In Reality
“In Reality” debunks fake news and elevates the innovative researchers, entrepreneurs, journalists and policymakers who are fighting back against toxic misinformation. Co-hosts Joan Donovan, research director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media and Public Policy, and Eric Schurenberg, an award-winning journalist and former CEO of Fast Company, engage guests in enlightening conversations about solutions to this scourge and the path back to a shared reality.
In Reality
What Really Works To Bridge Political Divides with 'Our Common Bonds' Author Matthew Levendusky
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Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, longtime media executive, and now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.
If you've listened to this podcast more than once, you've likely heard a recurring question: What would it take to get Americans over their political alienation? Would it help to clean up and diversify our media diets? Would it help to understand where the other side is coming from?
Today's guest thinks the answer might be to emphasize all we have in common as Americans, as neighbors, as friends. More important than the theory, perhaps, is that he actually tested this hypothesis in the field. Matthew Lewandusky is a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Our Common Bonds. Through a series of experiments described in the book, he tested whether reminding us of what we have in common, friendships,
Sports teams, patriotism, can reduce the instinct to demonize fellow citizens. Some approaches work well, others hardly at all. His findings are especially interesting to me because they're closely related to an Alliance for Trust project in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, exploring whether shared local history can help bridge political divides. So today, as we brace for the 250th anniversary of the nation's founding.
Let's dive into the power of our common bonds...
Website - free episode transcripts
www.in-reality.fm
Alliance for Trust in Media
alliancefortrust.com