"I don’t go out of my way to play tape of the president speaking. Nor do I tend to spend too much time parsing whatever the latest quote is from him. That is not out of any animus on my part, it’s just that the president very frequently says things that aren’t true. He admits that he says things that aren’t true. He calls it, you know, hyperbole, but he lies. And I feel like on this show I’d like you to be able to trust me to give you true information. Because I generally fee...l like I can’t trust what purports to be information from this president, I just try to do the news without words from him, most of the time."
- Rachel Maddow

This was a very dark week in American history. But there was a bright spot: citizen activism. Trump’s baby jails shook America to its core. The American people actively rose up to reject this immoral policy. They marched. They flooded Congress with calls. They raised millions of dollars to help fund legal costs for immigrant families. Even people who normally don’t get involved in politics took the time to make their voices heard.

Trump’s heinous acts awakened a powerful poli...tical force: Empathy. Because Trump and his advisors lack empathy, they didn’t see it coming. They failed to understand that the sight of crying children — and the sound of their anguished cries in a recording released by ProPublica — would unleash powerful waves of profound empathy. Empathy for the children. Empathy for the parents. And outrage at the soulless man who betrays and violates American values on a daily basis.

Frame First.
Divert attention.
Deflect blame.
Float trial balloons.
These are the way Trump tries to control the news cycle. ...
Nearly every action he takes fits the pattern. Know any reporters or editors who need to see it?
(Thanks Chris Morris for creating this GIF)

From Mark Memmott, the Standards and Practices Editor at National Public Radio:

Debunking falsehoods has long been among our standard practices. As we've said:

When There's No Evidence To Support A Claim, We Should Say That

Neutralize Trump's lies with a #TruthSandwich:
1. Start with the truth (if you lead with the lie, you privilege the lie)
2. Note attempt to divert truth (note, rather than amplify, the lie)
3. Return to the truth the lie is designed to hide (don't allow the distraction/diversion to work)

How Trump wages linguistic war on the truth:
1. Lies. Makes false claims knowing the press will repeat them to millions.
2. Weaponized words. Creates catchy names to attack opponents.
3. Salient Exemplars. Uses one example to stereotype entire groups.
4. Hedging. Uses "maybe," "I don't know," or "I'm joking" to evade responsibility for claims.

Cornered by the Russia investigation, Trump is working overtime to twist the facts, the law, and reality in general, to benefit himself. As the indictments and the evidence pile up in favor of a case for Trump-Russia collusion in the 2016 election, he’s made it clear that he considers himself above both the law and the truth.

As president of the United States, anything he says – true or false – is faithfully parroted by the press. This needs to change.

Trump is subjecting Am...erican democracy to a brutal test. Our survival requires that the press halt its unwitting complicity in his power grab. The press has become complicit with Trump by allowing itself to be used as an amplifier for his falsehoods and frames. When the press gives Trump absolute power to dictate coverage, it abdicates its role as a pillar of democracy.

From my interview with Brian Stelter on CNN Reliable Sources:

LAKOFF: One of the things that journalists are trained to do is to repeat and quote what public figures say. But when the public figures are distorting, lying, and trying to reframe things in an utterly false way, what the journalists are doing is helping them. Reporters who simply amplify everything Trump says are part of the problem. . .

Right now, people in the media are doing great work, probably the best work ...I've ever seen in uncovering truths. But what's happened is they've allowed Trump to manipulate them. So... start with the truth that he's trying to hide. You make clear to that, and then you point out that the president is trying to hide this by lying. You might in... a few words or in a few seconds say a little bit about what the lie is. And go back to the truth.

Headlines matter. A lot. We need more reporters and editors to reflect on the effect their work has on our democracy when they repeat Trump's lies.
From Philip Bump at the Washington Post:

Most Americans don’t follow Trump on Twitter but come across his tweets on a regular basis. Many, if not most, Americans also rely heavily on headlines to convey news to them. Meaning that many Americans learn about what Trump says in his tweets through the summaries that appear in headline...s.

In year two of our national nightmare, the press has yet to adapt to the tactics of our propaganda president. In this piece for the Guardian, we lay out four ways the press can do a better job of protecting the truth -- and our freedom:

1. Understand how propaganda works on the brain, and how Trump uses language and lies.

2. Keep a steely focus on the fact that American democracy is under attack.