Welcome to Season 4 of Talk Policy to Me!

It’s been a whirlwind of policy news and happenings since you last heard from us (to say the least) and there’s a lot to catch up on. While we work hard on new episodes, we thought we’d pop into your feeds for a brief moment to introduce a few new members of the TPTM team and take a moment to ask one another: What media resources are you looking toward for grounding and clarity in the lead up to the November election? 

Feel free to share with us what you’re reading or listening to @goldmanschool and @BIFYA_Berkeley on Twitter and @GoldmanSchool (Instagram) on Instagram and stay tuned for forthcoming Season 4 episodes!

Transcript

Reem: [00:00:00] Hello Talk Policy To Me listeners, welcome to season four. Reem here with Colleen.

Colleen: [00:00:05] Hey everyone. We are back, and so very much has happened in the world since we put out our last episode. Where to begin?

Colleen: [00:00:17] So I thought we could just start with a little bit of talk policy to me news, which is that we have a few new team members that we would like to welcome to the show.

Noah: [00:00:25] Hey, I'm Noah Cole.

Elena: [00:00:27] Hey, everyone. I'm Elena Neale.

Michelle: [00:00:29] Hey, y'all. I'm Michelle Pitcher.

Reem: [00:00:31] We are so excited to have them all on board. We're working hard on bringing you new episodes this season, and we're figuring out what it means to make Talk Policy To Me in this moment and which policy stories we want to highlight right now. While y'all wait on those, as we are certainly hyper aware, we are in the final heat up to the election.

Colleen: [00:00:49] And we know there's a glut of election writing and podcast content, so we're not going to contribute to it. We realize how inundated we are right now with coverage options, and we've been thinking about you all as we ourselves reckon with how to navigate, what to read or what to listen to and when. So we thought we'd try to crowdsource a little bit of help as we all try to cut through the din.

Reem: [00:01:12] So we asked our classmates, What are you reading and listening to these days? What resources are you looking for? Clear headed analysis, Hope, inspiration, direction, data, distraction. What advice do you need right now?

Colleen: [00:01:26] Then we rounded up the top policy to meet team, to listen in on what our classmates shared and to chat about how we're all managing our election media coverage diets. We hope there are some nuggets in here to help you chart a clear course leading up to November 3rd and beyond.

Reem: [00:01:42] So let's dive in.

Reem: [00:01:44] Hey, everyone. So glad to have you all here gathered on a Zoom group call. We have some thoughts from our classmates on what they're listening to these days. And we thought we'd share some of what we heard. So we asked them. Amid the sea of election media coverage these days, how does one keep from drowning? Where do you find clarity of coverage hopeful or inspiring framing or analysis, answers, evidence. So what is your media diet in the weeks and months leading up to this very momentous and distressing election? So I'm going to play some media clips that our very generous classmates sent to us in no particular order.

Aaron: [00:02:32] Hi, this is Aaron Tiedemann, and in response to what I'm looking for this election in terms of analysis and to give me hope and inspiration and direction is for the people leading our discussions or political debates, meaning media, academics and most importantly, elected officials and candidates to engage substantively and at a high level with the core issues that are driving our country and that need to be addressed in order for us to move forward.

Reem: [00:03:04] I felt like this was like a sub tweet of the debates when I first listened to it.

Michelle: [00:03:09] Yeah, I listened to this right after I had just done a Google clip search on the fly. So definitely the keyword was substantively.

Reem: [00:03:20] So I think that this is Aaron's craving is a craving that a lot of people are experiencing.

Colleen: [00:03:26] Yeah. And I feel like thinking about that as a craving kind of implies that there is like a dearth of it, right? And, you know, why are we craving it?

Michelle: [00:03:35] The idea and something that I actually found really fascinating is that we are craving it a lot because we're not seeing it. But when we do see it, we tire of it more quickly. So for people who aren't really well versed in policy, a really well-researched, well written article about policy is still going to read super dry, super dense, maybe confusing. So we know we want it, but when we get it, it's hard for us to digest.

Elena: [00:04:07] I was thinking about kind of all the guides I've seen in recent days, kind of on like California propositions and just everything on the ballot and like sifting through everything and realizing how much of this was just not really in the news at all until these last few weeks. And it's like now all of a sudden, you know, we're supposed to kind of digest all of these different propositions, measures, etc..

Reem: [00:04:35] That is an amazing transition into our next recording that I want to play, which is from Chris Koh.

Chris: [00:04:46] Hey, this is Chris Koh. The main resources I've used in the past when I lived in San Francisco was the League of Pissed Off Voters as, like, a baseline. And then I'd kind of figure out where my own values align with it or don't align with that guide. But more recently, since I've moved to Berkeley, I've been talking to a lot of AAPI friends that have lived in the East Bay and have been asking for their voting guides and resources there. And also some folks within the GSPP MPP first year cohort. So yeah, been enjoying that. And I also feel like I've learned a lot from Instagram. So I've kind of through the past few months just been bookmarking a lot of posts that I see related to the election and have been using those references or those posts like references.

