NICD Chat - Home Style Opinion

National Institute for Civil Discourse

In this episode of NICD Chat, Timothy J. Shaffer, PhD speaks with Joshua Darr, PhD at Louisiana State University and Matthew P. Hitt, PhD at Colorado State University. They speak about their book Home Style Opinion: How Local Newspapers Can Slow Polarization from Cambridge University Press coauthored with Johanna L. Dunaway.

Local newspapers can hold back the rising tide of political division in America by turning away from the partisan battles in Washington and focusing their opinion page on local issues. When a local newspaper in California dropped national politics from its opinion page, the resulting space filled with local writers and issues. What comes from this experiment are lessons for all of us as we think about the role of local media, especially newspapers. As they argue, an opinion page that ignores national politics and, instead, focuses on news issues and concerns could help people think about public issues and politics differently. When we have so many outlets encouraging partisanship and polarization, Home Style Opinion is a good reminder that news can be produced and consumed without national politics and political polarization driving the discussion.