Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schoenberg, a longtime journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media. Most people think of America&apos;s political divisions as based in political ideology, red versus blue, liberal versus conservative. But what if we&apos;re misunderstanding the fault lines? Today&apos;s guests, Brian Waniewski, the CEO of Harmony Labs and Melody Mohebi of Democracy 2076, have spent the past two years collaborating on a study of how to get Americans to engage with politics. The key lever they identified wasn&apos;t policy arguments, but rather stories. Their report, The Power of Story to Grow Democracy, and we&apos;ll link to it in the show notes, analyzes hundreds of popular films and shows. It runs dozens of randomized experiences with more than 10,000 participants and what they found was striking. Americans today may seem irreconcilable, and tend to converge on what they actually want from democracy. A system that is fair, representative and effective. Where they differ is the set of values that move them towards those goals. Values that are revealed by the stories that resonate with them. Americans that prioritize particular values tend to respond to particular narratives, particular kinds of heroes, particular story arcs, particular visions of change. Now, the conclusion of this report, which Eric found very interesting as a media guy, is how we frame the news, and how we frame our telling of American history can matter more in healing divisions than arguing over facts. Dig into this more in the conversation coming up with Brian Waniewski and Melody Mohebi.<a href='https://www.in-reality.fm/'>Website - free episode transcripts www.in-reality.fm</a> <a href='https://alliancefortrust.com/'>Alliance for Trust in Media alliancefortrust.com</a><a href='https://soundsapien.com/'>Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapien soundsapien.com</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schoenberg, a longtime journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media. Most people think of America&amp;apos;s political divisions as based in political ideology, red versus blue, liberal versus conservative. But what if we&amp;apos;re misunderstanding the fault lines?&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Today&amp;apos;s guests, Brian Waniewski, the CEO of Harmony Labs and Melody Mohebi of Democracy 2076, have spent the past two years collaborating on a study of how to get Americans to engage with politics. The key lever they identified wasn&amp;apos;t policy arguments, but rather stories. Their report, The Power of Story to Grow Democracy, and we&amp;apos;ll link to it in the show notes, analyzes hundreds of popular films and shows.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;It runs dozens of randomized experiences with more than 10,000 participants and what they found was striking. Americans today may seem irreconcilable, and tend to converge on what they actually want from democracy. A system that is fair, representative and effective. Where they differ is the set of values that move them towards those goals. Values that are revealed by the stories that resonate with them. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Americans that prioritize particular values tend to respond to particular narratives, particular kinds of heroes, particular story arcs, particular visions of change. Now, the conclusion of this report, which Eric found very interesting as a media guy, is how we frame the news, and how we frame our telling of American history can matter more in healing divisions than arguing over facts.&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;Dig into this more in the conversation coming up with Brian Waniewski and Melody Mohebi.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href='https://www.in-reality.fm/'&gt;Website - free episode transcripts&lt;br/&gt;www.in-reality.fm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href='https://alliancefortrust.com/'&gt;Alliance for Trust in Media&lt;br/&gt;alliancefortrust.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href='https://soundsapien.com/'&gt;Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapien&lt;br/&gt;soundsapien.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schoenberg, a longtime journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media. Most people think of America's political divisions as based in political ideology, red versus blue, liberal versus conservative. But what if we're misunderstanding the fault lines?  Today's guests, Brian Waniewski, the CEO of Harmony Labs and Melody Mohebi of Democracy 2076, have spent the past two ye...

The Kinds of Stories that Bridge Political Divides. Melody Mohebi (Democracy 2076) & Brian Waniewski (Harmony Labs)

