Category Archives: democracy

changing nature of work, democracy, Events, Podcasts

Can Local News Fix The Crisis in Democracy?

In this forum we consider the pivotal role of information and facts in a healthy democracy.

Many people think that America is coming apart at the seams, for a variety of reasons.  Most glaringly, polarization has split entire communities, dividing friends and families from each other so that prospects for the next election look grim. However, there might be some good news on the horizon.  Literally.  Recent research shows that one way to improve voter activity, decrease polarization and boost municipal bond rating is to inject community news into people’s lives. Local news, it would seem, acts as a binding agent for democracy.

Recorded 10/4/2023

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Charles Sennott, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The GroundTruth Project, is home to Report for America.
Sennott is an award-winning correspondent, best-selling author and editor with 30 years of experience in international, national and local journalism. A leading social entrepreneur, Sennott is a graduate of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.

Sennott is joined by a panel of journalists and media entrepreneurs from around the country who will discuss how delivering local news can glue democracy back together. 

Carol Wood is Business Innovation Director for the Colorado News Collaborative, which supports 180 media organizations in Colorado.  Founder of Emerge Media Group, she provides fractional COO services, as well as monetization and sustainability consulting, to news organizations across the country.  Carol’s passion to protect democracy and press freedom drives her work helping all types of media companies develop sustainable business practices, strategy, growth and sound operations. 

“Bobbie” Roessner,  founding editor of The New Bedford Light, is passionate about the power of public service journalism to inform and empower communities. Roessner was a Knight Journalism Fellow at Stanford University and has twice been a Pulitzer juror. She currently serves on the board of the New England First Amendment Coalition, advocating for open government and press freedoms. 

Tracie Powell, founder and CEO of The Pivot Fund

Tracie Powell is a leader in philanthropic efforts to increase racial equity and diversity in news media and founder of the Pivot Fund, which supports independent BIPOC community news.    Powell was founding fund manager of the Racial Equity in Journalism (REJ) Fund at Borealis Philanthropy. Powell is also the founder of AllDigitocracy.org, which focuses on the media and its impact on diverse communities.

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democracy, Events, Podcasts

Women And Leadership

Hear a powerful call to action for achieving equality in leadership from Julie Gillard, former Prime Minister of Australia (2010 – 2013) as she reflects on her new book Women and Leadership.

GBH Forum Network Video: Women and Leadership 

Recorded February 3, 2021

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Using current research as a starting point, authors Julia Gillard  and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (The World Trade Organization has appointed Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as its new director-general – making her the first woman and first African to hold the roll) analyzed their experiences, interviewed women world leaders and published their joint findings in a new book WOMEN AND LEADERSHIP.  In it they investigate the questions raised by the lack of women leaders in the national arena.

Women make up fewer than ten per cent of national leaders worldwide, and behind this eye-opening statistic lies a pattern of unequal access to power. Through conversations with some of the world’s most powerful and interesting women–including Jacinda Ardern, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Christine Lagarde, Michelle Bachelet, and Theresa May–Women and Leadership explores gender bias and asks why there aren’t more women in leadership roles.

democracy, Events

Can We Save Journalism In America?

Respect for a free press is the cornerstone of democracy. But after all the fake news and tweeted lies, what will it take to restore public confidence and trust in American journalism? Charlie Sennott, founder of The Ground Truth Project, will share his ideas and we will hear from a couple of his young journalists working for Report for America who are injecting fresh energy into the field, on assignment around the country.  

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Recorded 12/4/2020

Matt Taibbi, award-winning writer and celebrated Rolling Stone correspondent, will talk about the financial challenges facing the press and discuss his recent book, HATE INC.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another.

Learn why Taibbi says most people think of news as “a twisted wing of the entertainment business.”

Do you agree?

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democracy, Events

How to make meaningful conversation

Discover the art of building a good dialogue! Architect and designer, Fred Dust considers ways to have constructive conversations which are critical to problem-solving in all sorts of different settings from schools, to non-profits and governments.  

Dust’s new book, Making Conversation offers readers a tool kit, outlining 7 essential elements for meaningful conversations.

Constructive conversation is one of humanity’s first and most powerful tools.

Recorded 11/16/2020

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Dust has designed conversations for all sorts of scenarios from the Aspen Institute to victims of gun violence in Brooklyn.  Dust contends that 7 principles can be applied universally to stimulate conversation.

Dust chairs the board of Parsons School of Design and sits on the board of NPR, the New School and Sundance Institute.

Seth Henderson is from Aspen Institutes’s Better Arguments Project, a new national civic initiative created to help bridge ideological divides and help train Americans to conduct better arguments. He says that arguments don’t have to drive us apart but can bring us together and that the more Americans engage each other, the healthier and stronger our democracy will be.

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democracy, Events

Trust In A Polarized Age

Have we have reached an all-time low in terms of trusting our politicians and the media? Are we caught in a downward spiral that must end in institutional decay or even civil war, or can we restore trust through our shared social institutions?

Recorded October 23, 2020

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Kevin Vallier, author, political philosopher and libertarian blogger at Bowling Green State University tackles this question as Americans go about selecting a new leader. 

Jane Mansbridge is a Harvard political scientist and one of the world’s most prominent scholars of democratic theory.

She warns, “Listening only to one’s own side can generate dangerous amounts of unrealism.”

Watch this forum on the GBH Forum Network

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democracy, Events

TOO MUCH INFORMATION – or too little substance?

Too Much Information, Cass R. Sunstein‘s latest book, examines the effects of excessive information in our lives.  Policymakers emphasize the public “right to know” but Sunstein takes a different tack, arguing that the focus should be on human well-being and the information that contributes to it. 

Recorded 9/11/20

In addition to being a Professor of Law at Harvard, Sunstein served as Administrator of the White House Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs under President Obama. He is author of several books including “Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness.” 

Sunstein is interviewed by Charlie Sennott, the Editor-in-Chief of The GroundTruth Project. 

Many Americans believe that we are currently experiencing a crisis in journalism due to the flood of misinformation, conspiracy theories and opinion, masquerading as fact. What do you think?

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Archive, democracy, Events, Radio

The Age Of Illusions

Andrew Bacevich, Professor Emeritus of International Relations and History at the Boston University discusses his new book about the post-Cold war follies and delusions that culminated in the age of Donald Trump in conversation with journalist Christopher Lydon, host of Open Source radio.

THE AGE OF ILLUSIONS
How America Squandered Its Cold War Victory

How, within a quarter of a century, did the United States end up with gaping inequality, permanent war, moral confusion, and an increasingly angry and alienated population, as well, of course, the strangest president in American history?

Recorded 1/14/2020

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democracy, Events

Surveillance Capitalism and Democracy 


Recorded 1/23/19 Watch video here.

Shoshana Zuboff, Harvard Business School professor emerita, discusses her new book, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power with moderator Christopher Lydon, radio host of WBUR’s Open Source.

The Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal was just a glimpse of the ways big tech companies exploit personal data without our knowledge, and how those data are used to shape our behavior. Our challenge now is to move past the shock and revulsion to ask the most important question of our time: Will we be the masters of the information age or will it master us? 


THE AGE OF SURVEILLANCE CAPITALISM reveals what is at stake for our digital future and how we can reclaim control by harnessing the power of indignant citizens, journalists and policymakers.