”The Spaceship model has shown how divided people can come together to grapple with difficult questions, and emerge with new insight about themselves and their views. This is work that offers a new way to think about the role of journalists and their capacity to serve communities, and improve the world through fact-based inquiry, combined with courage and civility.“
—Michelle Holmes
”Many approaches to engagement focus on getting something from the audience—attention, insights, questions, stories, opinions, social media shares—and Spaceship Media’s dialogue journalism model produced all of those for MPRNews’ Feeding the Future project. But it also allowed us to give something to the community: a welcoming space to interact with journalists and with each other and to create meaningful conversation. For a media company that values curiosity, empathy, trust and transparency and is devoted to enriching minds, expanding perspectives and strengthening communities, it doesn’t get much better than that.“
—Linda Miller
”This was a great, though challenging, experience. It's hard to hear and listen to different points of view, but it does us all good. We could be a stronger, less divided nation with more projects like this one.“
—Chantal Clarke
”I've never been in a situation where people had passionately held ideas, opinions, and/or morals on different sides of an issue and ended up coming to an agreement. I'm not sure I would want that to happen, as I think diverse opinions are actually good for a democracy, although some are privileged over others, of course. Instead of trying to find common ground, I joined this group to try to understand why the women who passionately disagree with me feel the way they do. My end goal is simply to try to understand where they are coming from, not to change anything. And I do think that if we listen humbly and with an open mind, we occasionally realize that other people have ideas that are worth considering.
—Kelly Gauthier
”I learned how much more there is for me to think and read and ask about the big questions of this ongoing project we call our democracy. How do we welcome, accept, defend and protect our shared values amidst all of our difference? How do we get to an understanding that this land is your land and mine too? That, to me, is the challenge for us all in these years ahead.“
—Helena Brantley
”Eve and Jeremy inspired us to think a little less about what would be convenient for us and more about what would be useful to the community. In a few short hours, they gave us incredibly useful tools and tips about how to engage our audiences more effectively, but also the space and freedom to generate our own ideas. I can't tell you how glad I am that we hired them.“
—Wendy Thomas Russell
”‘Engagement‘ is swiftly becoming a cliché in our industry, more social media marketing than genuine connection. But during Southern California News Group's recent relationship, Spaceship Media arrived at results that felt more like an authentic connection—real people reaching out to one another over a volatile, heartfelt, polarizing issue. At a time when it's easy to dismiss the population as too polarized to compromise on anything, the 'Borders' conversation made a case that where and how the conversation takes place can fuel quality communication.“
—Tom Bray
”We should meet the people we are told to fear, convening communities in conflict into informed and civil conversation... Witness an experiment by the local Alabama news site AL.com and the startup Spaceship Media, which brought together Trump voters from the South and Clinton voters from the West on Facebook to meet, listen to each other, find where they disagreed, and—here’s the good part—call on journalists to help them combat misunderstanding with fact.“
—Jeff Jarvis
”Being part of The Many has been an uplifting experience. Vile political disagreements seem to be the norm when watching the news. However, The Many has proven that there indeed can be cordial feelings across the political divide… Through The Many, I have come to greatly respect ladies across the political spectrum. “Hearing” (reading!) the rationale behind differing views has led me to realize that there are intelligent, caring, thoughtful ladies holding them. The lighter/fun topics have been instrumental in making connections and finding common ground in areas other than politics.“
—Jane Gretna
”So many times we forget to listen, and this exercise was helpful in training us to do that... listen with our hearts and minds in an effort to better understand our neighbors. After all, we are all in this together, whether we like it or not! Best to find a way to like it.“
—Terry Rainey
”You know, I was just thinking today— The Many is very much integrated into my daily life these days. With the midterms just a few months away, I’ve been exploring the void I’m going to have when our time is over and how I’d be interested to continue with it in another similar forum. It has taught me to be measured and considerate and conscious of both my words and my boundaries and has really constantly challenged me to keep an open mind. I wonder if I will backslide into old bad habits if I’m not consciously making efforts to do all of these things daily.“
—Lauren Rowland
”In my time here, I’ve come to an understanding that conservatives and liberals do prioritize different (meaningful!) values. Instead of trying to “convert” others, it’s been helpful for me to look for the important values that drive the political decisions of those I disagree with. The Many, where dialogue and respect were a given, helped me reach behind the sound bites to something much deeper.“
—Jessica Simons