Since the election, many KQED listeners and readers have expressed concerns about our divided political climate, and the lack of civil political dialogue in their day-to-day lives.
So we decided to create a space where these kinds of encounters can happen, without anyone being shouted down or feeling like they need to clam up. In short, we want to get folks talking face to face, even if they don't see eye to eye.
We convened our first "Eye to Eye" panel on the morning after President Obama's farewell speech, and just a few hours after then President-elect Donald Trump's first news conference. We talked with our guests about how political discussions play out in their own lives, and asked the panelists about views on the other end of the political spectrum they'd like to better understand.
Our first panel's guests spanned a political and geographic spectrum from within the Bay Area.