Correspondent daniel new howser and congressional reporter pitterson, later anthony from the center for strategic and International Talk about the Foreign Policy challenges that are facing in 2018. Social media. But voters, wed, should make it a priority that basic knowledge pertaining to our government. Amy says it helps. I have learned so much from the social media. I can adjust my opinion to include new facts. Ive change my mind is some because of conversations with people online. One more from saul. A lot of people do not care about the research, it hurts, they end up spreading false information. That is a sampling of the discussion on our facebook page. Here is a poll. Different wording, but same idea, this is from surveymonkey from october, asked whether social media does more to help, promote democracy and free speech or does more to hurt it. 51 surveyed in the late october poll said it did more to her democracy, 45 said it did more to help. Large majorities among hispanics and blacks, said it helps, while white respondents said it hurts. To thepeople responded survey said they trust neither the federal government or Tech Companies to keep foreign influence at of elections on social media. 20 said they trust them both. Pope francis taking up this topic in his new years day delivered from st. Peters, he urged the world to observe silence in 2018. The story from the daily beast. He said, doing so would keep our freedom from being corroded by the banality of consumerism, the blair of commercials, the stream of empty words, and the overpowering the overpowering waves of empty chatter and loud shouting. He did not address his resume editions to any person or thing in particular, but he warned against the false the fiction of reality created by social media. Earlier this year we urged young people to find meaning outside of twitter, his comments yesterday came as President Trump, which the daily beast notes perhaps the only american hesident known to use it, began many nearby slamming pakistan for lives and deceit and saying iran is failing at every level and will focus more on the president s tweets and Foreign Policy, that was the subject yesterday, we will look for any tweets he had this morning on his way back to washington dc. He did tweet this over the weekend, i use social media not because i like to, but because it is the only way to fight a dishonest press. Now often referred to as fake news media, phony and a nonexistent sources are being used more often than ever and many stories and reports ap or fiction a pure fiction. We want to hear from you, the social media helped or hurt political discourse . 202 7488000 is the number if you think it helps. 202 7488001 is the number if you think it hurts political discourse. Phone lines are you can start calling open coming can start calling. Phil, go ahead. Caller hello . Host go ahead. Caller i am 75 years old and i am new to social media. ,ot too long ago, on twitter and i got on facebook. I am a little afraid of facebook. This is what democracy is about, the people speaking. Veryn, some people are astute about what they have to say. They are very well researched. Are describedey by shooters. That is what we have to tolerate. Host what finally got you on . What pushed you onto social media . Caller say what . Host what got you using these different platforms . Caller i think the fact the president tweets. [laughter] i was interested. Yous interested in that, know before you go coming said your skater facebook, why you are scared of facebook, why . Caller it is what people reveal about themselves. It is like walking down the street naked for some people. I cannot believe they do this. It is kind of scary. Host good luck to you navigating it. We are talking about social media usage this morning, whether it hurts or helps political discourse . Caller from fairfield connecticut. Caller good morning. I think it helps because social media democratize is the conversation and without it, if you go back prior to that, to the early 2000 or intimate 1990s, the American Public were mostly spectators to what was going on, now with social media people have the ability to share ideas, to share their opinions, and even to openly question people on twitter and on andbook, regarding issues it speaking directly to elected officials and former bureaucrats who are posting messages online. It has now become a conversation, as opposed to being the monologue with the American Public as the audience. Host how many hours a day do you spend on social media having those discussions and is it more than you have in person with people . Caller i probably spend in the course of my work, because i work in the media, anywhere from 24 hours. The problem with social media though, because it is a written out media as opposed to conversational media and a lot of people on facebook, when a state an opinion that you do not like, they will come after you full throttle. That is the downside of social media. I have lost a number of acquaintances, no close friends, due to the fact ive stated a political opinion that people disagreed with. Host thank you for the call. Liner from new york on the that it helps. Caller good morning. Is where everybody is equal to express their view. You obama talks about, know, comfortable ideation compartmentalization, even if you meet somebody officially in a discussion, there will be a disarmament, so for me with social media goes to the extreme like the iranians denouncing facebook, chinese denouncing it, because it challenges their authority. We should understand that this freedom is good for humanity. We should not even if it shows weakness, we should not say it is dangerous. Social media is a very important tool for political discourse, love, compd your locate ideas, i wonder why complicate ideas, i wonder why people are