On April 30 and May 1, GBH invited hundreds of journalists, scholars, philanthropic leaders, experts on civic participation, and media representatives to our studios for our first-ever Media Summit to explore ways to reduce polarization, increase trust, and strengthen democracy. The GBH Media Summit: Bridging the Divide in 2025 focused on four key areas: understanding the challenges, exploring opportunities, widening the lens, and engaging younger generations. Susan Goldberg, GBH President and CEO, said, “I’d like us to think of this summit here in Boston — just days after the 250th anniversary of the 'shot heard 'round the world’ that began the American Revolution — as the beginning of a media revolution.”
As part of the Summit kick-off at the Boston Public Library, the 14th Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden sat down with GBH Board of Trustees Chair Martha Minow to discuss the important role that libraries play in accessing reliable information. “There’s hope in history,” said Hayden. This event occurred a week before Hayden was terminated from her position by the Administration after serving with distinction for over a decade.
Addressing the challenges facing media, Goldberg said, “You don’t need any more evidence than where we are at this moment to know that our industry needs bold new paths forward — and a willingness to be open-minded about how we reach audiences and with whom. If we are honest, we have to admit that we sometimes have let advocates do the job of journalists, and that we haven’t always been unbiased in our reporting; we need to own all of that and more if we want to earn back trust. Our stories cannot sugarcoat, but they also don’t have to solely highlight the divisions. It’s OK to show what we have in common, too.”
She cited new research commissioned by GBH and Nonfiction Research showing that, when asked what was responsible for America’s current estrangement, one answer from respondents kept coming up— the media. Eighty-three percent of people who said that they have lost relationships over politics believe the media significantly contributed to that problem. And just a third of Americans said media coverage helps them make sense of the most important issues. Instead, respondents felt that coverage often omits their views, misrepresents facts, and prioritizes sensationalism.
GBH Media Summit
Getting reliable news to young people is imperative, and that means meeting them where they are: online and social media.Ron Mitchell, editor and publisher of The Bay State Banner
The Summit aimed to confront these challenges. Marty Baron, former editor of the Washington Post and The Boston Globe, outlined additional challenges that the media is facing today. “The number one threat that we face is almost certainly society’s inability to agree on a shared set of facts. We cannot agree on how to determine facts. This poses a danger to more than journalism. It puts democracy at risk, and even human progress, “ he said during the opening plenary.
In a conversation with Ann Marie Lipinsky, curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, Maria Ressa, journalist, Nobel Laureate (‘21), TIME Person of the Year (2018), co-founder and CEO of Rappler, talked about the need for media to “collaborate, collaborate, collaborate” and that “courage is contagious.”
Jacob Mchangama, the founder and executive director of The Future of Free Speech, provided a sobering perspective on our cherished freedom of speech, noting that “we are in a free speech recession… We are in a moment of free speech entropy.”
We need to focus on 'What’s our only.' What can only we provide (as stations), what are the things that no one else in our community can or will do?Amy Shaw, President & CEO, Nine PBS
Discussing ways for media to do a better job of engaging younger people in our communities and democracy was one of the Summit’s goals. “So often in media, we’re skirting around the issues when young people want to feel seen and understood,” said Sophie Beren, founder and CEO, The Conversationalist.
Our media should reflect the anxieties that children face and also instill hope that community engagement can function as the cure.Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life, Tufts University
In the Summit’s closing plenary, Goldberg said, “When we decided to put on this conference seven months ago, I don’t think any of us could have understood where we would be today — or how important it would feel to be together at this moment. Yes, we knew the journalism landscape was in a tough spot — that trust in what we do, trust in all institutions, was falling fast. We knew we no longer were operating off a shared set of facts. We knew our country was divided in many ways, including a vast gulf in its media consumption. But surely none of us could have fully anticipated where we would be at this moment... Today, we heard a lot of hard truths about where we are.
She said that the Summit could be summed up in two words: “Truth was one of them. It needs to be relentlessly pursued. The other word I heard a lot was local. The knowledge and care that comes with really knowing a community — and the trust that can be built back starting from the ground up.”
As one attendee shared,” I think everyone’s going to leave here with a whole new mindset to go out and create, because I feel that right now I have a fire burning inside me.”
The GBH Media Summit was made possible by the generous support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
Click here for the full schedule, and click here for more information on our speakers. Watch videos from the Summit here.
