Mad at the mainstream media? NBC News launches ‘Common Ground’ initiative to bridge partisan divide

“I turned off news all together.”

“Just talk to each other more.”

“Report things from both sides.”

Those are some of the responses NBC News received when it conducted consumer research for a new marketing campaign that promises “Facts. Clarity. Calm.”

But the comments also led NBC News Group Chairman Cesar Conde to green-light the launch of a new editorial franchise, called “Finding Common Ground,” pairing public figures from opposite ends of the political spectrum to discuss issues where they can find agreement.

NBC News announced Thursday it will feature the segments across its programs “Today,” “NBC Nightly News With Tom Llamas” and “Meet the Press,” and on its streaming channel NBC News Now. Live events are planned as well, with “Today” co-host Savannah Guthrie moderating a conversation between Gov. Spencer Cox (R-Utah) and Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.) next week at the Washington National Cathedral.

“The audience tells us what they want is less partisanship, less of a focus on extremes and more of a focus on civil, solutions-oriented dialogue,” NBC News President Rebecca Blumenstein said in an interview. “We’re going to make it a huge focus of our efforts in the coming year.”

The concept of getting politicians of different stripes to the table for bipartisan discussions is hardly novel. The Fox News program “Special Report With Bret Baier” has done a similar series of TV interviews and podcasts since 2022, also called “Common Ground.”

But TV news organizations are clearly being more aggressive in promoting the notion that they are open to all points of view — a reaction to the divisive political landscape that consumers say is off-putting. (A recent Pew Research study found that 36% of U.S. adults follow the news “all or most of the time,” down from 51% in 2016.)

Earlier this year, C-SPAN, the public affairs network funded by the cable and satellite industry, launched “Ceasefire,” a roundtable show where Republicans and Democrats have respectful discussions. The idea came from C-SPAN Chief Executive Sam Feist, who produced the iconic — and often maligned — cable news debate program “Crossfire” during his years at CNN.

After Paramount was acquired by Skydance Media, its new Chief Executive David Ellison hired Bari Weiss, co-founder of the digital news platform the Free Press, as CBS News editor in chief. She has been given a mandate to bring in a wider range of viewpoints to the network.

Tom Bettag, a lecturer at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland, finds the trend “strange” as he believes the broadcast networks are already forced to find common ground as they serve local affiliate TV stations in both red and blue states.

“If you say, ‘We’re gonna have people talking about common ground,’ I will be shocked if that’s suddenly the new sliced bread that everybody goes rushing to buy,” Bettag said. “But is there anything wrong with it? No.”

But Guthrie said in an interview that viewers may need to be reminded of NBC’s journalistic values as the media landscape becomes more fragmented and populated with nontraditional news sources.

“We’re not suggesting, at least for us, that this is some massive change,” Guthrie said. “What we’re doing is underscoring a strength. I think that legacy media needs to remind folks who we are and what we do. It’s important to distinguish yourself and say who you are.”

Bettag added that he understands NBC’s rationale as mainstream news outlets have sustained ongoing attacks and charges of bias from right-wing critics and President Trump over the years.

Kristen Welker, moderator of “Meet the Press,” first used the “Finding Common Ground” format on NBC’s Sunday roundtable program, starting with a conversation last year between Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) and Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). Both ordained ministers, they talked about their faith and efforts at bipartisanship.

More recently, Welker spoke with Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Mich.) and Rep. Troy Downing (R-Mont.) on helping small business owners become more literate about artificial intelligence.

Viewer feedback has been positive according to Welker, who will handle the bulk of the interviews.

“They love the tone of these conversations,” Welker said. “They feel like it’s a reflection of the conversations they are having in their own homes with their families. So my hope is that this will be a benefit to the public and our audience.”