The conversation happened on 2WAY, a new media platform that wants to foster intelligent discourse free of the vitriol that’s infected our politics for much too long.
2WAY is the brainchild of Mark Halperin, the political analyst who has had stints at ABC, MSNBC, and Showtime, among others. He designed 2WAY to “create community, and, in the political space, create the kind of educational, sophisticated conversations like no other.”
The promise of 2WAY isn’t some pipe dream. Research and polls note that Americans want better discourse, but they don’t know how to get there. Groups like The Longest Table in Dayton and the Columbus Metropolitan Club work to foster civil conversation. There are several discussion groups in the Miami Valley that seek to spark civil conversation.
2WAY, during the Vance discussion, didn’t take the cable news approach of bringing in a panel of analysts who would talk over each other while defending or condemning the U.S. Senator from Ohio and Republican vice-presidential candidate. Instead, Halperin guided his guests and audience through a thoughtful discussion of the comment and its impact. (Vance, who made the comment in 2021, now says he made his remarks as satire designed to criticize anti-family Democrats).
2WAY launched earlier this year and grew out of Halperin’s subscription-based and daily Wide World of News newsletter and Concierge Coverage. 2WAY topics have included why the media struggles to cover Donald Trump fairly and whether the former president is on the precipice of being the underdog to Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. (I still think Trump’s ahead).
His broadcast live on 2WAY from the Republican National Convention broke news when he became the first journalist to report that President Biden would withdraw from the race.
2WAY is not perfect. Internet trolls have disrupted conversations, and it’s hard for some people to engage in thoughtful conversation without reverting to partisan bickering, Halperin has, recently, started reminding people at the start of discussions: “This is a platform for everybody. You may see people on here you don’t agree with. That’s the point. There aren’t a lot of platforms in America that have civil discussions, sophisticated, we hope …and intended to let everybody learn from each other. It’s not about shouting or criticizing or insulting. It’s about learning and we’re really proud of what we’ve accomplished already in creating this kind of forum.”
It’s a place for analysis without animus.
2WAY is quickly catching on. The Vance video has more than 16,000 views on YouTube, and that’s in addition to the several hundred people who joined live on Zoom. Well-known names in politics and media stop by including former U.S. Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich; Joe Scarborough, the host of Morning Joe on MSNBC; Meghan McCain, the political analyst, blogger, and former co-host of The View; and a host of analysts and pollsters.
2WAY also encourages the audience to participate by sharing their viewpoints, asking questions, and engaging with each other. Halperin will often pick two viewers with opposite perspectives and asks them to discuss their opinion. Other viewers engage with each other via chat.
While it’s tempting to call the platform nothing more than enhanced talk radio, that misses an important point. Some find it harder — much harder — to be rude to people they’re looking at, which could be why the viewer discussions are so civil. There’s a big difference between face-to-face discourse and anonymous chats.
That’s the secret sauce. Talk more to each other, listen and understand, and leave with a different understanding of the issues. 2WAY lives by its slogan, “Conversations like no other,”
No one needs to agree with what they hear. All you need is an open mind.
Ray Marcano’s column appears on these pages each Sunday.
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