On Wednesday, Oct. 30, Annenberg Media sat down for an interview with Professor Roberto Suro before his luncheon at Professors, Pundits, and Perspectives on the Midterm Election. During the interview, Suro discussed various aspects about the upcoming 2018 midterm election, the state of affairs in our political climate, the role of journalism for today and tomorrow, and about creating trust in the news.
Annenberg Media: How do you think that this year's midterm election compares to previous midterm elections?
Roberto Suro: Like other midterm elections, it'll really help decide the extent of which this president has a mandate to go forward into the second part of his term. We've had a number of elections like that, that's basically the large stakes here as to whether the Democrats take back one or both houses. It'll greatly restrict the president's ability to move his agenda forward if they do. If they don't, then [Republicans] have a pretty free hand.
AM: How about compared to 2014 or 2010, when those were also midterms between Presidential Elections?
RS: 2010 really greatly restricted Obama's ability to work. The [number of] significant legislation he was able to enact after 2010 was very limited. Most of his achievements occurred in those first two years, like [that] Trump now controlled both houses of Congress. The same thing happened back in 1994 with Clinton, it greatly restricted his ability to carry out his agenda. It's kind of the tradition that we have.
AM: What should the role of a journalist be in today's political climate?
RS: That's a difficult question. The climate is much more volatile and polarized than it has been before. There are all kinds of challenges about what stories you emphasize and how you approach the traditional norms of balance and objectivity when you have such a variety of points of views. And finally, you have a very peculiar set of challenges involved with a president who mischaracterizes, exaggerates, and flats out lie often. It becomes this additional task of fact-checking and tries to stand up for the truth.
AM: What advice can you give us to finding trustworthy news sources?
RS: The trustworthy news sources are no different than they have been before. You have to judge a sources knowledge and credibility. You have to find them the same way as you have before. What's changed is that there has been a very vocal pushback from a president who has made it clear the facts or the truth
AM: How has the role of a political journalist shifted in the past two years, and how do you think it will change into the future?
RS: Well part of the shift involves a shift in journalism in particular. Not just going back two years but going back ten years to the early Obama days, there's been a blatant increase in overtly partisan media. So news organizations clearly appeal to how people stand politically as opposed to the general audience. So that's the first big change. Also, every journalist has to decide if they want to speak to a partisan audience or whether they want to try and address a broader audience. There's also a difference in the means that news is disseminated. It's a moving target. There are a great many more ways than there were five years ago or three years ago. The podcast was born just three years ago and its become one of the most common ways of reporting. It's a very dynamic evolution.