Americans Are 'Living In Bubbles With Thicker And Thicker Walls,' Former NPR Chief Says
Ken Stern, former NPR CEO, spent a year going to NASCAR races, pig hunts and evangelical churches to witness a side of the United States he thinks liberals know little about. That divide, he says, is reflected in where people live, who they associate with and the media they consume.
Here & Now‘s Robin Young speaks with Stern (@kenpstern) about his new book, “Republican Like Me: How I Left the Liberal Bubble and Learned to Love the Right.”
- Find more great reads on the Here & Now bookshelf
- Scroll down to read an excerpt from “Republican Like Me”
Interview Highlights
On how he sees the premise of the book
“My book’s really not about the media. It’s really about all of us, that we are increasingly, in this world, all living in in bubbles with thicker and thicker walls. We’re choosing to live in neighborhoods with like-minded people. We’re all getting our content from self-selected media. We’re not becoming un-polarized on the issues. Our beliefs on issues haven’t really changed in the last 25 years, but our beliefs about the other side are becoming increasingly negative. My goal, really, was to leave my 94 percent Democratic ward and 100 percent Democratic household and try to see things from the other side, as Atticus Finch said in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird.’ ”
On the perception of the media
“The trust ratings for the media right now ranks about at 35 percent. That’s roughly the same as Donald Trump. Half the country thinks the media does fake news. One of the things I did during
