![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/files\/2012\/11\/ccp_200.jpg\" "\\"ccp_200\\"")
<\/a>One place to start might be civility.<\/p>\nKrista Tippet, the host of “On Being<\/a>” has developed something called the Civil Conversations Project<\/a>. (“On Being” airs each Thursday on NCPR at 1 pm.)<\/p>\n Tippett recently featured an in-depth conversation<\/a> between former Senator\u00a0Pete Domenici (R) and long-time economist Alice Rivlin, a Democrat. The two made some interesting points, including the way community contributes to civility: if you see your political opponent as a decent person (instead of an alien from that different political planet) dialogue is more respectful and fruitful.<\/p>\n I have to say, I’ve reached the point where I needed<\/em> to hear that respectful\u00a0engagement\u00a0is possible. If you want to feel hopeful again, maybe take the time to go listen to that episode archive<\/a>.<\/p>\n Another area that needs some work (a lot of work?) is reporting. There are some big arguments out there right now. Is ‘he said\/she said’ reporting good enough?<\/p>\n What about bias? Is true impartiality possible? Is that actually good? Would it be better if reporters or their employers just stated bias upfront and reported with that orientation in plain sight?<\/p>\n It’s reached the point of getting tied in knots about something you might think would be clear as day: truth and lies.<\/p>\n Is there such a thing as truth? Who gets to say what that is? When”truthiness” comes into question, is the press just a bunch of scribes – or should reporters also function as referees?<\/p>\n Andrea Seabrook<\/a> may be a name you remember from her many years with NPR. (Note: Because she’s left NPR, her resume for that network is no longer found on the main NPR website. But it can still be found<\/a> on different member station’s websites.)<\/p>\n Seabrook wants to escape some of the limitations in current mainstream reporting. As she explained in July<\/a> on an appearance on NPR’s Talk of the Nation:<\/p>\n “One of the reasons that I am leaving to start a new project,” she tell NPR’s Jennifer Ludden, “is because of how broken Washington really is and how difficult it is to try to … tell our listeners what is going on with their government day to day.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Seabrook was a guest on CBC radio’s daily current affairs program “The Current”<\/a> this past Friday, as that show looked at media coverage of the U.S. presidential race.<\/p>\n<\/a>Her new project is something called DecodeDC<\/a>. As the website says, it’s an attempt to “decipher Washington’s Byzantine language and procedure, sweeping away what doesn’t matter so you can focus on what does”.<\/p>\n