Dialog across difference #5: If it bleeds, it leads: Media and our malinformed citizenry

How can journalists stop contributing to polarization and a growing radicalization of groups across a gap?

Journalist Eve Pearlman and some associates began to acknowledge that problem as evidenced by the drive to readership, or viewership, that occurs somewhat when comments are sought from the most incendiary positional actors and the moderate, rational voices are not dramatic enough to be quoted. They have been trying to develop alternative approaches. 

Historian Heather Cox Richardson points out two reports that help us understand why mainstream media is not only reviled by Trump and his MAGA base, but why that base is so radically misinformed.

She posted: 

"Lauren Aratani of The Guardian reported earlier this week on an exclusive Harris poll showing that 56% of Americans believe incorrectly that the U.S. is in a recession. Those following the stock market are slightly more informed: 49% of them think the S&P stock market index is down for the year. Almost half of those polled—49%—think unemployment is at a 50-year high. Seventy-two percent think inflation is increasing. Fifty-eight percent of those polled blame Biden for mismanaging an economy that is in fact the strongest in the world. 

Tempting as it is to blame the media for its relentless focus on bad news rather than good, a study from NBC News at the end of April showed that those who follow national newspapers and media swing heavily to Biden, while those who either don’t follow politics or get their news from YouTube and social media favor Trump or Robert Kennedy Jr."

The American free press has a long and checkered career. It can exacerbate our "bipolarization disorder," but can also seem quite moderate and valid when compared to the output on social media, which is rarely fact-checked or legitimated by robust citation. It is increasingly important to triangulate sources, and to reference trustworthy data that can shed light on these drivers to deep mistrust of each other.