WEBVTT - Introducing The News from Scene on Radio 0:00:15.356 --> 0:00:20.956 Pushkin Hi listeners, you know that hero on Revision is history. 0:00:21.316 --> 0:00:23.476 We ask a lot of questions about the systems that 0:00:23.516 --> 0:00:26.236 have shaped our worldviews. While we're hard at work on 0:00:26.276 --> 0:00:29.556 our new season, we wanted to share another podcast that 0:00:29.716 --> 0:00:34.036 hits these points and asks big questions too. It's called 0:00:34.396 --> 0:00:37.836 seneon Radio, and today I'm bringing you an episode from 0:00:37.836 --> 0:00:42.596 their aptly named new season, The News. Some have called 0:00:42.596 --> 0:00:45.716 the news media the oxygen of a functioning democracy, but 0:00:45.796 --> 0:00:49.876 if that's true, America's lungs are in rough shape. Many 0:00:49.916 --> 0:00:53.396 Americans say they don't trust the media. The business model 0:00:53.436 --> 0:00:56.996 for local journalism has all been collapsed, and we all 0:00:56.996 --> 0:01:00.436 know about the barrage of misinformation that flows from our 0:01:00.476 --> 0:01:04.156 splintered media escape. You can't separate the state of our 0:01:04.196 --> 0:01:08.876 news media from the other profound crises that America keeps 0:01:08.916 --> 0:01:13.196 on failing to solve. Hosted by John Bewen and now 0:01:13.196 --> 0:01:17.436 in its eighth season, the two time Peabody Award nominated 0:01:17.476 --> 0:01:21.516 show explores the roots of this crisis and asks what's 0:01:21.596 --> 0:01:24.836 really wrong with the news. It's an eight part series, 0:01:25.116 --> 0:01:27.596 so you'll want to check out the rest, but for now, 0:01:27.956 --> 0:01:33.636 here's episode one. Find Seat on Radio wherever you get podcasts. 0:01:37.916 --> 0:01:39.436 All right, we're rolling. 0:01:39.716 --> 0:01:43.996 Good sir, here we go. Asian markets are mostly down today. 0:01:44.076 --> 0:01:47.956 That's dangerous flash flooding ripping through parts of Milwaukee. 0:01:48.036 --> 0:01:49.396 This is a box news alart. 0:01:49.476 --> 0:01:51.036 This is our camera angle. 0:01:50.796 --> 0:01:55.476 From our Americans if we want to be are inundated 0:01:55.556 --> 0:01:59.076 with news from countless sources, some of New York Times. 0:01:59.196 --> 0:02:01.756 I'm Michael la Welcome back to One American News. 0:02:01.796 --> 0:02:04.036 Thanks so much for and at the same time, we're 0:02:04.116 --> 0:02:07.916 stuck in a deep information crisis the news. 0:02:10.236 --> 0:02:13.636 It seems like we're helpless to solve our problems. It 0:02:13.676 --> 0:02:17.436 doesn't help that we have no shared narrative and few 0:02:17.476 --> 0:02:18.356 shared facts. 0:02:18.436 --> 0:02:20.676 What is happening right now in the world and what 0:02:21.036 --> 0:02:25.076 just happened to my friend Charlie Kirk is a battle 0:02:25.116 --> 0:02:28.436 of sheer evil versus goodness. 0:02:28.436 --> 0:02:31.276 To me, Fox News just not They don't tell the 0:02:31.316 --> 0:02:31.796 whole story. 0:02:31.916 --> 0:02:33.436 I consider myself a centrist. 0:02:33.836 --> 0:02:36.276 I'm not particularly interested in the MSNBC. 0:02:36.676 --> 0:02:46.396 What I'm saying is, don't try me today, Scotty. 0:02:44.036 --> 0:02:50.876 York Post, big questions. A whole lot of us don't 0:02:50.916 --> 0:02:54.876 know what's true. Oh, we firmly believe and will fight 0:02:54.956 --> 0:02:57.356 you over things that are not true. 0:02:57.476 --> 0:02:59.196 Let's get rid of these voting machines. 0:02:59.396 --> 0:03:01.356 There's a half a dozen people, whether it's a House 0:03:01.436 --> 0:03:03.396 or Senate Larry, that are up here as we speak 0:03:04.036 --> 0:03:05.196 that did not get elected. 0:03:05.276 --> 0:03:06.396 It was all bogus. 