• by Cory Treffiletti , Featured Contributor, June 10, 2020

The last week has been intense.   Emotions have, and continue to, run high.  There are many necessary and uncomfortable conversations taking place — and for the first time in a very long time, I have the sense that the media is doing a good job of promoting positive conversations rather than fueling the fires of hatred.

I have written time and time again that media has a responsibility to present a fair and balanced perspective on what is going on in the country.  

Over the last 20 years, the media has fragmented and polarized the population by fanning the flames on either end, with a heavy preference for negativity.  The media has been about pageviews and circulation, with more incendiary stories than middle-of-the-road messages.

The news has over-indexed on sensationalism and yellow journalistic tendencies, but the last week feels different.   For the first time, it feels like the beginning of real change rather than continuation of a standard approach.

If anything, you might even see the pendulum shifting toward a more progressive approach and coverage to combat the previous negativity that was running rampant in our press.  There are more stories and more efforts dedicated to dialogue rather than shouting — conversation rather than yelling.  There are voices being given a platform that have not been given a platform in the past. It feels more healing than combative.  

The big question is, what will the media look like in months to come?  We’ve entered a new stage of messaging as of this week, because politics are coming back to the forefront.  

Joe Biden was relatively quiet until he received the necessary delegates to earn the Democratic nomination.  Now that he has them, he will likely ramp up his criticism of the current administration. I hope he stays positive and takes the high road. 

Through this time, we’ve seen brands message to tell people we are all in this together, and now brands are taking a stand to drive changes in how we treat one another.  

The rest of the year will see more and more messaging from political groups as we run headlong into the election cycle, and most likely the divisive messaging is going to heat up.   How will people react and respond?  Are they tired of negativity?  I know I am.

As I stated at the beginning and in many other columns I have written, the media has a responsibility.  In an election year, the media has an even stronger responsibility.  The media has to be fair and unbiased and it has to give equal opportunity to both sides of the conversation. 

The media has to deliver the news, but I hope they deliver hope as well.  That's the kind of sentiment that we need right now  -- and something our current leadership is astonishingly incapable of -- so by default, we will see a better world if the media focuses on hope.