Media echo chambers create competing realities

The Corinthian Baptist Church, a majority Black congregation, sits just three miles away from Plymouth Congregational Church, a majority white congregation. Two members of each decided to cross the racial divide, bring the congregations together and build relationships. Now, the church members hold joint Bible studies, watch sporting events and sing in choirs together. In this episode, we meet Caroline Peterson and Leslie Jackson, the women who made this happen, plus other community builders from across Iowa.

The United States was explicitly founded with religious freedom as a core value. But a rise in Christian nationalism has inserted religion into politics. We talk to journalist Katherine Stewart about this movement, what the goals of the leaders are and how those goals are different from typical religiously-motivated voters. Then, we gather Christian faith leaders for a conversation about religion, politics and how the two relate in their congregations.

Poynter’s Jon Greenberg remembers watching news reporters during the Vietnam War on television as a 12-year-old kid. He said when there were only three networks they had to appeal to a broader market with a more vague political consensus. Today, there are endless channels, publications and accounts to get information from, and it’s easy to consume news in a way that doesn’t challenge your beliefs — or to avoid consuming news altogether. In this episode, we look at today’s media landscape and consider how a lack of trust and fractured realities in media have sowed division.

Highway construction and urban renewal projects destroyed the Center Street Neighborhood, a thriving Black community in Des Moines. Families and businesses went into debt, shifting from entrepreneurship and owning to renting, which had a lasting effect on generational wealth. On this episode, we look at how economic inequality drives division, from Center Street in Des Moines to meat packers in rural Iowa. We also look at the income wealth of the Gilded Age and what that has in common with our current times.

Driving through a small-town main street, you can see the facades of once thriving small businesses, grocery stores and newspapers that have now shuttered. While rural towns had held up a traditional ideal of tight knit communities, many have hollowed out since the farm crisis of the 1980s. On this episode of ‘Unsettled,’ rural sociologist David Peters explains how many small communities lost social involvement, as many rural residents now must travel out of town for work, school, healthcare and more. Also, most U.S. adults recently surveyed by the American Psychological Association reported that societal division is a significant source of stress in their lives. Lynn Bufka from the APA unpacks these findings and how division impacts our wellbeing.

Social isolation, disconnection, political polarization — it's no secret we're living in a time of deep division. In this season of 'Unsettled,' we dive into the great divide in our communities, our economy, faith, politics and the way we get our information. We’ll also meet people who are building bridges and bringing people together.

Men discuss what gender and masculinity mean to them in the year 2025.

Though women and girls are taught to be vigilant about their safety in public and around strangers, they are still far more likely to be murdered by an intimate partner.

Women are less likely to be believed at the doctor when they're experiencing pain. Meanwhile, men are more likely to die by suicide. On this episode, we discuss the origins of this discrepancy.

Girls are more likely to take advanced courses and graduate high school on time. In school, boys, particularly boys of color, are being left behind.