Updates From Our CEO
An Update from Kyle
Fall 2026
This summer, The Pro-Democracy Information Lab asked journalists from around the country whether they were getting the support they needed to cover extremism and the rise of political violence on the state and local level.
It’s a training gap we’ve been working to fill with nonpartisan workshops, reporting guides, and one-on-one coaching, ever since I launched The Pro-Democracy Information Lab in early 2024.
But I wanted to know: Were we doing enough?
To get an initial sense of the answer, one that could inform our next steps (and allow us to move forward quickly), we conducted a small survey of geographically diverse reporters. We’re still collecting and analyzing the results and I will have much more to share soon—including news about an ambitious national training program we’re building from what we learn.
But because you are one of the people who has both followed and supported our work, I wanted to give you an early look at what we are discovering. I think it may surprise you.
Covering Extremism Survey
(Preliminary Findings*)
Nearly three quarters of the local reporters we surveyed— including education reporters, culture reporters, and health and science reporters — told us that covering political extremism has become part of their job.
More than half said they are not being adequately prepared to cover political extremism. They report struggling with how to inform communities about local extremist actors without amplifying their messages, how to identify trustworthy sources, and how to cover political violence without becoming targets themselves.
Nine out of ten identified specific areas where they need help. Top areas: election denialism, extremism in schools, Christian Nationalism, and extremist influences in local government.
*Preliminary findings based on responses from local reporters surveyed online and at the 2026 Investigative Reporters and Editors Conference. This is a small sample, but one that represents a geographically diverse group of particularly engaged practitioners. We are continuing the survey and currently organizing a focus group to obtain more detailed accounts.
What Next
These preliminary findings are offering us a clearer picture of something we’ve suspected for a while. We need to do more to reach more journalists in more newsrooms with our trainings.
So, later this year, we will be launching Covering Political Extremism, a scaleable journalism boot camp that brings together what we’ve developed over the past two years (through our online and in-person workshops) and our findings about what reporters and editors say their newsrooms need most.
Our plan is to codify our curriculum, develop standardized teaching materials, and create a model that can transform what has been a successful, hands-on initiative into a national nonpartisan coaching program with the capacity to reach journalists everywhere. A main goal will be to build on existing relationships with other journalism support orgs, newsrooms, and news associations to maximize our impact inside the journalism community.
I’ll be sharing more about our progress soon.
In the next few months, look out for:
Findings from our journalism focus group. We'll be gathering a group of journalists together to build on our survey findings and help us refine our curriculum.
News from our extremism convening. We'll be bringing together extremism experts and journalism educators to review what we’re developing and help us fine-tune our instructional design.
And what can you do?
We are still in the early stages of building out this training. So, please reach out with suggestions, ideas or the names of people you think we should be talking to.
Many of you have already helped greatly in shaping the work we are doing. So, keep the ideas coming!
ln the meantime, I’ll keep you posted as the program takes shape.
Thank you for believing in this work and helping make it possible.
Have a wonderful fall.
Regards,
Kyle Spencer
CEO
The Pro-Democracy Information Lab