Recently, I relocated from Seattle to Milwaukee. One of the first things that I wanted to do, was register to vote.
So, I took a trip to City Hall, stood in a short line and filled out my paperwork with a clerk. While I doing so, I heard a rather elderly gentleman behind me engage in conversation.
“I hope you’re not voting for that senile old guy,” he said.
I looked at him, smiled and asked jokingly, “Which One?”
Laughing back at me, the man said, “Well, the more senile one. The guy that called the President a ‘clown’.”
“Actually, I AM voting for that guy.” I retorted back.
Leaning back in his chair, the man chuckled and said “Well, good luck with that, young man.”
That simple exchange really registered with me. In that one moment, I had experienced a shred of civility that I hadn’t experienced in a long time. Here was a stranger, who clearly had different opinions of the President than myself, respecting my opinion without harassment.
Civility flew out the window a long time ago in the arena of public discourse. Unfortunately, newsrooms and spoken word outlets have, to a great degree, been the most culpable for this. Instead of reporting the news and presenting a wide array of views, they’ve all been microtargeting. Many have picked a segment of the population that they want to reach and catered their messaging to that segment’s worldview. Instead of telling people what they NEED to hear, they tell them what they WANT to hear. What’s presented as discussion from opposing viewpoints often comes off as disingenuous, contrived and usually erodes into shouting matches. Instead of offering thought provoking opinions, many commentators present things that are, at times so outlandish, I wonder if even THEY believe what they’re saying.
In an ironic twist, the staffs of many media outlets are just as divided as the country is right now. What I hear from many station and newsroom managers (and what I’ve experienced first-hand) is that it’s reaching a critical mass. This division has gotten so bad, it’s become commonplace that Republican staffers sit on one side of the building, Democrats sit on another and neither side talks to each other anymore.
Of all the institutions in the world, spoken word media must be the last bastion of civilized and genuine discourse. How are they going to provide that if they can’t even speak to their own colleagues who happen to have an opposing viewpoint? So many outlets are rotting from within. A victim of the same monster of division that they created.
I remember in almost every radio station I ever worked for, the common refrain from executives was for us to “get out of silos so we can accomplish more together.” Going into 2021, that goal should be updated to “get out of safe spaces so we can TOLERATE each other”.
To accomplish this mission…here are five things I think anyone that manages a spoken-word outlet should think long and hard about…
- BE OPEN ABOUT YOUR OWN VIEWS
Political views are not something to be afraid of. They aren’t some boogeyman that you need to keep locked in a closet. Get your personal views out into the open. Let people know where you stand. At the same time, be certain to show them concrete examples of how your personal views won’t affect your management decisions.
When I first interviewed for the PD job at KIRO in Seattle, one of the many people I had to speak to was longtime host Dori Monson. While preparing for the interview, I had listened to his show online extensively. It didn’t take me long to figure out that we both looked at the world very, very differently.
When I sat down with Dori for the first time, I knew the first question he was going to ask me…and opted to take a direct approach.
“So, what do you think of my show?” he asked.
“Well, to be honest, Dori, I disagree with just about everything you have to say,” I responded.
“Oh,” Dori said as he started to frown.
“But you’re compelling as HELL to listen to and that’s what matters the most to me, personally,” I added.
That changed the entire tenor of the conversation.
Dori and I went on to have a successful, open, and honest relationship. There was never any tension between the two of us because we both knew where we stood. Most importantly, he understood that my personal views wouldn’t be ONE MORE thing he’d have to worry about when he put together the content of his show. I’d be evaluating him objectively.
- WALK TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE AISLE
Some of the best conversations I had were with people that didn’t share my own personal views. I would make a point to seek these people out and talk to them on a regular basis. One person that was great at this was Michael Medved.
I was fortunate enough to work in the same building as Michael, who has had an extraordinarily successful career as a right-leaning syndicated talk show host. On several occasions when I would be speaking with colleagues in the hallway about Democratic Party issues, he would commonly walk over and politely ask if he could join the conversation. He’d let us know the basis for his views and ask us the basis for ours. In many ways, my interactions with him were very much like the format of his talk show. Medved embraced debate and dissent. He never sought out to “own” anyone or change their minds. But he would always give you something to think about.
- DON’T BE SO DAMN SERIOUS
News, politics, and social issues can certainly have their somber moments. That being said, not everything has to be life and death. Fostering a light atmosphere helps put things in perspective when things DO get heavy.
During the 2016 election, I remember joking almost daily with a colleague of mine who was a Trump Supporter. Like virtually everyone, I thought Hillary Clinton was going to win in a landslide. Naturally, we were trash talking each other almost every day.
Then, of course, election night happened.
When I came to work the next day, I was greeted by a big picture of Donald Trump taped to my office door. We both laughed it off.
It was a far cry from the tense atmosphere that reverberated throughout the building that day and, in a big way, helped set people at ease.
- TRY TO FIND COMMON GROUND
No matter how diametrically opposed you can be with someone on the issues, you can always find things you agree on. Yet very few people take the time and effort to find out what you have in common with someone else. It’s far too easy to dismiss someone based on what you disagree on.
I’ve enjoyed my interactions with Todd Herman, the conservative talk show host who fills in for Rush Limbaugh. Todd has distain for pretty much every political candidate that I have ever supported. Despite this, I really worked to try and find issues that we agreed on.
I’d chat him up in the hallway and take him out for coffee and pick his brain on various issues.
Much to his surprise, he found out that we had similar opinions on the Second Amendment.
Much to my surprise, I found out that he had no real issue with gay marriage.
We both dashed assumptions we had about each other and I feel it was a healthy exercise for both of us.
He even invited me and my husband out to his place to do some target shooting.
One day, we’ll take him up on that.