0:03:06.556 --> 0:03:10.036 Just so people understand, wind and solar only work when 0:03:10.076 --> 0:03:11.196 there's wind and sun. 0:03:11.596 --> 0:03:14.396 We don't have technology to store the energy from wind 0:03:14.396 --> 0:03:14.796 and solar. 0:03:14.996 --> 0:03:16.036 So if you make yoursel. 0:03:15.836 --> 0:03:19.236 I'm very disappointed in the mainstream media, and that's all 0:03:19.236 --> 0:03:20.076 I'll say about that. 0:03:22.116 --> 0:03:25.556 It's hard to imagine putting the toothpaste back in the tube. 0:03:26.196 --> 0:03:29.276 And maybe there's no golden age to return to anyway. 0:03:30.396 --> 0:03:40.876 So now what change your eye? 0:03:41.316 --> 0:03:41.876 Hey? John? 0:03:42.916 --> 0:03:45.996 You know our little montage could have just kept on going. 0:03:46.716 --> 0:03:48.436 I better stopped now because I feel like you're gonna 0:03:48.436 --> 0:03:52.516 get us in trouble, you know what I mean. We 0:03:52.636 --> 0:03:56.596 got hundreds thousands more news and news ish outlets to 0:03:56.676 --> 0:03:57.356 choose from. 0:03:57.396 --> 0:04:00.916 We are a wash in media, at least some of 0:04:00.996 --> 0:04:04.036 us are, but we don't seem very happy about it. 0:04:04.316 --> 0:04:08.076 Yeah, man, everybody's mad at the news media. And if 0:04:08.076 --> 0:04:11.316 I'm being honest, yeah, like I get it right, because 0:04:11.356 --> 0:04:13.996 if you look around, so much of what passes for 0:04:14.076 --> 0:04:17.716 news out there is like not that good. In fact, 0:04:17.756 --> 0:04:18.956 a lot of it is trash. 0:04:19.276 --> 0:04:22.396 We could easily find people who would disagree with you 0:04:22.636 --> 0:04:26.476 or me about which acts of journalism are the trashy ones. 0:04:27.476 --> 0:04:30.996 But no question about it, people are not happy. According 0:04:31.036 --> 0:04:33.836 to a Gallup poll in twenty twenty five, only twenty 0:04:33.836 --> 0:04:37.396 eight percent of Americans had even a fair amount of 0:04:37.436 --> 0:04:41.476 confidence in the major media. Seventy percent of us say 0:04:41.516 --> 0:04:44.996 we have not much or no confidence at all. 0:04:45.276 --> 0:04:49.116 That crisis of trust is a huge problem for American journalism, 0:04:49.756 --> 0:04:51.596 and it's not the only problem. 0:04:51.876 --> 0:04:54.676 A lot of people at first blush might not care 0:04:54.756 --> 0:04:59.076 about a media crisis, especially if they think the media sucks. 0:05:00.276 --> 0:05:03.596 But people need the media to live, right. They need 0:05:03.636 --> 0:05:05.876 to know what the status of their healthcare is. They 0:05:05.916 --> 0:05:07.836 need to know what the weather is, you know what 0:05:07.836 --> 0:05:09.236 I'm saying, and if there's going to be like like 0:05:09.276 --> 0:05:11.836 an earthquake. They need to know if their rights are 0:05:11.836 --> 0:05:14.356 going to be violated, right, I mean, it's just like 0:05:14.476 --> 0:05:18.116 something that you need to live your everyday lives. And also, 0:05:18.876 --> 0:05:20.716 how are you going to run a democracy where the 0:05:20.796 --> 0:05:23.436 people are supposed to govern ourselves if we don't have 0:05:23.476 --> 0:05:26.476 the information, if we don't have any shared sense of 0:05:26.476 --> 0:05:27.596 what's going on out there. 0:05:28.116 --> 0:05:31.716 That's more or less what Thomas Jefferson said, Our good buddy. 0:05:32.596 --> 0:05:35.636 Wherever the people are well informed, they can be trusted 0:05:35.636 --> 0:05:36.636 with their own government. 