The real problem with coverage of the mid-term elections this year is not how journalists should approach election coverage this year compared to four years ago but whether there are enough journalists to actually cover this year’s elections. While this might seem like hyperbole the truth is the number of local news organizations have declined precipitously in the last four years.

Many communities across the country no longer have any local news coverage: there are news deserts everywhere meaning there are entire Congressional districts that are not receiving any coverage of the campaigns.

Even those local districts that have news organizations present are dealing with so many cutbacks that there are not enough journalists to adequately cover the races meaning one reporter might have to cover multiple races. So the real question is not what the journalists should do to cover this year’s elections but what the public needs to do to keep informed.

That said, some of the national outlets like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Politico, Axios, the television networks and cable news are doing yeoman’s work in thoroughly covering the mid-terms. The problem is that most of the coverage is national and not local.

Newsrooms have always had to balance the urgency of getting the news out with the responsibility of making sure what they report is accurate. This is particularly true these days with the growth of artificial intelligence and stories that go viral that may or may not be true.

Journalists should remember that it still is more important to get it right than to get it first. As a result, fact-checking has become more important than it has ever been and newsrooms must devote more resources to ensuring accuracy before reporting any story.

If you have a robust fact-checking system than fewer stories will contain claims that turn out to be inaccurate or untrue. Journalists have a major responsibility to correct any errors promptly and completely. This is particularly true in a campaign setting where false allegations fly more frequently than Kyle Schwarber home runs.

The role of a journalists is to tell their readers and viewers what they know to be accurate, what they know to be inaccurate and what they are unsure of so the public can be adequately informed before they vote.

I’ve asked all my students to profile each of the candidates they are covering. I’m hopeful that every candidate in every district in a local community is profiled so that voters have an ability to at least know about the candidate the three Ps: personal, professional and political information that will inform their votes.  At the very least I’m hopeful that every voter knows at least that much about each candidate before they vote.