Welcome to In Reality—the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, long-time journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.Here is the question of our information-saturated age:  Why, when they have access to more information than ever in history, do so many people believe things that are demonstrably untrue? This is not just the gullible, not just “those people”—but also all of us who pride ourselves on thinking clearly. Today’s guest has spent his career trying to answer that question. David Robert Grimes earned his PhD as a physicist, but switched over to public health and is now an assistant professor at Trinity College School of Medicine in Dublin Ireland. But it’s his parallel career—as a science journalist and author—that brings him to In Reality.His book Good Thinking—published in the UK as The Irrational Ape—is one of the most readable guides at explaining why human reasoning fails us. In 2014 he won the John Maddox Prize for standing up for science in the face of adversity. In Grimes’ case, that included death threats and campaigns to have him fired from his university post. He kept writing anyway.In Grimes’ view the barrier is the cognitive architecture we all share—the confirmation biases, the motivated reasoning, the deep human need to protect our identity even at the cost of the truth. In this conversation we’ll dig into why people believe what they believe, what even the most respected journalism institutions get wrong, what AI means for the information ecosystem—and what we can do about it.<a href='https://www.in-reality.fm/'>Website - free episode transcripts www.in-reality.fm</a> <a href='https://alliancefortrust.com/'>Alliance for Trust in Media alliancefortrust.com</a><a href='https://soundsapien.com/'>Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapien soundsapien.com</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;Welcome to In Reality—the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, long-time journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here is &lt;em&gt;the&lt;/em&gt; question of our information-saturated age:  Why, when they have access to more information than ever in history, do so many people believe things that are demonstrably untrue? This is not just the gullible, not just “those people”—but &lt;em&gt;also&lt;/em&gt; all of us who pride ourselves on thinking clearly. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Today’s guest has spent his career trying to answer that question. David Robert Grimes earned his PhD as a physicist, but switched over to public health and is now an assistant professor at Trinity College School of Medicine in Dublin Ireland. But it’s his parallel career—as a science journalist and author—that brings him to &lt;em&gt;In Reality&lt;/em&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;His book Good Thinking—published in the UK as The Irrational Ape—is one of the most readable guides at explaining why human reasoning fails us. In 2014 he won the John Maddox Prize for standing up for science in the face of adversity. In Grimes’ case, that included death threats and campaigns to have him fired from his university post. He kept writing anyway.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In Grimes’ view the barrier is the cognitive architecture we all share—the confirmation biases, the motivated reasoning, the deep human need to protect our identity even at the cost of the truth. In this conversation we’ll dig into why people believe what they believe, what even the most respected journalism institutions get wrong, what AI means for the information ecosystem—and what we can do about it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href='https://www.in-reality.fm/'&gt;Website - free episode transcripts&lt;br/&gt;www.in-reality.fm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href='https://alliancefortrust.com/'&gt;Alliance for Trust in Media&lt;br/&gt;alliancefortrust.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href='https://soundsapien.com/'&gt;Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapien&lt;br/&gt;soundsapien.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Welcome to In Reality—the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, long-time journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media. Here is the question of our information-saturated age:  Why, when they have access to more information than ever in history, do so many people believe things that are demonstrably untrue? This is not just the gullible, not just “those people”—but also all of us who pride ourselves on thinking clea...

You Are Not Thinking As Clearly As You Think  - with 'Good Thinking' Author David Robert Grimes

It’s pretty much a cliché to say that Americans live in two separate political realities. We shout at each other from our separate bunkers, unable to agree even on basic facts. One coping strategy—and maybe the default, given human nature—is to hunker down with our own tribe and demonize the other. But there are more constructive ways, and today’s guest makes a living examining those alternatives. He’s Jonathan Stray, senior scientist at University of California Berkeley’s Center for Human-Compatible AI and the creator of the excellent newsletter Better Conflict Bulletin. Jonathan studies the growing field of peace-building—that is, helping people from different factions work together. He’s involved in research about AI primed to unite people rather than divide them. Some things we learn from this conversation: About a journalistic standard called multi-partiality, a more attainable goal than impartiality. About how you might construct an algorithm that prioritizes reliable news over popular news. And why, despite the state of discord right now, there are reasons to be optimistic. Faithful listeners might recognize that we recorded this podcast about a year ago, but its relevance has only increased. We&apos;re re-posting this the day after the most divisive state of the union address Eric has ever heard. This administration will not last forever, and we will as a country need to find our way back to working together. And we can really use some of Jonathan’s optimism about our ability to do that.<a href='https://www.in-reality.fm/'>Website - free episode transcripts www.in-reality.fm</a> <a href='https://alliancefortrust.com/'>Alliance for Trust in Media alliancefortrust.com</a><a href='https://soundsapien.com/'>Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapien soundsapien.com</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;It’s pretty much a cliché to say that Americans live in two separate political realities. We shout at each other from our separate bunkers, unable to agree even on basic facts. One coping strategy—and maybe the default, given human nature—is to hunker down with our own tribe and demonize the other. But there are more constructive ways, and today’s guest makes a living examining those alternatives. He’s Jonathan Stray, senior scientist at University of California Berkeley’s Center for Human-Compatible AI and the creator of the excellent newsletter &lt;em&gt;Better Conflict Bulletin&lt;/em&gt;. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Jonathan studies the growing field of peace-building—that is, helping people from different factions work together. He’s involved in research about AI primed to unite people rather than divide them. Some things we learn from this conversation: About a journalistic standard called multi-partiality, a more attainable goal than impartiality. About how you might construct an algorithm that prioritizes reliable news over popular news. And why, despite the state of discord right now, there are reasons to be optimistic. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Faithful listeners might recognize that we recorded this podcast about a year ago, but its relevance has only increased. We&amp;apos;re re-posting this the day after the most divisive state of the union address Eric has ever heard. This administration will not last forever, and we will as a country need to find our way back to working together. And we can really use some of Jonathan’s optimism about our ability to do that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href='https://www.in-reality.fm/'&gt;Website - free episode transcripts&lt;br/&gt;www.in-reality.fm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href='https://alliancefortrust.com/'&gt;Alliance for Trust in Media&lt;br/&gt;alliancefortrust.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href='https://soundsapien.com/'&gt;Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapien&lt;br/&gt;soundsapien.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