0:05:37.116 --> 0:05:39.596 That's good because I only try to say things that 0:05:39.676 --> 0:05:44.196 Thomas Jefferson said, you know that about it. That's when 0:05:44.236 --> 0:05:45.676 I checked the child every time before I say so, 0:05:45.916 --> 0:05:47.476 Did Thomas Jefferson say this? Okay? 0:05:47.676 --> 0:05:51.196 Yeah, exactly right. We've picked on him a number of 0:05:51.196 --> 0:05:52.116 times on this show. 0:05:52.396 --> 0:05:54.036 Yeah, but I mean, look, he was right. You know 0:05:54.076 --> 0:05:56.316 what I'm saying, being a slaveholder, a racist. That don't 0:05:56.316 --> 0:05:57.916 mean you're not right about anything. 0:05:57.876 --> 0:06:03.036 Right, But yeah, does anybody here think that the fourth estate, 0:06:03.436 --> 0:06:07.276 the news media as it's now constructed, is doing its 0:06:07.396 --> 0:06:11.996 job that Americaans are well enough informed to be trusted 0:06:11.996 --> 0:06:18.436 with our own government. From the Keenan Institute for Ethics 0:06:18.436 --> 0:06:22.196 at Duke University, Welcome to sin On Radio Season eight. 0:06:22.836 --> 0:06:25.196 I'm John Bwen, producer and host of the show. 0:06:25.476 --> 0:06:28.236 Now, I'm Chinjerrakumanika, excited to come back as. 0:06:28.076 --> 0:06:31.636 The co host, jenj. You are an award winning podcast 0:06:31.676 --> 0:06:38.396 maker Empire City on civil Unruly Subjects and seen on radio. 0:06:38.636 --> 0:06:41.236 You were my co host for seasons two and four, 0:06:42.196 --> 0:06:45.396 and you're a professor at New York University's Journalism School 0:06:45.836 --> 0:06:49.956 with a PhD in Mass Communication and Critical Media studies, 0:06:50.716 --> 0:06:53.676 so you're officially an expert on the thing we're here 0:06:53.676 --> 0:06:55.276 to explore this time around. 0:06:55.516 --> 0:06:59.396 Finally, you know what I'm saying. We in my lane. 0:06:59.476 --> 0:07:00.276 Now you know what I mean. 0:07:01.036 --> 0:07:04.876 You got the paper credentials. This time we're calling this 0:07:04.916 --> 0:07:08.596 season the News. We're going to take a hard, deep 0:07:08.676 --> 0:07:11.556 look the troubled state of the news media in the 0:07:11.676 --> 0:07:15.676 US and how that crisis relates to the other profound 0:07:15.756 --> 0:07:19.636 problems we seem unable or unwilling to solve. 0:07:20.196 --> 0:07:22.236 Another key thing we're going to do is sort through 0:07:22.276 --> 0:07:25.636 the various crises in our news and information system and 0:07:25.676 --> 0:07:28.716 the most common reasons people say they're pissed about the media, 0:07:29.196 --> 0:07:32.476 and we're going to ask what's really wrong? Is it 0:07:32.516 --> 0:07:33.316 what we think it is. 0:07:33.796 --> 0:07:36.956 We will do some history along the way. We might 0:07:37.076 --> 0:07:41.956 challenge some mythology around journalistic tradition in America and parts 0:07:41.996 --> 0:07:45.276 of US history itself for that matter, in ways that 0:07:45.356 --> 0:07:47.916 could also shed light on how our news media are 0:07:48.036 --> 0:07:51.796 failing us in this pivotal historical moment. 0:07:51.836 --> 0:07:55.116 And eventually we're going to talk about solutions what it 0:07:55.236 --> 0:07:58.756 might look like to unbreak the media, because the thing is, 0:07:59.436 --> 0:08:02.636 this stuff really matters. The stakes are about as high 0:08:02.636 --> 0:08:03.316 as they could be. 0:08:03.916 --> 0:08:06.876 Media are so much a part of our lives that, 0:08:06.996 --> 0:08:10.276 in a real sense, we're made of media. The media 0:08:10.396 --> 0:08:13.556 helps to shape a society but also act as a 0:08:13.596 --> 0:08:15.676 mirror showing us who we are. 0:08:16.156 --> 0:08:19.796 And John, like I have a confession. We talk about 0:08:19.796 --> 0:08:22.516 people being angry at the news media, and of course 0:08:22.556 --> 0:08:25.596 folks are angry for wildly different reasons. But what I'm 0:08:25.636 --> 0:08:28.836 looking at so called journalism that I see is completely 0:08:28.916 --> 0:08:32.076 false and dishonest. I find myself getting mad at the 0:08:32.116 --> 0:08:34.596 people who consume that news and believe it, Like why 0:08:34.716 --> 0:08:35.876 y'all drinking and kool aid? 0:08:36.716 --> 0:08:40.036 I know what you mean. And let's put a pin 0:08:40.116 --> 0:08:44.036 in that thought, as they say, right now, before we 0:08:44.076 --> 0:08:47.476 go further, just a quick note for the grammar purists. 