishment into policies that help people finally have what they’ve been asking for such as lower consumer prices, better and less costly healthcare, and affordable housing. In other words, healthier communities.

In these times with this administration, it’s clear that the responsible, truth-based media needs to work differently to achieve its goals of providing fact-based news that has more opportunity to be seen and heard by U.S. citizens. Here are four suggestions:

ONE: Create a fact-based news ecosystem

To be successful, news organizations and news influencers (independent non-partisan bloggers, Instagrammers, etc.) can create a fact-based news ecosystem whose entities share information, resources and help each other. 

Obtain funding immediately to hire a small cadre of news, data, graphics and social media editors dedicated to developing a scorecard that tracks all the changes that the Trump administration has implemented and updates them in real time. (A couple of larger organizations have tried a version of this.) The scorecard is presented in an At-A-Glance format: 

–Administration actions with links to administration sources; 

–Whether the action is legal or illegal or uncertain, with link to existing law;

–Consequences, with links to articles (international, national, state, local); 

–Challenges to administration actions with name and link of organization(s) that are working to repair the damage to agencies and people’s lives;

–News organization investigations into action with link to article(s).

This scorecard is searchable and updated in real time. The scorecard isn’t just in one place, but always in a prominent place on every news site and feed of participating organizations. All affiliate organizations contribute and can use the scorecard.

A link is provided to all the news organizations participating, including international, national, state, local and specialty news organizations (e.g., news organizations that cover climate change). Vetting for affiliation can be done by organizations such as The Institute for Nonprofit News and The Poynter Institute.  

Promote this fact-based news ecosystem far and wide, to reach as many people as possible, no matter what their politics. 

TWO: Anticipate the administration’s news

Anticipate Trump administration actions and prepare coverage by having a team that becomes expert in the details of Project 2025, as well as the 180-Day Playbook. This team alerts members of the fact-based news ecosystem and identifies sources and resources for articles.

Identify people who developed Project 2025 who are now working in various parts of the administration, to provide context on how large an effort this has become.

THREE: Regularly cover news that the administration ignores

What the administration isn’t doing is as important as what it’s doing.

At each press conference, reporters that are part of this ecosystem ask questions about an administration healthcare plan (not just changes in Medicare, etc.), a plan to increase affordable housing, a plan to lower consumer prices, a plan to increase the minimum wage, etc. And report regularly—from the news organization’s international, national, state, or local perspective—even if it’s to report that nothing is happening and what the consequences are. This approach will show the public that news organizations have the economic, physical, mental and spiritual health interests of their communities foremost in their minds as they serve their readers and viewers.

FOUR: Create a legal defense fund for news organizations

For those sued by the administration, as well as lawsuits against the administration.

If you have suggestions or questions, I’d love to hear them.