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Podcast: Separating news from noise

Podcast: Separating news from noise

How much news is too much? Or not enough? News Over Noise, the new podcast from Penn State's News Literacy Initiative explores that question and offers guidance on how to consume news that enhances your participation in our democracy without becoming overwhelmed by all the noise on social media and the 24/7 news cycle.

News Over Noise co-hosts Matt Jordan and Leah Dajches join Democracy Works to discuss how the news impacts our mental health, the future of media literacy education, and more. Jordan is a professor of media studies and Dajches is a post-doctoral researcher, both in the Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State.


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Trump takes first steps to enact his sweeping agenda

President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on January 20, 2025.

(JIM WATSON/GETTY IMAGES)

Trump takes first steps to enact his sweeping agenda

On his first day in office as the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump began to implement his agenda for reshaping the nation's institutions.

He signed a flurry of executive orders, memorandums, and proclamations.

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California's Bishop Latino Community Grapples with Trump’s Return

Street scene, Bishop, California

Robin Linse

California's Bishop Latino Community Grapples with Trump’s Return

With President Donald Trump’s inauguration, the Latino community of the self-proclaimed “Mule Capital of the World”—the city of Bishop, California—remains torn.

Biden took Inyo County by the narrow margin of 14 votes in 2020, while Trump won by 267 votes this year, according to an election summary report.

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R.A.F.T. for America:
An Important Lesson About Bridging Our Differences

A group of about 30 Americans with diverse political leanings recently embarked on a rafting trip along a North Carolina river.

R.A.F.T. for America: An Important Lesson About Bridging Our Differences

A heavy morning mist was still wafting up from the river when CBS's advance team pulled into the parking lot at the Nantahala Outdoor Center. Those of us on the R.A.F.T. (Reuniting Americans by Fostering Trust) for America team would soon be welcoming our invitees - unlikely red/blue pairs of politicians, community leaders, and lay people. CBS was there to see what would happen when these polar opposites were asked to engage with one another, on and off the river.

For example, North Carolina's Senator Thom Tillis (R) would be sharing a raft with the former mayor of Charlotte, Jennifer Roberts (D). In another raft, Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler (D) would be paired up with Lance Moseley (R), a conservative Trump supporter.

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Q&A: Arizona’s legacy of “tough and cheap” sheriff enforcement explored in new book on power and democracy

Police car lights.

Getty Images / Oliver Helbig

Q&A: Arizona’s legacy of “tough and cheap” sheriff enforcement explored in new book on power and democracy

Sheriffs hold a unique place in American history and politics. As elected law enforcement officers, they arguably wield more power and have less oversight than police chiefs or other appointed officers. In historical accounts of the American West, they have been both celebrated and vilified. And while today the office has become more institutionalized, the figure of the sheriff still looms large in the story of American politics.

The constitutional sheriff movement claims that the county sheriff has “the ability to determine which laws are constitutional” — as Jessica Pishko lays out in her new book, “The Highest Law in the Land: How the Unchecked Power of Sheriffs Threatens Democracy.”

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