0:08:47.996 --> 0:08:51.276 Yes you will hear us do that thing that a 0:08:51.276 --> 0:08:53.916 whole lot of people do now where we say the 0:08:53.956 --> 0:08:56.116 media as if it's one thing. 0:08:56.356 --> 0:09:00.036 Right, but the word is plural, and we'll never lose 0:09:00.036 --> 0:09:02.636 sight of the fact that the media is a tangled web, 0:09:02.716 --> 0:09:03.476 not a monolith. 0:09:05.876 --> 0:09:09.956 Here in episode one. Let's start with us, not Tender 0:09:10.036 --> 0:09:15.036 Eye and me, but us, everybody who consumes news media, 0:09:15.836 --> 0:09:18.476 whether you take in a ton of it or hardly 0:09:18.516 --> 0:09:23.316 any what drives us as we try to inform ourselves? 0:09:23.916 --> 0:09:26.116 That's the question, you know what I'm saying. I mean, 0:09:26.156 --> 0:09:28.036 we talk so much about whether we can trust our 0:09:28.076 --> 0:09:30.716 news sources, but can we trust ourselves. 0:09:31.516 --> 0:09:33.836 I've spent some time over the last year or so 0:09:34.156 --> 0:09:37.996 in a corner of North Carolina talking with folks about 0:09:38.116 --> 0:09:41.196 a lot of things, their politics, what their lives are like, 0:09:42.116 --> 0:09:43.316 and about the news. 0:09:43.716 --> 0:09:45.756 And why'd you go to that particular place. 0:09:46.196 --> 0:09:49.436 It's a good question in one sense. We could have 0:09:49.476 --> 0:09:54.236 gone almost anywhere. But as folks will hear throughout the season, 0:09:54.476 --> 0:09:57.476 this patch of North Carolina, which is not far from 0:09:57.516 --> 0:10:00.396 where I live, is a compelling place to see some 0:10:00.516 --> 0:10:03.996 of the most pressing problems with our news media and 0:10:04.076 --> 0:10:07.716 some impressive efforts to respond and fill the gaping holes 0:10:07.756 --> 0:10:11.316 in the system. By the way, Chenje, you know, I 0:10:11.316 --> 0:10:14.076 think it's safe to say some of those news consumers 0:10:14.156 --> 0:10:16.516 you're frustrated with live in this place. 0:10:17.116 --> 0:10:22.236 Ah Well, in that case, let me take a deep breath, Hi, 0:10:22.636 --> 0:10:23.796 I can't wait to hear what you. 0:10:23.796 --> 0:10:28.956 Found all your favorite country played back to back to 0:10:28.996 --> 0:10:30.356 the eighth. 0:10:30.156 --> 0:10:30.676 Country he. 0:10:32.796 --> 0:10:35.756 Saw. We're going to refer to this part of North 0:10:35.796 --> 0:10:39.836 Carolina as the border Belt. It's an old term used 0:10:39.876 --> 0:10:42.996 over the last century for a tobacco growing region that 0:10:43.196 --> 0:10:46.636 ran along both sides of the North and South Carolina border. 0:10:48.116 --> 0:10:50.956 A lot of the tobacco's gone now. The farms grow 0:10:51.076 --> 0:10:55.276 corn and soybeans and other crops. The radio signals in 0:10:55.316 --> 0:10:58.796 these rural counties come from a ways off, mainly the 0:10:58.796 --> 0:11:02.916 bigger cities of Wilmington and Fayetteville, and they sound like it. 0:11:03.196 --> 0:11:05.596 So get your Wednesday off to a good storm with me. 0:11:05.796 --> 0:11:10.236 Gilbert bays on Newstox exporting w FNC turn left on 0:11:10.276 --> 0:11:11.956 the North Carolina forty one south. 