On Oct. 21, Elizabeth Dionne and state Sen. William Brownsberger will sit down in a room together and just … talk.
Dionne, a Republican, and Brownsberger, a Democrat, will discuss voting and election controversies at the first event staged by News into Action, a nonpartisan organization that connects news to concrete civic action.
“The idea behind it is severalfold,” said News into Action founder Julie Wu. “Polls show Americans are very concerned about the state of our democracy. They are overwhelmed by the news, and figuring out what’s real and what is fake.”
According to Wu, the result is polarization and ultimately political paralysis. Real problems such as affordability become intractable because the people who can solve the problem are too busy fighting rather than talking.
“People don’t know what to trust in the news anymore,” she said. “And they don’t know what to do about it.”
News into Action addresses the polarization issue on several fronts. First, the website surfaces only news sources rated “highly factual or above” by Media Bias Fact Check. It excludes sources with a lower ranking regardless of affiliation, Wu said. In addition, each story comes with a card indicating the editorial angle (left of center, right of center) and suggested actions the reader can take to effect change.
For example, a story from the Texas Tribune on a DACA recipient earned a high reliability rating, and a link to the National Immigration Law Center to sign a petition supporting the DREAM Act.
“Our mission statement is – and it took us a while to hammer out the mission statement – that there aren’t just two political parties. We should be united in empowering Americans throughout the political landscape,” Wu said.
Wu first began developing her idea while researching a novel, and she became interested in how Taiwan went from nearly four decades of martial law to a marquee democracy in a bit more than a generation.
“The opposition unified in 1979 and created Formosa Magazine,” she said. “That magazine became the de facto opposition party, and how they got their message across.”
According to Wu, that is a theme in pro-democracy movements. Opposition to the status quo comes together, setting aside sometimes profound philosophical differences to work together for the common good.
It’s an evolutionary process. Wu cited the national debate over immigration – a polarizing, divisive issue. But if you can find common ground – requiring warrants, for example – momentum to solve the bigger issue begins to build. According to Wu, Richard Harwood, founder of The Harwood Institute, outlined it best.
“He was saying, the best way to go about this is to start with one small action. That can turn into another small thing, and it begins to snowball,” Wu said.
The speaker series with Dionne and Brownsberger puts two people of differing political philosophies on stage to talk about a potentially divisive issue.
“We can show people, in real time, that we can have a thoughtful discussion,” Dionne said. “This is a real thing. When national politics are so broken, the rebuilding of a functional political society begins with conversations like this. One person at a time, one conversation at a time.”
Brownsberger was happy to be part of the inaugural event, supporting Wu’s new endeavor.
“Julie’s trying to give people a way to take action on the issues that concern them,” Brownsberger said. “I hear from so many people who are deeply concerned about the Trump administration and the trends of the country. And of course, I share those concerns. And I think Julie is someone who’s trying to give people a new way to engage.”
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