What we learned in class
Two professors gave University of Dayton Magazine a primer in advance of November’s election. Here are the top takeaways you’d learn if you were sitting in class this fall.
POL 355 | Media and Democracy, with senior lecturer Daniel Birdsong
- Understand how something becomes a news story — and whether or not it’s a news story. Journalists are trained and work for media organizations; necessarily, these stories are different from those created by candidates or pushed by interest groups. “Are they talking to people affected by the issue, or are they just talking to elites?”
- Read smartly. Ask yourself, who is the writer? What else have they written? What are other outlets saying about this issue? There will always be biases to uncover. A journalist can talk to only so many sources. In American media, the story will naturally have a U.S.-centric position. What other natural biases are present? “Instead of just reading top to bottom, open additional tabs and do some background searches.”
- Critique the news, don’t just consume it. What voices are being left out of the conversation? Look beyond partisan talking points. Remember, candidates are going to say what is the best possible scenario for them. “Part of the class is recognizing that simple dichotomies don’t exist and that there’s some gray area — and that you have to be somewhat comfortable with the gray areas.”
POL 310 | Political Parties, Campaigns & Elections, with assistant professor Christopher Devine
- Understand partisanship. We’re not just objective observers taking information, evaluating it and acting on what makes the most sense; about nine out of 10 Americans are partisan, according to polling data. Partisanship greatly influences whether and for whom people vote. “Voters are more receptive to information confirming what they already believe; they’re more resistant to information that challenges what they believe.”
- Learn how to analyze political parties. Politics is pretty stable. People tend to know going into an election who they’re going to vote for, mainly due to their aligned party. Elections are decided by big-picture items: How is the economy doing? Do you approve of the current president? The rest is mostly noise.
- Be skeptical (but humble). You have your political preferences, and they’re not wrong, necessarily. But that means you need to be intentional about seeking other ideas, listening to people in conversations and exploring other sources. Ask yourself, “Could this be a barrier to me actually listening to people and working with them?”