0:11:12.316 --> 0:11:15.516 I spent time just on the North Carolina side in 0:11:15.596 --> 0:11:19.076 a cluster of counties Scotland and Robison to the west, 0:11:19.596 --> 0:11:24.756 Bladen and Columbus to the east. This place is racially diverse, 0:11:25.076 --> 0:11:30.436 with large white, Black, and indigenous populations, and long struggling 0:11:31.156 --> 0:11:33.956 North Carolina ranks in the bottom half of states in 0:11:33.996 --> 0:11:37.956 per capita income. In the border Belt, folks make twelve 0:11:37.996 --> 0:11:44.756 to twenty thousand dollars less than the state average. There 0:11:44.756 --> 0:11:52.436 are a lot of manufactured homes, trailer parks, single wides, 0:11:52.516 --> 0:11:56.996 double wides, the kind of dotted everywhere was good. 0:11:57.956 --> 0:12:00.796 Enemy with surprised guests, music and mortgage all in the 0:12:00.796 --> 0:12:03.796 breakfast club weekday mornings Ontville, there's still number one station 0:12:03.876 --> 0:12:05.556 for hip hop and R and B, the big stick 0:12:05.636 --> 0:12:06.556 Boxy ninety nine. 0:12:07.236 --> 0:12:10.396 Most of these counties are also what are called news deserts. 0:12:11.236 --> 0:12:14.396 That means they have no more than one local news source, 0:12:15.116 --> 0:12:18.516 and often the surviving newspapers have shriveled to a few 0:12:18.556 --> 0:12:22.036 pages of mostly sports and features. They don't print a 0:12:22.076 --> 0:12:22.916 whole lot of news. 0:12:24.116 --> 0:12:25.876 And John, you want to come in or you want 0:12:25.916 --> 0:12:26.756 to sit on a porch. 0:12:27.356 --> 0:12:29.516 I talk to a range of people in the Border 0:12:29.556 --> 0:12:31.556 Belt about their media diets. 0:12:32.036 --> 0:12:34.756 I usually sit here and have my coffee, and I'm 0:12:34.756 --> 0:12:36.956 sitting here on the couch and I'm watching the news 0:12:37.876 --> 0:12:41.476 local stations which are located in Wilmington, but they carry 0:12:41.556 --> 0:12:42.196 this area. 0:12:42.516 --> 0:12:44.236 I don't watch a lot of news, but what I 0:12:44.836 --> 0:12:47.316 watch Newsmax or Fox. 0:12:47.596 --> 0:12:50.956 I try not to get my news from social media 0:12:51.036 --> 0:12:52.996 too much, but sometimes I'm scrolling through Twitter and I 0:12:53.036 --> 0:12:55.476 see something and it catches my eye. 0:12:55.596 --> 0:12:58.316 I still think that a lot of our people get 0:12:58.356 --> 0:13:02.316 their information from their local radio station too. Whatever they 0:13:02.356 --> 0:13:04.956 play in between songs and stuff like that, whatever top 0:13:04.996 --> 0:13:05.676 of news update. 0:13:09.676 --> 0:13:12.156 We're gonna spend more time getting to know this guy, 0:13:12.556 --> 0:13:16.916 Ethan Jordan. I find him in Columbus County. He's driving 0:13:16.916 --> 0:13:20.476 a big John Deere tractor pulling a planting rig down 0:13:20.476 --> 0:13:24.236 the road near his family's place. I can just leave 0:13:24.276 --> 0:13:32.436 it here. I climbed the ladder to his two person tractor. 0:13:32.436 --> 0:13:34.196 Cap you got enough room to make it work. 0:13:34.316 --> 0:13:37.396 Oh yeah, how you doing good? 0:13:37.676 --> 0:13:38.316 Nice to meet you here. 0:13:38.396 --> 0:13:40.796 Let me get indoor a little bit better, so ran. 0:13:41.916 --> 0:13:45.236 Ethan's in his late twenties. He has reddish brown hair 0:13:45.276 --> 0:13:50.516 and a round face. He and his family raised corn, soybeans, peanuts, 0:13:50.516 --> 0:13:53.956 and beef cattle. On this April day, he's planting corn 0:13:54.836 --> 0:13:55.276 right here. 0:13:55.556 --> 0:13:59.156 Will we farm total twenty two hundred acres between me 0:13:59.196 --> 0:14:02.276 and my dad and two employees. I believe if you 0:14:02.316 --> 0:14:05.036 get back, I'm the eighth generation at Jordan Farman on 0:14:05.076 --> 0:14:07.356 this land that we're on right now. 0:14:07.396 --> 0:14:09.596 Actually, this is so many regional fall we're on. 0:14:10.276 --> 0:14:12.916 In front of Ethan in the cab are a half 0:14:13.036 --> 0:14:17.316 dozen screens. They monitor the seed and fertilizer. He's dropping 0:14:17.636 --> 0:14:21.996 the weather conditions, the technology that's doing the driving, Yes. 0:14:21.916 --> 0:14:24.476 Sir, that's my GPS, which controls the auto year. As 0:14:24.476 --> 0:14:26.596 you see, I'm not touching the steerwheel and it's steering. 