top of page

What You Can Do to Help Bridge the Political Divide

and Get Factual Information

 

Bridging the Political Divide

Truly Listen

  • Purpose is not to persuade or achieve agreement; rather, the goal is to understand the other person and why they believe what they believe

  • Be open, receptive, and curious… and don’t interrupt

  • Resist the urge to think of what you want to say while person is talking

  • Ask “why” questions about their belief/position to seek understanding vs. launching into argument to change their mind

  • Ask about their experiences and the sources of their information

 

Respect Others’ Beliefs

  • We all come to our beliefs and values based on our faith, experiences, and perceptions

  • Unless espoused for malicious or self-serving reasons, these beliefs and values are not “wrong”; nor are they “right”… if they are sincerely held, deserve to be respected

  • Moral/religious beliefs are deeply held and very hard to change – part of who we are

  • Often takes a new experience to change a core belief (e.g., find out best friend is gay)

  • People we disagree with are not evil, un-American, or stupid… and we must stop demonizing them

 

Understand Politics and Governing

  • A functional political process works to reconcile our differing beliefs and values by compromising and reaching consensus

  • Issues are neither Democratic or Republican and there is no “right” way to address them

  • With so many constituencies, legislating and governing is not easy

  • Effective governing requires people acting in good faith and willing to compromise… everyone gets something, no one gets everything

 

Challenge Yourself – Be Curious

  • Get out of your echo chamber – regularly turn to news sources that challenge your beliefs/opinions

  • When you read or hear something that contradicts what you believe, don’t avoid the discomfort… push yourself to keep reading/listening to learn and, perhaps, think differently

  • Be aware of your biases (good read)

  • Changing your position on an issue a flaw – new information and experiences cause you to reconsider your beliefs

  • Invest time to identify credible sources to obtain facts and come to a well-informed position

​

Finding Reputable Information

Fake news is information deliberately fabricated and published with the intention to

deceive and mislead others into believing falsehoods or doubting verifiable facts.

~ Ethical Journalism Network

 

Spotting Misleading and Biased Information

  • Most important, fake news is not necessarily something you disagree with

  • Consider the motive of author – inform, persuade (if appealing to emotions, be skeptical and verify), entertain, spur to act

  • Think through, step by step, what would have to happen for assertion to be true (e.g., rigging 2020 election)

  • Verify the source is reputable by typing into Google the name of the source followed by the word “bias”

  • Check the credentials of the author

  • Fact check using Snopes.com, FactCheck.org, or Media Bias/Fact Check.com

  • Information on how to check if an image or video is real

  • Some of the least biased news sources – Axios, BBC, Forbes, NewsNation, Newsweek, Reuters, Real Clear Politics, The Hill, Wall Street Journal News (vs. opinion)

  • All Sides allows you to check a media source to determine if it provides a high quality of information and the extent to which it leans left or right – some sources may be highly factual by “spin” those facts toward the left or right

  • This is a good read – How to detect bias in the news media

 

Journalism (reporting) vs. Opinion

The highest and primary obligation of ethical journalism is to serve the public

*Seek truth and report it – responsible for accuracy

*Minimize harm -- balance the public’s need for information against potential harm

*Act independently -- avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived

*Be accountable and transparent -- acknowledge mistakes and correct them promptly and prominently;

     explain corrections and clarifications carefully and clearly.

Journalists can be fired for violating any provision of the Code

  • Experts (aka pundits) provide context and perspective in their areas of expertise

*Experts can be biased and “spin” their opinions to the left or right

*Some can be both reporters and pundits (e.g., Rachel Maddow)

bottom of page