Notable journalist discusses polarization during Southern Adventist University talk
Michel Martin, a host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” spoke at an event called “Making Sense of a Polarized World” at Southern Adventist University, where she tackled issues such as the state of U.S. democracy, trust in the news media and approaches to journalism as a trade.
“We need to understand that we are in a crisis,” Martin said during Thursday’s event. “We are in an information crisis. We’re in a democracy crisis.”
To address this, she said Americans should approach the situation like any other crisis.
“America is very special, and one of the things that makes us special is we do help each other in times of crisis,” Martin said. “I think we are in a bigger crisis than we realize, and I think we should take that approach.”
DEMOCRACY
According to a Gallup poll from August, Republican and Democratic voters are more polarized on most political issues than they were 20 years ago. Polling from the Pew
Research Center last year indicates that an increased share of members of each party since 2016 view the other as closedminded, dishonest, immoral, unintelligent and lazy.
Martin said increased polarization has affected how listeners engage with her when commenting on her coverage.
“It’s very different,” Martin said. “Some people have lost the art of civil discourse, and the only reason they reach out to you is to insult and demean you.”
She said an environment that condones that type of behavior has been created since former President Donald Trump began his White House run in 2015.
“You’ve got a leading presidential candidate — later become the president — who says you’re sick because you report accurately on his behavior,” Martin said. “You’re the enemy of the people because you accurately report on his conduct. A permission structure has been created and amplified, and you cannot ignore the power of that.”
Among the wider public nationwide, a July poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found 1 in 10 U.S. adults give high ratings to the way democracy is working in the United States.
A September poll from Pew found 65% of U.S. adults said they always or often feel exhausted when thinking about politics. That same poll found most Americans think there’s too much attention on partisan fighting and not enough on policy and issues.
Martin talked about the political divide seen even at the family level.
“I can’t tell people what to do in their own houses, but what I can ask you to do is to live your values in the way you discuss these issues,” Martin said. “Don’t be part of the problem. Be part of the solution.”
TRUST IN MEDIA
A part of Thursday’s discussion shifted toward trust in the U.S. news media.
According to a Gallup poll in 2022, 38% of U.S. adults have no trust in the media, and 34% had a great deal or a fair amount. Since the 1970s, according to the poll, these numbers have increased and decreased, respectively.
Martin said that trust could take a long time to rebuild.
“Unfortunately, trust can be lost in a very short time, and trust is earned over a long time,” Martin said.
She encouraged people to have more grace for journalists.
“Understand that this is a human enterprise,” she said, asking that the public give reporters the same grace they give to any other human who makes a mistake, especially if they own it, as NPR has on some occasions.
“It’s too important,” Martin said. “If we keep destroying these institutions, what will be left? What will be left? My point is that just because something isn’t perfect, doesn’t mean it needs to be destroyed.”
SOCIAL MEDIA
Martin also talked about the role social media plays in the modern information ecosystem.
According to a Pew poll in 2022, U.S. adults under age 30 trust information from social media almost as much as information from national news outlets. Among all adult age groups in the poll, local news was trusted the most.
Martin said the way social media works in conjunction with news is that it gives people more of what they’re already interested in.
“Technology is morally neutral. It’s a question of how you use it,” Martin said. “They could intervene in this. They have chosen not to. The algorithms give you more of what you already have.
“The problem is, if you search for certain kinds of content, you’re going to get more of it,” Martin continued. “Browsing the paper the old-fashioned way, you might come across a story that you weren’t expecting. ‘Oh, that’s interesting. This thing happened. Let me dig into that.’ That’s not the way algorithms work. They’re like, ‘No, you want to hear about pets being delivered from a tree, or you want to hear about this particular kind of candidate.’ You’re going to get more of that.”
Martin said social media also gives the incentive to promote content that generates strong feelings.
“If things invoke a strong reaction, that’s what you get more of. That’s what gets the click,” Martin said. “The research is very clear that content that evokes strong emotional reactions gets a bigger response.”
She said this creates more negativity in news consumption on social media since that kind of content produces more of an emotional reaction, and therefore produces more clicks and revenue.
“Hatred works,” Martin said. “It works.”
She said people should be careful with what they share on social media.
“I don’t think it’s too much to ask that we care enough about our democracy to protect it and to nurture it,” Martin said. “One of the ways you do that is by being sure that what you see and what you share — especially what you share — is true.”
LIVED EXPERIENCE
Martin asked of journalists operating in this modern news ecosystem to look to other authorities when sourcing for a story.
“What have they done that they have earned the right to be heard by you?” Martin said. “Traditionally, we have thought about experts and authorities as people who have letters after their name, but my concept is sometimes lived experience is an authority.”
Martin said in an interview after Thursday’s event that determining if that lived experience is an authority depends on what the reporter is covering.
“Just because you’ve driven over a bridge doesn’t mean you know how to build one,” Martin said. “If you’re reporting on what it’s like to drive over the bridge, then anybody who’s over it is qualified, but if you’re asking people how to build it, then you better be checking their credentials.”
THE WHY
During the event, Martin talked about how technology has changed the journalism industry. But the core of the trade, Martin said, has not changed.
“Techniques are going to change. Technology is going to change. You know what doesn’t change? The values. The why,” Martin said. “The values don’t change. If you believe in being truthful, civil and fair, that doesn’t change.”