0:14:27.156 --> 0:14:29.756 And for the long hours he spends in the tractor, 0:14:29.996 --> 0:14:31.716 he also has media handy. 0:14:31.876 --> 0:14:34.516 I know, I have Fox News on this iPad and 0:14:34.636 --> 0:14:36.996 I will watch Fox News from time to time. And 0:14:37.196 --> 0:14:41.476 it's not Newsmax's that ad that has all the news 0:14:41.516 --> 0:14:41.716 in it. 0:14:41.756 --> 0:14:46.236 Well, you see, I have Fox News here, but there's 0:14:46.276 --> 0:14:49.036 an app that I can't call the name of right now. 0:14:49.756 --> 0:14:52.996 He finds it his go to news aggregator. 0:14:53.316 --> 0:14:55.716 Right here's this app right here, matter of fact news 0:14:55.796 --> 0:14:57.476 break news break app. 0:14:57.556 --> 0:15:00.436 And it kind of you know, I guess it goes. 0:15:00.316 --> 0:15:02.596 Through your algorithm of what you look up and stuff 0:15:02.636 --> 0:15:04.876 like that, because if you look at mine, talks about 0:15:04.916 --> 0:15:08.876 farmers react to Trump's tariffs, tells me about the local 0:15:08.956 --> 0:15:11.956 news news and so that I have that that pops 0:15:12.036 --> 0:15:16.756 up and it'll be anywhere from CNBC to WCT the 0:15:16.956 --> 0:15:21.356 daily Daily Beast, I don't know, but anyway, it just 0:15:21.396 --> 0:15:24.236 shows you know, local and national news and if it's 0:15:24.316 --> 0:15:27.716 national news. It's more related to what I look up, 0:15:27.716 --> 0:15:31.636 which is obviously farming's, you know, agricultural related topics. 0:15:32.316 --> 0:15:34.156 It's where I get a lot of my news from. 0:15:34.676 --> 0:15:37.276 To say I actually sit down and watch the news, 0:15:37.996 --> 0:15:38.996 it's kind of hard to say. 0:15:39.036 --> 0:15:39.196 Now. 0:15:39.236 --> 0:15:41.556 We'll watch it if something interested is going on on 0:15:41.596 --> 0:15:44.196 the iPad, if I'm in a trat to running it. 0:15:45.196 --> 0:15:48.596 Ethan lives with his fiance. He's a lawyer. There's a 0:15:48.596 --> 0:15:52.436 local newspaper, the News Reporter, out of nearby Whiteville, that 0:15:52.516 --> 0:15:56.636 comes out twice a week. Ethan sometimes looks at its website, 0:15:56.716 --> 0:15:59.396 but he and his fiance don't subscribe. 0:15:59.436 --> 0:16:01.516 And I've lived by myself. 0:16:01.596 --> 0:16:04.396 I lived out of my parents' house for now going 0:16:04.436 --> 0:16:06.276 on the fifth year, and I can say I've. 0:16:06.116 --> 0:16:10.036 Honestly never had a newspaper in my house or even 0:16:10.116 --> 0:16:11.876 picking one up. I know, there's not want to have 0:16:11.916 --> 0:16:14.316 been in my house. My parents get one every week. 0:16:14.436 --> 0:16:19.116 But for local news, he relies on Facebook, which includes 0:16:19.236 --> 0:16:23.596 reports from nearby outlets and comments from the community. He 0:16:23.716 --> 0:16:26.836 mentions a recent criminal incident in a nearby town. 0:16:27.036 --> 0:16:29.156 We're sitting there talking with a group of friends, and 0:16:29.516 --> 0:16:30.756 where'd you read that at? Oh? 0:16:30.836 --> 0:16:34.156 If you go on Facebook, look at WWA wise post 0:16:34.156 --> 0:16:36.076 about it, but look at the comments and you can 0:16:36.116 --> 0:16:39.356 see the video, So now you kind of you know, 0:16:39.396 --> 0:16:43.276 you look at Facebook, cause yeah, the papers and you 0:16:43.276 --> 0:16:46.116 know they'll tell you about it. But a lot of 0:16:46.116 --> 0:16:48.396 times you can read through the comments and find somebody 0:16:48.436 --> 0:16:51.996 who actually lived it and see their opinion, and you know, 0:16:52.116 --> 0:16:55.556 sometimes opinions are biased, but you do get kind of 0:16:55.556 --> 0:16:58.396 seen more of a real live feeling by reading the comments. 