It’s pretty much a cliché to say that Americans live in two separate political realities. We shout at each other from our separate bunkers, unable to agree even on basic facts. One coping strategy—and maybe the default, given human nature—is to hunker down with our own tribe and demonize the other. But there are more constructive ways, and today’s guest makes a living examining those alternatives. He’s Jonathan Stray, senior scientist at University of California Berkeley’s Center for Human-Co...

In Democracy, You Can’t Avoid Conflicts. You Have To Just Do Them Better - Jonathan Stray

Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media. On In Reality, we spend most of our time on the media environment in the US. But information integrity is also under assault in Europe, where Russian propaganda efforts are, if anything, more pervasive than here. For example, late last year, Russia hit Poland with a wave of AI generated TikTok videos featuring attractive, but deep faked young women arguing that Poland should exit the EU...At last year&apos;s World Economic Forum in Davos, delegates named misinformation the leading threat to political cohesion and social trust. So hence today&apos;s guest, John O&apos;Brennan, professor of European politics at Ireland&apos;s Maynooth University.John and Eric cover the information environment on his side of the Atlantic. They talk about the perverse incentives that have aligned big tech with the pollution of the information environment. We&apos;ll pivot to the role of media illiteracy and illiteracy in general in the erosion of social trust.As we recorded this, the 2026 Davos Conference was unfolding against the inconceivable backdrop of the President of the United States, demanding his allies hand over Greenland. So they cover that too...<a href='https://www.in-reality.fm/'>Website - free episode transcripts www.in-reality.fm</a> <a href='https://alliancefortrust.com/'>Alliance for Trust in Media alliancefortrust.com</a><a href='https://soundsapien.com/'>Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapien soundsapien.com</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On In Reality, we spend most of our time on the media environment in the US. But information integrity is also under assault in Europe, where Russian propaganda efforts are, if anything, more pervasive than here. For example, late last year, Russia hit Poland with a wave of AI generated TikTok videos featuring attractive, but deep faked young women arguing that Poland should exit the EU...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At last year&amp;apos;s World Economic Forum in Davos, delegates named misinformation the leading threat to political cohesion and social trust. So hence today&amp;apos;s guest, John O&amp;apos;Brennan, professor of European politics at Ireland&amp;apos;s Maynooth University.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;John and Eric cover the information environment on his side of the Atlantic. They talk about the perverse incentives that have aligned big tech with the pollution of the information environment. We&amp;apos;ll pivot to the role of media illiteracy and illiteracy in general in the erosion of social trust.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;As we recorded this, the 2026 Davos Conference was unfolding against the inconceivable backdrop of the President of the United States, demanding his allies hand over Greenland. So they cover that too...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href='https://www.in-reality.fm/'&gt;Website - free episode transcripts&lt;br/&gt;www.in-reality.fm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href='https://alliancefortrust.com/'&gt;Alliance for Trust in Media&lt;br/&gt;alliancefortrust.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href='https://soundsapien.com/'&gt;Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapien&lt;br/&gt;soundsapien.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Welcome to In Reality, the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.  On In Reality, we spend most of our time on the media environment in the US. But information integrity is also under assault in Europe, where Russian propaganda efforts are, if anything, more pervasive than here. For example, late last year, Russia hit Poland with a wave of AI generated TikTok videos featuring attractive, but deep faked young w...

