Media for the Common Good

[Celerity]

How better commercial, non-profit, and public media operations can combat tribalism and help Americans solve problems—together.

https://www.liberalpatriot.com/p/media-for-the-common-good

The Pew Research Center, one of the nation’s best non-profit organizations, just released a sobering new report on the dismal state of American politics. Put simply—Americans really dislike the political system, most institutions, and the two major parties. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they always or often feel “exhausted” thinking about politics these days, and another 55 percent say politics makes them feel “angry”. A mere one tenth of Americans feel “hopeful” when thinking about politics and less than five percent say they get “excited” thinking about politics.



Only four percent of Americans believe the political system is working extremely or very well and more than 60 percent express little confidence in the future of the political system. Pew also reports that majorities of Americans view both parties unfavorably, and nearly three in ten Americans now hold unfavorable views of both political parties—the largest percentage in three decades of tracking on this measure. Consequently, nearly seven in ten Americans say they “often wish there were more political parties to choose from” in our system. The emotional see-saw on politics is tilted entirely towards the negative. Clearly the U.S. political system and the two major parties are not delivering for those who aren’t diehard partisans. And as last week’s column highlighted, the overwhelming sentiment among opposing partisans is one of extreme hatred of the other side.



Deep disaffection from politics coupled with high partisan animosity is not a recipe for long-term success for the American project. So what can be done to improve the situation? For starters, we need better media operations—of all kinds. We know people can be tribal about politics and other identity-based traits. We also know that Americans weren’t less tribal in the early nineties than they are today. Someone or something had to exploit these human weaknesses and stoke “us versus them” divisions. That something is the media—along with political institutions (to be examined next week). The media business of politics—radio, cable, podcasts, social media, online video, newsletters, email solicitations, paid advertising—is little more than 24-7 pumping of partisan vitriol, anger-inducing stories, and often biased coverage of arguments based on the interests of specific leaders and movements aligned with the respective parties.

Not surprisingly given the context, many committed Republicans and Democrats have a hard time seeing fellow human beings on the other side of the partisan divide and are unwilling to give the opposition any hearing whatsoever. Other less partisan Americans have responded by tuning out from politics altogether to avoid the madness. Despite some excellent journalism from many mainstream and ideologically-aligned news outlets, Americans themselves have mostly concluded that little of substance or use to the country gets regularly featured by the media and politics writ large. For example, in the new Pew research study, nearly eight in ten Americans say there is too little attention paid to important issues facing the country these days, and roughly two-thirds of Americans feel that way about policies that local elected or national officials are working on. In contrast, nearly six in ten say there is too much attention paid to disagreements between Republicans and Democrats.



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