Skip to content
Project 2025
Donate to support
diverse voices
Search

Latest Stories

Follow Us:
Top Stories
This really may be the political end for Trump

This really may be the political end for Trump

USA, Washington D.C., Supreme Court building and blurred American flag against blue sky.

The Supreme Court Has a Legitimacy Problem—But Washington’s Monopoly on Power Is the Real Crisis

Listen Up, Trump Supporters!

Listen Up, Trump Supporters!

AI Bubble Warning: Big Tech’s $3 Trillion Gamble Could Mirror 2008 Crash

AI Bubble Warning: Big Tech’s $3 Trillion Gamble Could Mirror 2008 Crash

White Books and Curriculum Damage Black Children

White Books and Curriculum Damage Black Children

Wanted: A new generation of podcasters who care about democracy

Opinion

podcasting with The Democracy Group
Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty Images
David L. Nevins
By David L. NevinsSep 19, 2022
David L. Nevins
David L. Nevins serves as publisher of The Fulcrum. Additionally, Nevins serves as co-founder and Board Chairman of the Bridge Alliance. Nevins brings business acumen, vision and a tireless this-must-and-can-be-done zeal to the burgeoning movement to bridge divides to transform the political process. As a business leader, Nevins excels at building bridges between people and organizations from the right, left and center for civilized conversation and then action. He co-founded the Bridge Alliance because, as he says, “No matter how well managed and how well funded anyone organization is, significant political reform will not happen without an alliance to further collaborative interactions. Together we can and will raise the collective impact of all.” He is a member of the Aspen Institute Society of Fellows, with a focus on the Aspen Rodel Fellowship in Public Leadership, he established and continues to work with The Nevins Democracy Leaders program at Penn State University. Nevins graduated with honors in economics from Penn State in 1969 and received an M.B.A. in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in 1971.
See More Writings by author

Nevins is co-publisher of The Fulcrum and co-founder and board chairman of the Bridge Alliance Education Fund.

Generation Z, the young Americans born after 1996, accounted for one-tenth of eligible voters in the 2020 election. This percentage will grow significantly in 2024.

Engaging this generation of citizens in the democratic process will define the direction of our democracy for decades to come. We know Gen Z is more racially and ethnically diverse than any previous generation, and it is on track to be the most well-educated generation in American history. They are also more digitally savvy, having virtually no memory of the world as it existed before smartphones.

Podcasts are a perfect way to engage Gen Zers, given technology has driven them to move on unless they are instantly engaged. Podcasts are convenient, good at exploring complex topics in an easily digestible way, and if done effectively can have mass appeal to Gen Z.

One way to do that is to have podcasts produced by Gen Z for Gen Z. With this in mind, The Democracy Group, a collective of 17 podcasts on democracy and civic engagement, has launched a new initiative to help high school and college students make their voices heard on connected topics.

The network’s podcast fellowship will pair students with mentors from The Democracy Group to develop a concept for a podcast and record a trailer and at least one full episode. In addition to one-on-one coaching, students will have access to a library of on-demand content about how to produce and promote podcasts that build community and provide educational value to listeners.

“This fellowship will give younger generations the opportunity to share their perspective and help bridge generational divides in politics,” said Jenna Spinelle, founder of The Democracy Group. “I’m so excited to hear what the students come up with.”

The fellowship is open to any high school or college student or group of students working as a team. Applications are due Oct. 21, and acceptance notifications will be sent Nov. 28. The first cohort will begin the program in January.

The Democracy Group is an initiative of the McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State. The program is supported by a gift from the Bridge Alliance (which operates The Fulcrum). And by partnering with Tink Media and Mucktracker, The Democracy Group’s ability to share expertise on podcast marketing and production is considerable.

The Fulcrum encourages our Gen Z readers to learn more about how they can apply at democracygroup.org/fellowship and become a generation that is engaged and involved in the evolution of our democracy for this century.

The future of our democracy depends on the engagement of young Americans and we must do everything we can to excite, encourage and educate young leaders to be the citizens our nation needs. America is stronger if we use our civic voices to strengthen our democracy

Latest news

Hands resting on another.
Democracy

What Do Epstein’s Victims Need?