0:16:58.636 --> 0:17:01.116 So a lot of my news not gonna say I 0:17:01.196 --> 0:17:04.356 trust Facebook by no stretching, no matter, because everybody has 0:17:04.396 --> 0:17:06.716 a different opinion, but you can kind of see the 0:17:06.796 --> 0:17:08.036 gist of what's going on. 0:17:09.276 --> 0:17:13.156 Ethan votes Republican, along with everybody in his family and 0:17:13.276 --> 0:17:17.996 their neighbors. He says, Historically, this region, white folks included, 0:17:18.516 --> 0:17:21.916 voted for Democrats. Until ten or twenty years ago. 0:17:22.196 --> 0:17:23.916 We were all Democrats and in all of a sudden, 0:17:23.956 --> 0:17:27.036 we woke up one day and we're Republicans. 0:17:27.636 --> 0:17:29.916 As much as we all rely on the media to 0:17:30.036 --> 0:17:33.876 get information and to decide how to vote, it's worth 0:17:33.956 --> 0:17:37.236 highlighting what Ethan says when I ask who he voted 0:17:37.276 --> 0:17:40.636 for in the North Carolina governor's race in twenty twenty. 0:17:40.396 --> 0:17:42.916 Four, Mark Robinson, Yes, I did. 0:17:43.556 --> 0:17:46.876 You may remember hearing about Mark Robinson, no matter how 0:17:46.956 --> 0:17:50.356 far you are from North Carolina. He was the Republican 0:17:50.396 --> 0:17:55.516 nominee who lost to Democrat Josh Stein. Robinson made international 0:17:55.556 --> 0:17:59.516 news for inflammatory statements he apparently made, including on a 0:17:59.596 --> 0:18:05.436 porn website maligning Martin Luther King, defending Hitler, questioning the Holocaust, 0:18:05.916 --> 0:18:10.156 and calling himself a black Nazi. Ethan tells me he 0:18:10.236 --> 0:18:14.556 had to choose between the two candidates, suggesting it was 0:18:14.556 --> 0:18:18.316 a vote for his preferred party, but he also says 0:18:18.356 --> 0:18:19.516 this about Robinson. 0:18:19.756 --> 0:18:22.596 I had met him personally, So I mean that's you know, 0:18:22.676 --> 0:18:27.156 that's I look at politics different than some people. You know, 0:18:27.196 --> 0:18:30.036 you got diehard Republicans, you got diehard Democrats, you got 0:18:30.036 --> 0:18:30.716 diehard Livers. 0:18:30.756 --> 0:18:32.516 And there's other parties on them. You know, there's a 0:18:32.556 --> 0:18:33.636 whole list of Now. 0:18:35.556 --> 0:18:37.876 I look at the ones like that that I've personally 0:18:37.876 --> 0:18:40.276 had shook her hand or met him personally. 0:18:40.316 --> 0:18:41.476 And I had met Mark Robinson. 0:18:41.516 --> 0:18:43.956 He spent some time down in Clumbs County, and I 0:18:43.996 --> 0:18:45.076 had met him personally. 0:18:45.116 --> 0:18:48.596 So he probably didn't remember my name or know who 0:18:48.636 --> 0:18:50.796 I was, but he called my name one time. He 0:18:50.836 --> 0:18:51.476 shook my hand. 0:18:51.556 --> 0:18:55.236 So, I mean, if you feel like you got a close, 0:18:55.236 --> 0:18:58.156 little personal connection with him, that's kind of way I 0:18:58.196 --> 0:18:59.956 look at whether you're a Democrat Republican. 0:19:00.836 --> 0:19:04.116 Maybe there's still special power in what comes to us 0:19:04.156 --> 0:19:08.316 not from a screen, but through in person experience, the 0:19:08.316 --> 0:19:10.676 way people use to learn most of what they knew 0:19:10.716 --> 0:19:15.796 about the world. Despite his conservative views, Ethan says he 0:19:15.876 --> 0:19:18.996 finds Fox News too far to the right at times 0:19:19.436 --> 0:19:23.236 when it harps too much on gun rights or undocumented immigrants. 