We’re hearing a lot of reflection right now on this moment, two years ago, “when America changed.” But to really get a sense of the impact of that — of all of this — I found it useful to go back two years… and a month.
To February of 2020.
Before we had any real sense of the lockdowns, sickness and death to come.
I laugh now to think about how I was feeling some news burnout then — after covering the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, or what we now call the first Trump impeachment — and that impeachment gave us a preview of the historically vicious presidential campaign that would finish off the year.
So as I look back on March 2020, that day two years ago doesn’t look like a day America changed forever.
We saw some of our better angels. Actually, millions of better angels, to be sure. But the sad truth is that our country was bitterly divided before the pandemic. It remained bitterly divided during the pandemic, as we saw throughout that ugly election, police brutality, racial justice protests and a violent insurrection. And the worst pandemic in one hundred years did not bring us together.
That is why, “In It Together" — the show that we pulled together that very first week of the lockdown — was so special. The name of the program reflected our ethos, and by talking with all of our communities throughout Massachusetts, taking questions and getting answers from the incredibly diverse range of people here, we did hope to in some humble way serve as an antidote to the divisions that tore at us when we did so desperately need to come together.
It worked in part thanks to where we live. While we have our share of discord, Massachusetts is comparatively less divided than most other states these days. But I think we were successful because we let you, our audience, drive the show.
All of us in the news business aspire to create a real quality of dialogue with tens of thousands of people who can hear us but can’t talk back. “In It Together” came closer to that than anything I’ve worked on in nearly 30 years of working in public media. In addition to all of our great local experts, we also featured more interviews with ordinary people than any show I’ve ever worked on. I think that’s the reason that, over hundreds of shows, I can count the number of guests who weren’t perfect on one hand. Any producer will tell you, that is unheard of.
These have been difficult times, and it’s impossible not to have complicated emotions as we look back on these difficult years — the last two, in particular. That’s why I’m so proud of what we were able to do to connect us during the worst days of the pandemic. And I’m so looking forward to reconnecting with all of you in this special way once again.
In it Together returns for a one-night reunion on Thursday, March 10 at 7 p.m. on 89.7 FM, wgbhnews.org and across all GBH News platforms.