Colleen: [00:05:54] Yeah, I personally love a voter guide. I think they're great. And but to your point, Elena, like they all come running down the tube, like at the last minute, and then you're stuck, like having to digest pretty dense policy all in the lead, the final lead up to the election. Whereas, like, maybe this is something that could have been integrated throughout. So, like, starting there and then maybe thinking, Oh, is that overwhelming? Okay, maybe then I go to my personal networks or I go to my social media feed. But then I also another thing that comes up for me hearing this is like it's it's kind of like a two sided coin, right? Because it can be so affirming to go maybe to like a social media feed. But we also hear a lot about how our feeds are bubbles. And so is that what kind of thinking or discourse is that provoking as we think about how we vote?

Elena: [00:06:43] Yeah, definitely. I've been thinking about that too, because I do know kind of a lot of people who rely pretty heavily on social media for getting their news, whether that's just more generally or specific to elections. And I don't know the way I kind of have thought about it is like it's kind of a good jumping off point. Like if you see something on Instagram that like, you know, you didn't know about this, okay, cool. But go look into it more. Don't just you know, I think it can be a little dangerous sometimes if we just kind of rabbit hole through Instagram. But if you use it as a tool to then you know, dig a little deeper on, I think that could be a good source of info.

Michelle: [00:07:26] My super out of touch or is Instagram like do people post about politics on Instagram?

Noah: [00:07:32] 100%. I mean, I think that my feed is probably disproportionately like public policy. Political scientist. People have to acknowledge that. But for me, Instagram has been a huge resource for learning about issues, especially consistent with what Chris said. Like with voter guides. There are at least 12 California state propositions on the ballot this year. I'm sure there are more. And then on top of that, there's local measures and different things that we're all we'll all be voting on. And so it's impossible for you to be a huge expert in like, you know, as Reem was saying, like dive into white papers on each of the issues. And so I think on one hand, as we've acknowledged, like that's very convenient. But for me, like I posted on my story actually just the other day and I was just like, Hey, if you have any questions about California propositions, let me know. And I had three or four friends that replied to my story and they were like, What do you do? And I sent them the guides. But I also had a moment where I was just like, Oh, wait. Like, I have to make sure they know that this aligns with their values and that they are not just, you know, accepting what I say as gospel because that is important. Like when you see a infographic that makes it super easy for you to say, Oh yeah, I'm voting yes on this and on that. It's like, okay, who funds this organization? What's their mission? How long have they been around? What's their scope? And so, yeah, I think that like while I'm a huge fan and it's very comment on on my feed, I think there are definitely some dangers to it.

Colleen: [00:09:05] Yeah, totally same. I'm actually not on social media, but I feel like I have the same experience because I subscribe to a bunch of newsletters and I actually have found in recent weeks I've not been reading any of that content at my my inbox has actually been piling up with it, which is a different stressor.

Noah: [00:09:24] A quick comment is I think there's something to be said about Instagram as a platform is about photos, right? It's so easy to look at a photo and be like like I actually have the two infographics that I was talking about in front of me right now. And I'm like, okay, the 15 is in a blue circle, so I know they're yes, on that 22 is in a red circle, so I know it's no on that. So it's just super easy to consume. It's different than sending it to. We to someone. So I think that that platform lends itself to really deducing large information to something simple, like a infographic.

Reem: [00:09:53] Yeah. And I feel like I want to be like, cynical about that, but I like if that's like the democratization of knowledge, then that's great. Like, you don't necessarily have to read a white paper to really fully understand something. And it's possible that reading a white paper will make you understand that less and like separate you from like the reality of that policies impact or that ballot initiatives impact. So I would like to malign like the Instagram activists, but. There has to be some utility there. Okay. So here is a recording that Sakina Shabazz sent in.

Sakina: [00:10:29] Right now I am not as in tune with the presidential elections and debates because Trump needs to go. And I hope that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on the ticket. Outside of that, I am in tune with the local council race in Washington, D.C.. There are two at large positions that are open and there are posters everywhere. And so I find that much more interesting and much more manageable to read up on as a, you know, reflects the community that I live in and so much more in tune with that than the presidential race right now.

Elena: [00:11:06] I thought this was refreshing because I feel like often what I hear, it's it's the reverse. It's everyone knows what's happening in the national presidential election. You know, people are following that. That's what you get in the headlines from The New York Times in the morning. You know, and yeah, other than just kind of that the phone making the posters around, wherever it is you're living, there really isn't as much coverage of the local, local stuff. And just at least on a large scale, it doesn't seem that way. So it's really nice to know that there are people who are paying close attention to that.

Reem: [00:11:46] And I feel like it's also kind of echoing on to the other responses that we've seen. It's just like this turn to your own community to be like, What do we think about this? How does this impact us? How does this impact your family? How does this impact my neighbors family? Just like it feels like having your media diet be just talking to your friends and other organizers and people on social media and your family is so good. So I love to hear it. Like that is the best type of media diet, I think.

Elena: [00:12:22] As a journalist, it hurts a bit, but.

Everyone: [00:12:27] [laughter]

Reem: [00:12:32] Thank you everyone for sharing.

Reem: [00:12:33] Talk policy To Me is a co-production of UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy and the Berkeley Institute for Young Americans.

Colleen: [00:12:47] Our executive producers are Bora Lee Reed and Sarah Swanbeck.

Reem: [00:12:50] Editing for this episode is by Michelle Pitcher and Elena Neale-Sacks.

Colleen: [00:12:55] The music you heard today is by Blue Dot sessions and Pat Mesiti-Miller. I'm Colleen Pulawski.

Reem: [00:13:01] I'm Reem Rayef. Catch you next time.