Burying the legacy media with peace, love and understanding

By Frank Miele
Real Clear Wire

Peace, love, and understanding? What kind of basis is that for journalism?

After a 45-year career as an editor and columnist, I can attest to the fact that those qualities are not just in short supply in newsrooms – they are anathema to the ethic of most reporters, who are more about discord, distrust, and disbelief.

But it’s peace, love and understanding that underpins a remarkable new project in mass communication that inhabits the space between hard-nosed journalism and the good-natured tussle of ideas you might engage in with your two or three best friends on a Saturday night.

I’m talking about 2WAY, the interactive live video platform that is attempting to reinvent the national conversation from the typical cross-talk and raised-voices model of, say, “News Night With Abby Phillip” on CNN to something much more respectful and measured, as well as informative. The gimmick, if you can call it that, is the inclusion of the audience members as not just questioners, but as commentators, people who bring real-life experience to the table and are encouraged to “testify” as expert witnesses.

The grand poobah of the 2WAY model is Mark Halperin, who started the platform in 2024 while the most unpredictable presidential election in the nation’s history was underway. Halperin understands the news as well as anyone, having spent 20 years as a political analyst with ABC News, but he’s also been a pioneer in the alternative news business, working on an Internet political newsletter for ABC News starting back in 2002 before the Internet was much of a threat to the MSM, later starting a political iPad app that bore his name, and co-hosting the political docu-series “The Circus” on Showtime. Along the way, he co-authored “Game Change,” which was a best-selling study of the 2008 presidential campaign. Halperin knows news.

He also has an in-depth understanding of the power of the media to destroy individuals, having been the subject of “Me Too” sexual harassment allegations that ended his career with NBC and MSNBC in 2017. In all likelihood, his own personal travails during that time are the progenitor of his credo that everyone is entitled to “the presumption of grace.”

In a 2024 column, Halperin explained further the ethos of his new venture:

When someone says something on 2WAY with which you disagree, the point of the moment is to take the opportunity to learn about what else is going on in America, outside of your tribe. Don’t get angry; instead, listen. Extend what I call The Presumption of Grace and relish the feeling of being “behind enemy lines” to achieve greater understanding. But, of course, don’t think of it as “behind enemy lines,” but, rather, a new place to be, one bathed in peace, love, and that exquisite moment of extended and sustained understanding.

Sounds corny, doesn’t it? But in the age of “cancel culture,” it’s refreshing as hell.

The centerpiece of 2WAY’s programming is “The Morning Meeting,” which is loosely fashioned after a network news staff’s meeting to go over the previous day’s new stories and the current day’s upcoming events and how they will be covered. Joining Halperin five days a week are Sean Spicer, the original press secretary for Donald Trump’s first term as president, and Dan Turrentine, a former aide to Sen. Hillary Clinton and Rep. Jared Polis as well as other Democratic politicians.

The conversations between Halperin and his two co-hosts provide an insider’s perspective on the issues of the day, and yes, they can agree to disagree without getting nasty. There is obvious respect among all parties, but what really makes the show “must see TV” is the second half hour or so when Halperin takes calls from ordinary Americans (and occasional foreigners) who both inquire smartly and opine even more smartly about the mess of U.S. politics and media bias.

During recent shows, callers raised questions about the disparity of immigration systems in the United States and most other countries, the connection between illegal immigration and health-care costs, the sloppiness of Bobby Kennedy Jr.’s report on children’s health, the bipartisan congressional inability to deal with the deficit, and the consistent failure of Democrats to get on the majority side of so-called 80-20 issues. What the audience interaction highlights most of all is that the American public is steeped in common sense and has little tolerance for political chicanery. You can bet that a repeated refrain last week was that Democrats and the news media were idiots for claiming that the Los Angeles riots were “mostly peaceful.” But idiots with a presumption of grace.

“The Morning Meeting” is just the start. In the afternoon, Halperin returns to host “2WAY Tonight,” which continues to promote peace, love, and understanding, but features one, two, or occasionally three guests, plus the usual challenging calls from viewers. All of the shows on the 2WAY platform can be accessed on YouTube or X, but in order to participate live on screen, viewers need to sign in using a code to join a Zoom call.

Halperin’s vision for 2WAY is that it will grow far beyond its political roots, with shows featuring frank and polite discussion of culture, arts, and sports filling out the schedule. Those niche shows probably won’t appeal to as wide an audience as “The Morning Meeting,” but with the right hosts, they have the potential to increase the 2WAY community.

Maybe respectful and thoughtful analysis, linked to common sense, will take some getting used to. None of the platform’s shows has yet to break into the top 24 podcasts on the Apple charts. But with word of mouth and a welcoming attitude, 2WAY may represent the last best hope for American news consumers to drive a stake through the heart of the legacy media once and for all.

Frank Miele, retired editor of the Daily Inter Lake in Kalispell, Mont., is a columnist for RealClearPolitics. His book “The Media Matrix: What If Everything You Know Is Fake” is available from his Amazon author page. Visit him at HeartlandDiaryUSA.com or follow him on Facebook @HeartlandDiaryUSA and on X/Gettr @HeartlandDiary.

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