This week the presidential election that the world has had a close eye on has a more prominent fore runner and has caused some journalist to jump the gun.

It’s an old, tried and true standard. Before publishing anything, check. Double check. And check again. And don’t make overarching statements without facts.

Before publishing anything, check. Double check. And check again.

It’s pretty simple, but somehow in haste or carelessness, some journalists have missed the boat this presidential election season.

For example, Nate Cohn of the New York Times pretty much counted Donald Trump out of the running towards the beginning of the election. He since has retracted his statements giving a more explicated analysis with factual evidence.

Back in July, even Buzzfeed dubbed Trump’s campaign as a “performance art” due to his entertainment background and the sentiments of the beginnings of his operation.

What about declaring his campaign as an entertainment section for your entire company. Well, the Huffington Post did that back in August. Look where we are now.

Trump’s election campaign may strike a much different chord than traditional campaigns and that new chord may have caused a new tune to the search for the next president. But how should journalists respond to this change in tune?

Quick, distasteful statements? No. What code of journalism would ever allow that?

Journalists need to continue to do their job in a truthful, accurate way. They need to respond in a way that doesn’t encourage the craziness. Sure, use the lingo of the campaign, but don’t sacrifice good journalism just to play into the circus.

As election season continues to heat up, I sure hope journalists will stick with what they know, stay classy and continue to do their job—fairly and accurately deliver the news.

Photo Credits: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/06/business/media/the-republican-horse-race-is-over-and-journalism-lost.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003&_r=0