In Reality

Welcome to In Reality the podcast about truth disinformation and the media with Eric Schurenberg, long time journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media. Up to this point, Eric's assumption about artificial intelligence—and he's not alone in this—has been that it will only make the information environment worse. More chaotic, more polluted by mass produced slop that only reinforces our partisan belief bubbles.  Add to that the scary possibility is that AI would become a superhuman  tool of political manipulation, able to strike up one-on-one conversations with voters about whom the AI knows everything and win them over with subtle manipulation.  It so happens that three scientific papers have come out just last week that challenge this alarming scenario. All concluded that AI models in conversation are indeed much more persuasive than conventional methods used to sway voters—like, say, political ads. But they are most effective not because they are especially manipulative, but because they are better at marshalling facts to support their case.Today’s guest is Kobi Hackenburg, an Oxford University PhD candidate who authored one of the papers and who has long studied the question of AI’s power to change minds. Among other things, Kobi and Eric will dig deeper into why factuality works so well in these experiments and other, more insidious techniques, like microtargeting, don’t. We’ll speculate about how AI might be used by political campaigns in the future,   And whether we should be cheered ar that, at least in this experiment, people seemed surprisingly open to changing their minds when confronted with contrary facts.Website - free episode transcriptswww.in-reality.fmAlliance for Trust in Mediaalliancefortrust.com Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapiensoundsapien.com

Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, long-time business journalist and executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media. What has it meant to be a professional news journalist during the past 10 years? In an era of gleeful hostility to the press, how do reporters cope? How do they avoid becoming the story? How do they handle unprecedented fear for their own safety, and the challenges of covering an administration that sometimes demands followers refuse to believe their own eyes?Our guest today is Steve Peoples, senior political writer for the Associated Press and a 14-year veteran of presidential campaigns. Few reporters have a clearer view of how the relationship between presidents and the press has transformed in these hyper-partisan years. We recorded this live at a session of my virtual University of Chicago course, Presidents vs. the Press. Our focus in this class was on the coverage of President Biden, which we are still processing 10 months after he left office, in particular how the press missed the signs of his cognitive decline. Steve is candid about the cause of that failure and about the job ahead for journalists in the age of Biden’s successor, Donald Trump: We cover the dangers of groupthink in the newsroom, the pressure journalists face to skew coverage to maintain access, and why fact-checking in real time is now a core responsibility of the press.We hope you enjoy the episode...Website - free episode transcriptswww.in-reality.fmAlliance for Trust in Mediaalliancefortrust.com Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapiensoundsapien.com

Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, longtime journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media. Two weeks ago, as we recorded this episode, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting closed its doors. As you no doubt know, Congress this summer voted to claw back money it had already approved to support the Corporation’s work. That work included, among other things, the distribution of federal funding to local public broadcasters, so the voiding of Congress’ promise leaves local stations to fend for themselves. Today’s guest stands at the center of this wrenching transition for public media. She’s Jennifer Ferro, the president of KCRW—Los Angeles’s flagship NPR affiliate—and the chair of National Public Radio’s board of directors. Jennifer and Eric talk about how KCRW is reinventing itself for a generation that doesn’t own a radio, about the threats to public journalism that go beyond funding—from TikTok to political polarization—and why she believes her real competition isn’t commercial news but the erosion of trust in professional journalism itself. We also discuss the accusations of political bias at NPR, the lawsuit between NPR and CPB, and what’s at stake when Americans live in separate, sealed information bubbles...Website - free episode transcriptswww.in-reality.fmAlliance for Trust in Mediaalliancefortrust.com Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapiensoundsapien.com

Courtney Radsch, Director of the Center for Journalism and Liberty, brings her expertise in press freedom and digital rights to discuss the critical role of journalism in the information ecosystem. She argues that journalism serves as a keystone species, essential for transparency and community trust. The conversation delves into the health of the U.S. information system, highlighting threats from AI and surveillance capitalism. Courtney also advocates for reforms including breaking up monopolies and regulatory frameworks to rebuild trust and support independent journalism.

In this engaging discussion, Brian Waniewski, Executive Director of Harmony Labs, shares insights into how narratives shape our understanding of the world. He explains the importance of stories in creating community identities and emphasizes the need for nonprofits to address polarization through data. Brian reveals fascinating findings on audience engagement with ultra-nationalist narratives on platforms like YouTube and suggests strategies for interrupting harmful narratives. He also discusses the role of media in fostering democratic values and advocates for public education to combat misinformation.

Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with host, Eric Schurenberg, longtime journalist and media executive, now founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.One of the hard things to face about the news ecosystem in this country at this time is that no one is coming to rescue us. There will be no Clean Air Act to take the fabrications and misconceptions and provocations out of our tragically polluted newsfeeds. If you want to consume news in a healthy way, not be misled, not trap yourself in a bubble, better understand the world at this moment, you have to take the initiative. On your own. It’s up to you. This is not, god forbid, an exhortation to “do your own research’ on social media. That will drive you deep down some rabbit holes. But it’s an exhortation to think clearly, effectively, scientifically about what you read, or watch, or listen to. Michael Starbird is a University Distinguished Teaching Professor of Mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin, who realized that the best way to teach students but how to think. His book The Five Elements of Effective Thinking, is about developing the habits of mind that make you much harder to mislead. And believe us, there are lots of people who want, for all kinds of reasons, to mislead you. Michael and Eric talk about how to judge scientific claims when you’re not a scientist, as most of us aren’t; how to separate evidence from noise, and why being open to change is not only a personal virtue but a civic necessity.If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the flood of claims, counterclaims, and outrage in your news feed, this episode will help you see a way forward.Website - free episode transcriptswww.in-reality.fmAlliance for Trust in Mediaalliancefortrust.com Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapiensoundsapien.com

Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, longtime journalist and media executive, now founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.Even in America, there is at least one sign that tribal loyalty doesn’t always dictate political outcomes. Kentucky, Kansas and North Carolina—Republican majority states all—have elected Democratic governors. For a healthy democracy, Eric think that’s a good thing. Which is why Eric finds today’s guest so interesting. Rob Sand is the state auditor in Iowa, the only Democrat to hold statewide elected office in that state. He’s now running for governor. That ambition in that state requires him to run what must be one of the most bi-partisan campaigns now underway in the country. We’ll hear today how he plans to persuade Republicans to cross party lines and vote for him. We’ll hear what personal qualities he thinks can bridge political divides and how, in his own life, he manages to avoid being trapped in the filter bubbles that make the American media ecosystem so toxic to civilc discourse. Rob’s campaign is a long shot, to be sure. But it’s an experiment worth running. Imagine an election in which the deciding principle wasn’t let’s choose the lesser of two evils, but rather, may the best man win. What a concept...Website - free episode transcriptswww.in-reality.fmAlliance for Trust in Mediaalliancefortrust.com Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapiensoundsapien.com

Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media hosted by Eric Schurenberg, longtime journalist and media executive, now founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.Any listener to In Reality is aware of the crisis in local news. It’s a five alarm fire. It’s the news desertification of rural America. And so, we can admire the problem forever.But one of the goals of this program is to highlight the people who are attacking journalism’s problems of trust and sustainability. So let’s do that. Eric's guest is Erin Millar, the journalist-turned-entrepreneur behind Indiegraf, equipping news entrepreneurs with the tools and services that media businesses need to grow and thrive, but that most startup newsrooms haven’t the time, money or expertise to assemble on their own. If you think of Indiegraf as a media business in a box, you’re not too far off. In the process of building Indiegraf and its clients, Erin has some definite ideas about how local newsrooms can build trust, how advertising is an important part of not just revenue but also trust, and why reports of the death of local news are not just exaggerated, they are missing the trend. We think you’ll get a lot out of this. Maybe even hope. Now here’s Erin Millar. Website - free episode transcriptswww.in-reality.fmAlliance for Trust in Mediaalliancefortrust.com Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapiensoundsapien.com

Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, long-time journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.We’ve been trying to suss out the future of media for the past few weeks by talking about the present of it.  The rise of influencers, the decline of local media, the mercurial psyche of audiences. Okay. So where does journalism go from here? How does it fulfill its role in a democracy rebuild trust and sustain itself economically—assuming it’s even possible to do all three at once. That’s the big topic for today’s guests, which is fine because they basically spend all their time pondering just those questions:  Tom Rosenstiel, professor of journalism at the University of Maryland and co-author of the profession’s bible, The Elements of Journalism, and Richard Gingras, former head of Google’s Local News Initiative and now chair of Village Media.They don’t spare journalism. They’ll discuss why the long, slow rebuild of trust depends not just on accuracy, but on empathy. Why reporters should start with human-centered design. And why local journalism, despite the current five-alarm fire in the category, may offer the most scalable model for renewal in the long run. This episode was recorded live at Eric's University of Chicago class on the future of media. We hope you enjoy the episode!Website - free episode transcriptswww.in-reality.fmAlliance for Trust in Mediaalliancefortrust.com Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapiensoundsapien.com

Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media. I’m your host, Eric Schurenberg, long-time journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.You cannot talk about the future of media, or the future of anything for that matter, without talking about AI. What generative AI does is pretty much exactly what journalism does: digest information, highlight what matters and render it to an audience in a fetching, attention grabbing way. For journalism, is that a good thing or a bad thing? Well, judging from history, it’s both or either: all depending on how it’s used. There’s already alarming evidence that Google’s pivot to AI summaries in its search, rather than links, is decimating referral traffic to newsrooms. It’s also undeniable that those same newsrooms are using AI to automate the grunt work of information gathering for journalism.To explore both the peril and promise, I’m joined by two guests who approach this upheaval from opposite sides of the media-tech divide. Jessica Chan is head of publisher partnerships at Perplexity.ai, a rising player in AI-powered answer engines. Troy Thibodeaux leads AI strategy at the Associated Press, a legacy newsroom that’s long been a leader in automating journalism with integrity.This conversation—recorded live at my University of Chicago class—dives into the licensing dilemmas facing publishers, the safeguards newsrooms are building around generative content, and the hopeful ways AI is being used to personalize, streamline, and even monetize trustworthy journalism.Website - free episode transcriptswww.in-reality.fmAlliance for Trust in Mediaalliancefortrust.com Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapiensoundsapien.com