0:19:24.116 --> 0:19:27.316 But then a network like the NBC will annoy him 0:19:27.356 --> 0:19:28.836 even more in the other direction. 0:19:28.996 --> 0:19:33.356 When you're in the election, it was always negative on Trump, 0:19:33.396 --> 0:19:36.596 negative on Trump constantly, you know, this, that and the other, 0:19:37.036 --> 0:19:38.156 and you know, and I kind. 0:19:37.956 --> 0:19:40.196 Of look at it. I'm like, well, everybody's not perfect. 0:19:40.516 --> 0:19:45.876 But when y'all were pro forward Kamala, you were pro Kamala, Like, 0:19:45.956 --> 0:19:48.116 I can find problems with her too, just as good 0:19:48.116 --> 0:19:50.836 as you can find with Trump. It's kind of you know, 0:19:50.836 --> 0:19:53.756 if you don't tell the story, tell it on both sides, 0:19:54.156 --> 0:19:56.116 tell the bat pros and the cons of both, not 0:19:56.276 --> 0:19:57.876 just constantly. 0:19:57.396 --> 0:20:00.356 Over and over and over and over again. And that's 0:20:00.436 --> 0:20:02.476 where I'd get irritated. And not want to listen to it. 0:20:16.556 --> 0:20:18.756 Hey, Tene, what are you thinking so far? 0:20:19.276 --> 0:20:22.996 Well, I gotta say I really like listening to Ethan, 0:20:23.356 --> 0:20:26.916 you know, and I'm not mad at him. I mean, 0:20:26.916 --> 0:20:30.036 if you said to me, white North Carolina farmer who 0:20:30.116 --> 0:20:33.076 votes Republican, I feel like I was going to picture 0:20:33.116 --> 0:20:36.716 somebody very different, somebody who's maybe not as open or 0:20:37.076 --> 0:20:40.036 really just has their mind made up. Now I would 0:20:40.116 --> 0:20:42.836 like to hear Ethan explain why he voted for Mark Robinson, 0:20:43.196 --> 0:20:46.316 who's a Holocaust denier who called himself a black Nazi 0:20:46.436 --> 0:20:50.236 for governor. So there is that part, yeah, But putting 0:20:50.236 --> 0:20:53.356 that aside for a second, just listening to him, I 0:20:53.396 --> 0:20:55.276 got a feel for where he's at, even though we 0:20:55.316 --> 0:20:56.596 only heard him for a few minutes. 0:20:56.916 --> 0:20:59.756 You wouldn't vote for the people he votes for, you're saying, 0:20:59.796 --> 0:21:03.156 But he comes across as a sincere person doing his 0:21:03.236 --> 0:21:04.676 best to make sense at things, right. 0:21:05.276 --> 0:21:08.316 Yeah, like based on the information he has, you know 0:21:08.356 --> 0:21:09.916 what I'm saying. When he talked, it's about the news. 0:21:09.956 --> 0:21:12.796 He pays attention to. He sounds real familiar to me. 0:21:13.436 --> 0:21:16.716 He wants the facts, he wants fairness, and when the 0:21:16.756 --> 0:21:20.196 news tells them something very different, from what he and 0:21:20.236 --> 0:21:23.556 the people around him think is true. Then it sounds 0:21:23.836 --> 0:21:27.836 unfair or oversimplified that makes him want to change the 0:21:27.916 --> 0:21:29.756 channel or tap over to a different source. 0:21:30.436 --> 0:21:32.876 We said this episode was going to be about us, 0:21:33.396 --> 0:21:35.836 those of us on the receiving end of the news. 0:21:37.116 --> 0:21:40.996 I talked to an expert who has fascinating insights into 0:21:41.236 --> 0:21:46.316 our biases as news consumers, including how changes in our 0:21:46.356 --> 0:21:48.716 society have amplified those biases. 0:21:49.836 --> 0:21:52.676 Often when I'm talking about this to audiences, I'll say, 0:21:52.716 --> 0:21:54.636 you know, how many of you would say that your 0:21:54.676 --> 0:21:57.036 main goal as you're engaging with the world is to 0:21:57.116 --> 0:22:00.556 be accurate in what you perceive. And everyone raises their 0:22:00.596 --> 0:22:04.236