saying it is dangerous. It is not dangerous for me credit host he mentioned for me. Host he mentioned president obamas recent comments on social media. Here is the interview he had with prince harry on bbcs radio. His comments about social media. The question has to do with how do we harness this technology in a way that allows a multiplicity of voices, a diversity of views, but does not lead to a balkanization of our society, but rather continues to promote ways of finding common ground. I am not sure that the government can legislate that, but what i do believe is that all of us in leadership have to find ways in which we can recreate a common space on the internet, because it used to be in the United States for example, we had three television stations and everybody watched Walter Cronkite or david brinkley, everybody had a common set of facts, so there might be conservatives and liberals, but people generally could agree on a baseline of reality. One of the dangers of the internet is people can have entirely different realities. They can be cocooned in information that reinforces their current biases. One of the things i think i discovered, even back in 2007 and 2008, is a good way of fighting against that is making sure that all my communities do not just a online, that they move offline. What i mean by that is that i think social media is a really powerful tool for people with common interests to convene and get to know each other and connect, but then it is important for them to get offline, meet in a pub meet in the community. Meet at a place of worship, meet in a neighborhood, and get to know each other, because the truth is on the Internet Everything is simplified and when you meet people facetoface, it turns out they are complicated. There may be somebody who you think is diametrically opposed to you when it comes to political views, but you read for the same sports team, or you notice that they are really good parents, and that if they that you care about. It is important. You find areas of common ground, because you see that things are not as simple as had been portrayed in whatever chat room you have been in. It is also by the way harder to be as of noxious and cruel as obnoxious andas crew as it can be cruel as it can be on the internet. Host that was president obama. Does social media hurt or help political discourse . We will look for your comments on our social media pages, if you follow the at cspanwj on twitter, you can follow the conversation. It helps andht, hurts depending on the topic and he was posting. Raises theit i voices of the people. Trump abuses social media like a trouble, the leader of the free world is supposed to be more disciplined. Dana, ask the iranians if social media helps or hurts. She is referring to the ongoing protests in iran. Here is the front page of the financial times, with a picture of the protesters. Iran with their largest protest in almost a decade of thousands taking to the streets across the country in recent days. The president calling for unity yesterday as the death toll reached at least 15, some outlets reporting more. Yesterday,sts eased the atmosphere remained tense. That is the lead story in the financial times. President trump tweeting a few minutes it on the subject of iran. Here is what he said. The people of iran are finally acted against the regime, all the money that obama gave them went into terrorism and into their pockets. The people have little food, big inflation and an of human rights. The u. S. Is watching. This morning we will continue to watch his social media page as we talk about social media and the impact of social media. Tell us what you think it helps or hurts when it comes to political discourse. Douglas, michigan, on the line for those who say it hurts. Go ahead. Caller good morning. I think that social media is a tool, so it can be used to help or hurt. I think most of the time it is used to hurt. On the internet is fine, and when people talk about things like, i can research stuff and i have access to information. But when you talk about social media and things like facebook and twitter, people tend to, they tend to circle around their own groups and they tend to stay with people who support with a feel like, and they do not tend to have discourse with somebody who feels anything different, unless it is an attack. You see people trolling each other, trolling on the left and right, and its like im going to chew you out. There is no different take on the relationship or in terms of talking. Host do you think it is Getting Better or worse . Do you think people are finding new ways to use it so it helps more, or will this continue going in the direction that you described . Caller i think it will continue to go in the direction i described. I think again it is ok, because say that something happens, like a storm. People need to get the information out. From that standpoint, this is where i am, i am ok. That is a good thing. I think that will get, i think that will get better as a matter of fact. In terms of political issues, it is like, man, it is not going to get any better. It is like you have 45 coming on. He is still talking about president obama, about secretary clinton, he will not let it go. He is doing it because his base loves that stuff. He is rallying his base, he is not talking to americans in general as a whole. Youll find individuals doing the same thing, they want to group andeir little they will not talk to somebody else. It is not like you sit people down and over a cup of coffee you have either a civil conversation or a knockdown drag ut atthat at least b least you are learning from each other. Host clyde, go ahead. Caller host are you with us . Go ahead. Caller yes, thank you for taking my call. I believe it helps, because with the press the way that they are, the