Big Tech VS Euro Regulators - Guess Who's Winning. With John O'Brennan from Maynooth University in Ireland

Welcome to In Reality—the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, long-time journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.Most of the guests on In Reality come out of the information world: journalists, researchers, a few politicians, but mostly people trying to clean up our polluted news feed and dial down the heat in our polarized politics. Today’s guest is, if you will, upstream of that world.Carole House is a public servant who has spent her career trying to bring order to a world in which sophisticated technologies can be (and inevitably are) exploited by bad actors. Think cyberfraud, ransomware, digital money laundering, cryptocurrency and, of course, disinformation. She’ll go into detail about her remarkable career, but suffice it to say that if it involves digital technology and crime, Carole has fought it.It’s a very broad portfolio but Carole argues digital fraud is all the same at heart: online scams try to steal money; online disinformation aims to steal political power. What she calls the “fraud economy” is a trillion-dollar shadow GDP that erodes trust institution by institution and person by person. And AI is rapidly making it much worse. So today we connect the dots within the fraud economy—where disinformation, social media, cryptocurrency and cybercrime all work together. And we do so with one of the highly necessary people fighting back... <a href='https://www.in-reality.fm/'>Website - free episode transcripts www.in-reality.fm</a> <a href='https://alliancefortrust.com/'>Alliance for Trust in Media alliancefortrust.com</a><a href='https://soundsapien.com/'>Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapien soundsapien.com</a>

<description>&lt;p&gt;Welcome to In Reality—the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, long-time journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Most of the guests on In Reality come out of the information world: journalists, researchers, a few politicians, but mostly people trying to clean up our polluted news feed and dial down the heat in our polarized politics. Today’s guest is, if you will, upstream of that world.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carole House is a public servant who has spent her career trying to bring order to a world in which sophisticated technologies can be (and inevitably are) exploited by bad actors. Think cyberfraud, ransomware, digital money laundering, cryptocurrency and, of course, disinformation. She’ll go into detail about her remarkable career, but suffice it to say that if it involves digital technology and crime, Carole has fought it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It’s a very broad portfolio but Carole argues digital fraud is all the same at heart: online scams try to steal money; online disinformation aims to steal political power. What she calls the “fraud economy” is a trillion-dollar shadow GDP that erodes trust institution by institution and person by person. And AI is rapidly making it much worse. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So today we connect the dots within the fraud economy—where disinformation, social media, cryptocurrency and cybercrime all work together. And we do so with one of the highly necessary people fighting back...&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href='https://www.in-reality.fm/'&gt;Website - free episode transcripts&lt;br/&gt;www.in-reality.fm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href='https://alliancefortrust.com/'&gt;Alliance for Trust in Media&lt;br/&gt;alliancefortrust.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href='https://soundsapien.com/'&gt;Produced by Tom Platts at Sound Sapien&lt;br/&gt;soundsapien.com&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Welcome to In Reality—the podcast about truth, disinformation, and the media with Eric Schurenberg, long-time journalist and media executive, now the founder of the Alliance for Trust in Media. Most of the guests on In Reality come out of the information world: journalists, researchers, a few politicians, but mostly people trying to clean up our polluted news feed and dial down the heat in our polarized politics. Today’s guest is, if you will, upstream of that world. Carole House is a public ...

A Sheriff for the Digital Wild West with Top Digital Crime Fighter Carole House

“In Reality” debunks fake news and elevates the innovative researchers, entrepreneurs, journalists and policymakers who are fighting back against toxic misinformation. Co-hosts Joan Donovan, research director of the Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media and Public Policy, and Eric Schurenberg, an award-winning journalist and former CEO of Fast Company, engage guests in enlightening conversations about solutions to this scourge and the path back to a shared reality.&nbsp;

In Reality

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