On the director on the center here at religion and culture director of the center of religion and culture. Coverage by our friends at cspan for this event tonight. Sharp, try to behave. Put yourself ones on mute. Feel free to tweak the event as you like. Maybe even our president will be tweeting the event at some point. It seems hes more interested in general in other manners. Of this to conceive Program Shortly after mr. Trump on thected last november Famous Campaign slogan make America Great again. We are taking something of a risk by having this program, because we were betting in the course of one year he would not in fact have achieved his goal, an achievement that would have made this evenings discussion. Oot it does seem the issue of National Greatness is still very much in play and in our case very much in doubt. Nationalism, a service of naked hatred garrity, rampant. Ropaganda they are all problems that if anything have gotten worse. Is operating thesis shouldnt donald trump, he who shall not be named in some respects, is really more of a symptom than a cause of our crisis. But it does raise the question of what National Greatness means. Value that is so important to our National Identity really means. It has been said america is great because america is good. Ronald reagan uses that line in a speech. It to ng one of the earlier examples of fake news, i guess. It was fairly instantly deployed. As we say its too good to check out so it has become the standard trope of stump speeches ever since. What does it mean for a nation to be good and have we all been good . Did we simply fall short of an ideal . And have we bailed on those ideals . Is there a path back, is it a path we even want to follow. These are the questions we wish to explore with our distinguished panel this evening. A former editor at the Chicago Tribune and a columnist for chicago catholic, the newspaper of his own archdiocese. Don will introduce our panelists and guide us through the presentations and discussions that follow. A couple of housekeeping notes. On your chair as you will find two cards and one pencil. Yourfor writing down questions after dawn moderates a discussion we will collect your questions. I will sort through them by theme and hand them up to dom to don houle pose your questions to our panelists. Please be sure to write or print legibly. There is also a second yellow card, asking how you heard about this event. You can check one of those boxes. As we seek to better serve you. I hope everybody can hear me, i have a tendency to speak softly. Honored to have moderated the distinguished panel. All of you have a brochure. As he or she begins to speak. A personal reflection about the topic tonight. Of 1965 i was a college at the university of notre dame. Wanting to study politics and political science. The presidency of john f. Kennedy. Had theired me, as Civil Rights Movement. Both are examples of how politics can make the world, the nation, the destination better. The first thing he had us read is aristotles ethics. Think it was on the education of this. Wondering what does this have to do with winning elections . And making things better in the society. I began to understand. Every policy is the citizen. ,deally wellinformed, ethical who participate fully in the life of the policy. Year americans did something that has shaken the faith of a lot of people. Thats why we are asking this question. The evidence seems to be all around us. President lected a that seems to have respected none of the traditional norms. Maybe things need to be shaken up but calling into question the respect of the rule of law is and other basic principles is fairly radical. We are waiting the result of an election. It appears that a man who is incredibly confused in pedophilia may win hes being supported by one of the major parties. We live ideologically segregated lives. And different Political Parties and opinions. The question of the health of our society and moral center is up in the air. With powerful and important thoughts on this issue. Ands a featured columnist has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the l. A. Times. Aboutll tell you more herself as she arises. Each of the panelists will speak initially for eight minutes. And then we will have some discussion and back and forth. Am glad to be here and part of this important conversation. Im going to talk about the problem of fake news. Things thathe many we are all worried about. Almost a year into this administration. The truth needs to be at the top of this list. Trump tweeting out those islamophobia committee of us. Videos that came from a convicted rightwinger, somebody who is totally discredited as a hatemonger and when a white house spokeswoman stands up there, they ask about whether the videos are really authentic, she says it doesnt matter. Fake and askede us to dismiss that. Doesnt matter if the videos are real. The idea that someone is speaking on behalf of the president , frankly this is not that surprising. Have a mission to celebrate and defend Free Expression. We viewed the spread of fraudulent news in terms of the many events of Free Expression in this era. Some people have argued wise it an expression issue . Protectedake news is under the First Amendment. You can spread false is him as it rises to the level of deprivation in this country. We argue if you care about free speech its not just the First Amendment. E see ourselves as guardians we think fraudulent news represent a real threat to that. First the scale of the problem. Gallup, only 32 of americans have even just a fair amount of trust in the media. Down eight points from a year before and 20 Percentage Points from 1997 over the past 20 years. Pew Research Center has done a study showing