The Democracy Group

There’s a place in rural St. Johns, Arizona, where teens who have encounters with officers of the law can play pool, make music, and get mentored instead of going to jail. It’s called The Loft, and it’s the brainchild of a judge who wanted to save the county hundreds of millions of dollars and divert young people towards the support many were not getting at home. Reported by Ruxandra Guidi.Find a resource guide and annotated transcript at our website here.Additional Information70 Million PodcastMore shows from The Democracy GroupSponsor: Tokens Podcast

Only four in 10 Americans say they have a lot of trust in the news media. That's a big problem for our democracy. While journalists are supposed to tell the truth and get the story right, just 35 percent of right-of-center voters have some trust in what they see in the news.Democrats and independents are much more likely to trust journalists, but Americans of almost all shades of opinion are skeptical toward the news media, questioning not only the quality of journalists’ work but their intentions behind it.Our guest is Joy Mayer, Director of the non-profit Trusting News, which is working with local newsrooms around the country to help journalists earn consumers' trust.While many reporters, writers and editors are reluctant to discuss their political views, most journalists have liberal or progressive views. "I think it's something we need to talk about more openly," Joy tells us.In this episode, we look at bias, transparency, and constructive steps that the news media can take to improve its reputation with a broad cross-section of Americans.Additional InformationHow Do We Fix It? PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

Local news is losing out to online, nationalized, and more polarized outlets. How do the economics of news production and the contributors who write it affect the political content that Americans see? Nikki Usher finds that local newspapers are losing staff, but declines are not concentrated in Red small towns. Nick Hagar finds that contributors to online media are an insular group, with conservative outlets disconnected from the rest. Both the producers of news and their dominant consumers are unrepresentative–that’s changing the content and style of news.Guests: Nikki Usher, University of Illinois; Nick Hagar, Northwestern University Studies: News for the Rich, White, and Blue and “Writer Movements Between News Outlets Reflect Political Polarization in Media”Additional InformationScience of Politics PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

Biden's current policy is, you know, we want Putin to calm down, be stable for awhile and turn our focus to restraining China. I don't think that's going to happen. That's not in his interest to do that. So, I think taking our eye off Russia, underestimating it, is the biggest concern for the U.S. currently.Kathryn StonerA full transcript is available at www.democracyparadox.com or a brief primer on Russia here.Kathryn Stoner is a professor of political science at Stanford University. Her new book is Russia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order.Key Highlights IncludeA description of Russia's economyAn account of Russia's military reformsWhy Russia is in the Middle EastExplanation of Russia's foreign policyIs a resurrected Russia a danger to the West?Additional InformationDemocracy Paradox PodcastMore shows from The Democracy GroupRussia Resurrected: Its Power and Purpose in a New Global Order by Kathryn StonerThe Freeman Spogli Institute For International Studies

The takeover by the Taliban in Afghanistan; a more aggressive China and Russia; a newly-elected hardline President in Iran: All are all major challenges facing President Joe Biden and his Administration. Our podcast guests are Ned Temko, who writes the weekly international affairs column “Patterns” for The Christian Science Monitor, and Scott Peterson, the Monitor's Middle East bureau chief. Both are highly experienced and well-traveled foreign correspondents, who bring depth and expertise to coverage of global affairs.Among the many topics covered in this episode: Similarities and differences to Trump's "America First" approach, the implications of the rapid withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan, why China is the biggest overseas challenge for the Biden Administration, relations with America's allies, and the increased threat to human rights in Asia and Middle East. Join us to gain fresh insight on the rapidly evolving international situation.Additional InformationLet's Find Common Ground PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

