‘We are in a crisis’: NPR journalist talks polarization at Southern Adventist University

Staff photo by Olivia Ross / NPRs Michel Martin speaks at Southern Adventist University on Thursday in a discussion called “Making Sense of a Polarized World.” Staff photo by Olivia Ross / NPRs Michel Martin speaks at Southern Adventist University on Thursday in a discussion called “Making Sense of a Polarized World.”

By Ben Sessoms November 10, 2023 7 min read

Michel Martin, a host of NPR’s “Morning Edition,” spoke at an event called “Making Sense of a Polarized World” at Southern Adventist University, where she tackled issues such as the state of U.S. democracy, trust in the news media and approaches to journalism as a trade.

“We need to understand that we are in a crisis,” Martin said during Thursday’s event. “We are in an information crisis. We’re in a democracy crisis.”

To address this, she said Americans should approach the situation like any other crisis.

“America is very special, and one of the things that makes us special is we do help each other in times of crisis,” Martin said. “I think we are in a bigger crisis than we realize, and I think we should take that approach.”