By Garratt Rothberg ’27
Garratt Rothberg ‘27, along with the Center for Political Engagement, hosted a speaker event and deliberation on media bias, misinformation, and media literacy. The event began with a presentation by Isaac Saul, the founder of Tangle News, who spoke about his experience founding a news organization dedicated to unbiased and balanced reporting in a media landscape rife with highly politicized news outlets.
Following Isaac’s talk, the audience of students and community members took part in an interactive Menti poll on topics such as their personal media consumption habits and their confidence in navigating media bias. Through Menti, participants saw each other’s selections to each question in real time, allowing them to get a sense of how news consumption attitudes differed throughout the crowd. Many of the results from the Menti poll sparked surprise among the audience, leading them into a deliberation on the generational divides in views towards media polarization.
While the group discussed their own news habits and encounters with misinformation, Isaac answered questions and provided additional background knowledge from his career as a news editor. After the event, Garratt compiled the results of the Menti poll to create an infographic displaying key findings from the poll, which will be posted on social media pages and distributed around campus.
The discussion emphasized the importance of nonpartisan news sources, as well as the challenges towards democracy that a highly politicized media presents. Deliberation allowed audience members of different generations to better understand each other’s views and habits, demonstrating that deliberation is a critical tool in building a sense of mutual understanding among diverse groups.