The Great Political Finger Trap
Bridging & Common Ground

The Great Political Finger Trap

Military Spectacle and Presidential Power: From Parade to Policy
Governance & Legislation

Military Spectacle and Presidential Power: From Parade to Policy

Read More

A U.S. flag flying before congress. Visual representation of technology, a glitch, artificial intelligence
As AI reshapes jobs and politics, America faces a choice: resist automation or embrace innovation. The path to prosperity lies in AI literacy and adaptability.
Getty Images, Douglas Rissing

America’s Unnamed Crisis

I first encountered Leszek Kołakowski, the Polish political thinker, as an undergraduate. It was he who warned of “an all-encompassing crisis” that societies can feel but cannot clearly name. His insight reads less like a relic of the late 1970s and more like a dispatch from our own political moment. We aren’t living through one breakdown, but a cascade of them—political, social, and technological—each amplifying the others. The result is a country where people feel burnt out, anxious, and increasingly unsure of where authority or stability can be found.

This crisis doesn’t have a single architect. Liberals can’t blame only Trump, and conservatives can’t pin everything on "wokeness." What we face is a convergence of powerful forces: decades of institutional drift, fractures in civic life, and technologies that reward emotions over understanding. These pressures compound one another, creating a sense of disorientation that older political labels fail to describe with the same accuracy as before.

Keep Reading Show less
An illustration of an AI chatbot and an iphone.

AI is transforming how people seek help, share stories, and connect online. This article examines what’s at stake for social media and the future of human connection.

Getty Images, Malorny

What Happens to Online Discussion Forums When AI Is First Place People Turn?

No doubt social media and online discussion forums have played an integral role in most everyone’s daily digital lives. Today, more than 70% of the U.S. adults use social media, and over 5 billion people worldwide participate in online social platforms.

Discussion forums alone attract enormous engagement. Reddit has over 110 million daily active users, and an estimated 300 million use Q&A forums like Quora per month, and 100 million per month use StackExchange. People seek advice, learn from others’ experiences, share questions, or connect around interests and identities.

Keep Reading Show less
A Bend But Don’t Break Economy

AI may disrupt the workplace, but with smart investment in workforce transitions and innovation, the economy can bend without breaking—unlocking growth and new opportunities.

Getty Images, J Studios

A Bend But Don’t Break Economy

Everyone has a stake in keeping the unemployment rate low. A single percentage point increase in unemployment is tied to a jump in the poverty rate of about 0.4 to 0.7 percentage points. Higher rates of unemployment are likewise associated with an increase in rates of depression among the unemployed and, in some cases, reduced mental health among their family members. Based on that finding, it's unsurprising that higher rates of unemployment are also correlated with higher rates of divorce. Finally, and somewhat obviously, unemployment leads to a surge in social safety spending. Everyone benefits when more folks have meaningful, high-paying work.

That’s why everyone needs to pay attention to the very real possibility that AI will lead to at least a temporary surge in unemployment. Economists vary in their estimates of how AI will lead to displacement. Gather three economists together, and they’ll probably offer nine different predictions—they’ll tell you that AI is advancing at different rates in different fields, that professions vary in their willingness to adopt AI, and that a shifting regulatory framework is likely to diminish AI use in some sectors. And, of course, they’re right!

Keep Reading Show less
People holding microphones and recorders to someone who is speaking.

As the U.S. retires the penny, this essay reflects on lost value—in currency, communication, and truth—highlighting the rising threat of misinformation and the need for real journalism.

Getty Images, Mihajlo Maricic

The End of the Penny — and the Price of Truth in Journalism

232 years ago, the first penny was minted in the United States. And this November, the last pennies rolled off the line, the coin now out of production.

“A penny for your thoughts.” This common idiom, an invitation for another to share what’s on their mind, may go the way of the penny itself, into eventual obsolescence. There are increasingly few who really want to know what’s on anyone else’s mind, unless that mind is in sync with their own.

Keep Reading Show less