America is extremely polarized – and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. So is there value, then, in at least getting people to agree to disagree?
(Getty Images)
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Exacerbated by a polarized political climate, an increasing number of reporters in the U.S. are facing unrelenting threats of violence and harassment from people online. In Columbus, several reporters have experienced harassment directly.
“It was maybe a week after we ran the piece,” recalled Andy Downing, editor at Columbus Alive. “I started getting all these random calls on my cellphone, like from South Africa, just all over, leaving threatening voicemails.”
Ohio journalists examine their role in political divisiveness, serving community
By Doug Oplinger - Your Voice Ohio
It was a steamy July week in Ohio as folks from around the state sat in front of computers and smartphones for two-hour online conversations.
The purpose of the sessions was so reporters and editors in the Your Voice Ohio media project could hear and better represent what was on people’s minds as the presidential election loomed less than four months away.
But it was an awakening for those journalists, who are steeped in politics and acutely tuned to the news. Ohioans had more pressing issues than an election.