that 64 of americans felt fabricated new stories are in confusion about the basic facts of Current Issues and events. Virtuallyess than any other institution in our society. Even worse on the index of trust. False news is widespread and spreads uncontrollably. One third of americans fabricated political new stories online. Assault, beingn mounted from the white house on the Mainstream Media with the aim of denigrating and discrediting the confusion about what is fake news. What we call fraudulent news, news that is not substantiated, that a spread with the aim of deception. Party much the exact opposite of what President Trump calls fake news. To him fake news is coverage he finds unfavorable. He labels it that way. The result has been a depolarization and Media Consumption where half the country is watching foxnews. The rest of us are tuning into cnn and nbc. Between this pattern of denigration continues relentlessly. We have documented over 100 examples of it. I think the case is going to be even higher. What are the applications for our society and democracy . Run through a series of them in my limited time. It is understanding the breadth that of this potential impact. That doesnt have the facts and information and data they need to make sound decisions at the ballot box, to formulate views on policy. A popularson said government without popular information or a means of acquiring it is a prologue to a farce or a tragedy. I think we are willing to that. Arcical tragedy the second is unending polarization and read lock. If people expose information that only originate from politically aligned sources, they lose the ability to see issues for the opposing size or. Eal empathy when policymakers are politically split, the result is. Aralysis a third consequence of the rampant spread of fraudulent news is the undermining of legitimate news media for cutting for government accountability. To be an outlet for whistleblowers and others who want to expose mitts expose ms. Expose misdeeds. A way of weeding out scribblers and an effective leaders. I think that is a reason why the president has attacked the media. He is laying the groundwork for perhaps how he got its office in what hes doing in office and what the consequences will be laid bare. It its all asay bunch of falsehoods, on a pack of lies. Fourth up is the longterm risk to the viability of serious news. The traditional Business Model that supported them based on advertising and Television Advertising has come under enormous strain. Most people get the majority of their news through social Media Outlets that dont have the same level of support for the newsrooms that generate that content. An erosion of trust and leadership. Boost in leadership and all rally around the Washington Post. That comes from the eastern seaboard, the urban centers. Its not coming from the heartland. We see an erosion of interest in the Mainstream Media and effective and ultimately that will affect our bottom line. A fifth consequence relates to toicymaking and the risk evidencebased informing pretty much every policymaking whether it be a economy, health care, education. Thatdigest the analyses are coming out in the academic centers. We depend on our news media to interpret, analyze, and what to credit. Going to finish off with rattling off a couple of different issues. The big Digital Media companies. If the credibility is undermined it cant play that role. To help guide us in terms of how to react. If their role in credibility has been eroded. We have seen in the context of the recent hurricanes that misinformation is rampant. Finally a plague of cynicism. The moral center of our society crack soap in. I think he has been a signal an authoritarian society. Power that requires moral authority. The defeat of moral principles as such. The senior fellow at the ethics of path ethics of Public Policy center. Hes a conjure reading writer for the New York Times. Forhank you very much moderating and david for putting this together. And you ladies and gentlemen for being here. 10 minutes. You can dilate on one or two points. Im going to go the latter route. An unprecedented crisis. I think the Public Perception confirms that. The starkly pessimistic view of politics. And the numbers are pretty striking. This would be the new normal, seven out of 10 said the political divisions are great. Americans that are proud of the way our nations democracy is working has doubled. Public trust in government is near historic lows. Republicans and democrats have for each other is growing. You can feel it in the air. Greater than any time than i can remember. Ofo think these perceptions political system failing its a problem of reality. I could point out a lot of things. Trump who elects donald as president has a remarkably low view of politics. No obviousce, qualifications, and it has manifested itself every day since he took the office. What interesting is his supporters and i talked to a their arguments were things couldnt get worse and he wasnt worse than any other politician. A second reason i think that people since the political system is there a lot of economic stress and anxiety come a sense of vulnerability and a sense of politics is not making the situation better. We have the stagnant wages of shrinking middle class, tuition costs, lack of social mobility. Were going through a period of it pumping of anonymous transformation. The bottom 80 have really benefited from that. That is exasperate exacerbating income inequality. They believe the governing class has let them down. I World Wrestling with no experience. Wrestling ent ertainment hall of famer with no experience. Jonathan heights and sam abrams, two professors cite several longterm friends that explain why our National Politics are