“The world that we live in today is fuelled by heightened emotion…”Over the course of two seasons of On Opinion, we’ve looked at opinions through the lens of philosophy, psychology, social science, anthropology and evolution. But one area we’ve missed is that of feeling.Omar Kholeif and Jonathan Sklar take very different approaches to understand the world we live in, but both see emotion as something that can affect individuals and collective groups.Jonathan feels that you can transpose psychoanalysis, which is designed for the individual, to a culture and a moment in history. Omar is convinced not only that ‘ages’ have emotions, dominant leitmotifs of feeling that impact everyone around them, but also that today is a particularly emotional age - that our feelings are closer to the surface.Listen to Turi speak to Jonathan and Omar about:How we define ‘ages’The difference between the Arab Spring and Black Lives Matter protestsWhether we need to ‘fix’ an age of anxietyThe rise of hatred across the WestHow psychoanalysis can heal emotional wounds of traumaThe importance of mourning“There’s a considerable rise in anxiety and tension and people hating other people, and there’s far less debate going on…”Works cited include:William Reddy’s Emotional RegimesWill Davies on Nervous StatesRead the Full TranscriptOmar KholeifOmar is a writer, curator, and cultural historian, and is Director of Collections and Senior Curator at Sharjah Art Foundation, Government of Sharjah, UAE. Trained as a political scientist, Kholeif’s career began as a journalist and documentary filmmaker before entering into the picture palace of museums. Concerned with the intersections of emerging technologies with post-colonial, and critical race theory, Kholeif’s research has explored histories of performance art; the visual experience of mental illness; the interstices of social justice, as well as the aesthetics of digital culture.Jonathan SklarJonathan trained in medicine at the Royal Free, University of London in 1973, and then trained in psychoanalytic psychotherapy in the Adult Department, Tavistock Centre for four years with adults, children and adolescents. At the same time he trained at the Institute of Psychoanalysis and has been a psychoanalyst since 1983 and a training analyst since 1996. He is chair of The Independent Psychoanalysis Trust.Additional InformationOn Opinion PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

In this episode of Politics In Question, Amanda Ripley joins Julia, Lee, and James to discuss political conflict. Ripley is an investigative journalist and New York Times bestselling author. Her most recent book is High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out (Simon & Schuster, Inc., 2021). Ripley's writing has appeared in the Atlantic Magazine, Time Magazine, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Slate, Politico, the Guardian, and The Times of London.What is high conflict? How does it impact politics? Can participating in politics in institutions like Congress help solve the problems high conflict causes? And what exactly is a conflict entrepreneur? These are some of the questions Amanda, Julia, Lee, and James ask in this episode.Additional InformationPolitics in Question PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United states and explored the consequences of the U.S. response, the James Madison Center for Civic Engagement and JMU X-Labs have parterened to share and highlight the contributions of James Madison University alumni who commissioned through the ROTC and served in the Global War on Terror. In this episode, Lieutenant Colonel Dan Curran shares his experiences with the JMU ROTC program and the impact it has, what makes a patriot, as well as the betrayal of the Kurds.See the show notes with links mentioned in this episode at https://j.mu/civic/9-11-at-20.shtml#curranAdditional InformationDemocracy Matters PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

In this episode, Adam Eichen speaks to Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program. The two discuss gerrymandering, what the For The People Act would do to stop it, and the meaning of the upcoming Census deadline.Note: When the episode was recorded, the Census Bureau planned to release its data on August 16th. Since then, the date was moved to August 12th.Michael’s Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/02/voting-fix-that-cannot-wait-stopping-partisan-gerrymanderingAdditional InformationAnother Way PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group

Everyone wants the best education for their children. But parents and teachers don't always agree on how to get there.In this episode, we hear from two education leaders whose views clashed when they first met. Gisele Huff is a philanthropist and longtime proponent of school choice, including charter schools. Becky Pringle spent her career in public education. A science teacher for three decades, she is now President of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest labor union. After some deep initial skepticism, these women and other leaders came together and developed a transformational vision for US education. Along the way, they developed a deep respect for one another, and a friendship that has helped each of them through personal tragedies.This episode is co-produced in partnership with Convergence Center for Policy Resolution— one of a series of podcasts that Common Ground Committee and Convergence are producing together.Additional InformationLets Find Common Ground PodcastMore shows from The Democracy Group