{"id":2561,"date":"2024-06-18T19:52:40","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T19:52:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/?p=2561"},"modified":"2025-03-11T13:38:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T13:38:36","slug":"willing-walk-mile-in-their-media-shoes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2024\/06\/18\/willing-walk-mile-in-their-media-shoes\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Willing to Walk a Mile in Their Media Shoes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vanessa Otero is the founder of Ad Fontes Media, a non-profit that analyzes bias in news (you may have seen their <\/span>media bias charts<\/span><\/a>). Vanessa has a great view of the media landscape, including its polarizing aspects.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After such <\/span>divergent responses<\/span><\/a> to Trump\u2019s verdict, Vanessa posted <\/span>a message on LinkedIn<\/span><\/a>, asking people if they\u2019d be willing to try an experiment:<\/span><\/p>\n

I invite you to do an exercise this evening: watch a TV news program from the side of the political spectrum you most disagree with. Everyone is covering the same story tonight.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

If you feel a visceral disgust, especially, I invite you to push past that. That feeling of disgust is a protection mechanism for your identity \u2014 it\u2019s primal and you don\u2019t need to heed it, because you are an evolved human capable of critical thinking.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Watch for half an hour, at least. Try to imagine what it would be like if you liked this content and agreed with it. Try to imagine if all the news\/news-like opinion and analysis you consumed sounded just like this. How do you think that would affect your perception of the world?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Most people resist this sort of exercise, but it is essential to understanding why we are so deeply divided in what we believe. We inhabit bespoke realities crafted by our information sources [\u2026]<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Understanding someone else\u2019s world is key to overcoming stubborn intransigence, and is necessary if we hope to overcome our entrenched polarization.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

One of Vanessa\u2019s LinkedIn followers voiced an understandable objection:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me argue here that \u201cwatch a wider spectrum of fear-mongering and entertainment – masquerading as \u2018news\u2019 – on TV\u201d is \u2026 not good advice.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

People should be called out, and likewise we all might remind ourselves that we\u2019re all fallible. We\u2019ve all been wrong before.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Vanessa responded, with an emphasis on the importance of <\/span>understanding<\/span><\/i> \u2014 which can coexist with disagreement and criticism:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not advocating to watch it to be informed about the subject matter. I\u2019m advocating watching it to understand that others live in different informational spheres than you do.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

And I\u2019d argue that we collectively do not suffer from a lack of \u201ccalling out,\u201d which takes the form of telling others they are wrong. On the contrary, we have more than enough people fully engaged in doing that, and after a certain amount, it ceases to be effective.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

To that we\u2019d add that <\/span>distorted views<\/span><\/a> of our political opponents often lead us to interpret their news and their positions in the worst possible way. We\u2019ll often see malicious intent where it doesn\u2019t exist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, we\u2019ll sometimes think our adversaries are being deceptive and manipulative when they\u2019re not. Our divergent realities can make it hard for us to understand our adversaries\u2019 views, leading us to think, \u201cThey can\u2019t possibly believe these things they claim to believe; they must be lying.\u201d This isn\u2019t to say all political opinion shapers and leaders are always truthful \u2014 clearly some are not \u2014 but just to say that we\u2019re prone to <\/span>seeing things as much worse than they are<\/span><\/a>. When you watch the news from the \u201cother side,\u201d try to interpret it as generously as you can; that will help you better understand what your political opponents are seeing.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to share Vanessa\u2019s original LinkedIn message, <\/span>it\u2019s here<\/span><\/a>. If you try her experiment, let us know how it goes<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Want to stay in the loop for news and takes on our toxic divides? <\/span><\/i>Sign up for our newsletter<\/span><\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vanessa Otero is the founder of Ad Fontes Media, a non-profit that analyzes bias in news (you may have seen their media bias charts). Vanessa has a great view of the media landscape, including its polarizing aspects.\u00a0 After such divergent responses to Trump\u2019s verdict, Vanessa posted a message on LinkedIn, asking people if they\u2019d be…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":2562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"collection_feed":[],"type_feed":[77],"class_list":["post-2561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAre You Willing to Walk a Mile in Their Media Shoes? - Builders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/buildersmovement.org\/2024\/06\/18\/willing-walk-mile-in-their-media-shoes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are You Willing to Walk a Mile in Their Media Shoes? - Builders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vanessa Otero is the founder of Ad Fontes Media, a non-profit that analyzes bias in news (you may have seen their media bias charts). 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