broken. , asll mention a few of them the political scientist referred them to. To appear for themselves ideologically over the years. Politicians are polarized and so are americans. World verb in rural divide has turned into a gulf with the virgin interests and values. Immigration is rising, leading to larger racial and ethnic divisions paid you have cultural changes in Congress Making it harder to maintain cross party friendships. Its much easier for partisans to confirm their suspicions and put pressure on politicians than to play to the extremes. Has entered what could be called the President Donald Trump not only wants to attack the truth, he wants to annihilated. Postmodernism and deconstructionism. We never see this in the political arena like we are seeing now. We have seen the rise of his acute political tribalism. Moderation and compromise, which had been central to the political life of this country and success of this country. The spreading humanization within politics. On the right there has been an extraordinary valuation of ideas that has occurred over my lifetime. A blossoming is sense of National Identity. People are defined by race and ethnicity. Get the sense youre heading toward a collision of sorts, making its way to fracturing disagreements, to contempt and anger and rage. Are a lot seem there of breaks that can be applied. There is a downward cycle of recrimination. So what we do about it . First its key perspective. We had the civil war, jefferson, adams, and 1800. The second thing is as we are going to get better we have to to obtain inclusive prosperity. That inquires greater social inclusion. I think we need people in politics to make the case for politics. Why its essential. Leaders need to argue for the dignity and necessity of politics. How he wassting speaking about his entry. And to argue what it is, which are which is give or take an debate and compromise. Its also the limits of politics that have to be talked about. I think that explains in part the tribalism we are seeing. Recover theave to deep purposes of dialogue and debate. I think we have to listen well to each other. Not just to respond but to hear. We need people with authority within a particular political tribe to challenge their own tribe. A doesnt help that conservative president challenges liberals. They have have leadership for willing to take a people within their own community. We shouldnt despair. People are not happy with the situation they are in. You saw that with political ethics. Forle are willing to fight the nobility of politics. This was not out of our reach. And a coat not from john kennedy but from bobby kennedy. A lovely speech he gave in south africa. In the course of that speech he said, fewer will have greatness in the course of history itself. Each of us can work to change small events. He sends forth a tiny ripple of hope. Remember he gave that speech in 1966. I think each of us has to try and our own way to send forth on a daily basis. Tiny ripples of hope. Thank you. A professor of law here and former National Director of the sunlight foundation, foreigner former candidate for governor of new york. Thank you all for coming. Thank you to my copanelists. If you are here tonight, probably like me, you have this profound love for this country. You, recently 46 have been halfway through our lifes journey. Much of it has been a real passionate love affair with what america can be. I think the questions tonight are essential. Im a Langston Hughes patriot. In 1935, think about this, this is a black man in 1935 talking about america. He says let america be america again. Let it be the dream or streamed. America was never america to me. He says let it be that great , that anyd of love man be crushed by one above. America was never america to me. Its taught to talk about how terrible American History is but if you read the end of the pollen at the end of the poem, it says we the we the people must reclaim the rivers and make America Great again. Think im ai hughes patriot, he tells us about the weight think about our country, to think about our past, and think about our future. Saying there have been plenty of bad times in america. This is not the worst. I do not think i hope many of us would not choose to live in 1850 america. We have been in tough times before. The same time its incredibly important not to throw out the best part of our aspirations. He is then calling on this aspiration of love and freedom and these dual go these dual goals of public good. Really meaningful goals that i think are returning to at this moment. I was privileged to run for congress in the last election. Iran in the Hudson Valley in the district that voted for barack obama by six Percentage Points and for donald trump by almost nine Percentage Points. I can tell you of the need for defenders of politics, that even when you lose there is nothing as joyous and strange and weird as human and weird and human as running for politics. I saw an unbelievable amount of loneliness. Both in the older people i met. Also an incredible amounts of loneliness and young people. People people who did not feel they had a community to fall back on. And incredibly important part of understanding barrier in this particular moment. I assess on a more and a normas amount of powerless. They are not the same thing. Powerlessness is not feeling constrained or trapped org chart or crushed. You can always do better. People felt stuck and precarious. They often had more than one job. They didnt have benefits. Even in those cases where they did have benefits, they had no sense of dignity or assurance that they were going to stay in those jobs. That loneliness and powerlessness than exhibits itself in the downtowns of the Hudson Valley and i would