National Media it does not help with how they portray the president. They do not give up the truth. They are onesided. Else inar as everything e, it helps with host i am listening. Caller it helps with getting the message out to the people. To the people of iran where they are having the troubles. Instead of just closing up and not being able to hear anybody in the world, they get to see and hear people trying to cheer them on. They get better situations for themselves. It helps around the world. It helps with people who are getting in trouble and an accidents, they can get help right away. And it helps the world. I believe it is good for us. Jan on our facebook page, is a retired media teacher. She writes, it could help, however with the boxed society that spreads , it hurts. The problem is those that post. Not everybody will agree with every matter, including the weather, so how can political discourse be handled on discussion boards like this . That is the question posed by the retired teacher. Happy to have you talk about it. Give us a call, 202 7488000 if you think social media helps the political discourse. 202 7488001 if you think it hurts. Pennsylvania, on the line for those who say it hurts. Caller good morning. Happy new year. Host same to you. Caller thank you. I will say why it hurts. If the media would listen and not take sides of the political job, and just do their they should never get involved with political sides. Always be objective. Hateds the media has donald trump from day one. I hate what i see. Tell the truth. Do not be involved, whoever your or,to for, keep it voted f keep it to yourself. That is the only way to be fair to everybody. What donald trump is doing, i read him every morning, he is doing the right thing. He is telling you the way it is. He does not turn around to somebody in the media and say this is that. Host you tweet the president every morning . What do you say it was sort of response are you expecting . Do you expect to get a response from him . Caller i get a response. That i president about the lobbyists. About the term limits. Please guys have been there, the poor guy [indiscernible] here, andt people they got host do you think do you think the president sees your tweets . Do you think the message gets through to him . Caller i have a lot of good response and i love him. Between you and i, he will be the best president the country ever had. I hope you guys stick with him. Host that was bill in pennsylvania. Speaking of the president s twitter habits, this poll from last month from the hill newspaper talking about people that cannot only december, 26 of respondents say that they find the president s twitter use appropriate, 29 disapprove, 15 say they are not sure. The president tweeted more than 2600 times in 2017 according to the archives. It broke down along party lines, it is 7 of those identified as democrats, called them inappropriate, while 50 of republicans felt that way. Among independents, 50 found that the twitter use from the president was inappropriate, 29 was that it was appropriate. That was the breakdown on party lines. We want to hear from you, your thoughts on this topic. 202 7488000 if you think social media helps the political discourse. 202 7488001 if you think it hurts. Ary lynn in ohio. Caller i think social media helps from a different reasons. Particularly, facebook, because facebook opens up the dialogue between many people of different backgrounds. Especially in the United States, where we are dealing with the problems with the president , how he is portraying it and his use of twitter. He uses twitter more like a pulpit and basically he dictates to people with that. With facebook, it allows people to be very open and what they feel the president has been doing on twitter, which most people realize this president is not honest on twitter and he is just more or less talking to the people instead of listening to what the people have to say. That is why with facebook, it is an extremely powerful tool, it has been helping in many cases where people are coming together and uniting. And we are having a bigger platform and we will be, we will continue to do so until the next presidency, because people are seeing what benefits it creates. Have consensus on the facebook groups. The only problem i have with it, the negative side, if there is more censorship going on with Net Neutrality and we must be very careful to not be censored. So that is my only negative. I am not for the twitter personality types that go out and because they are abusive, but facebook has been beneficial to the political environment today. Host when it comes to your usage on facebook, are you mostly, when you interact with folks, is a people you agree with . How often do you interact with people who disagree, and how would you describe those interactions . Caller it is too combative with the trump supporters. I have gone on many antitrump groups and day oconnor many project groups and i have gone on many protrump groups. I find iit very beneficial. Memes, they are very powerful, and many people have been following them and they become a very big point. In other words, 30 years ago, they used political cartoons to her day president s, now that is what emememes are. They can create tension. A lot of times it is effective. Host when you say effective, people say to you that because of what you have sent out they have changed their opinion . Caller they do not change it, but they comment that they like it. They are agreeing because they say they like it. By comment, they will put up that comment, they are rationalizing it and understanding it. Host joe in north carolina, line for those that say it helps. Joe, go ahead. Caller yes, this is a great subject. What i like to do as a real estate appraiser, i had to look at information and to see what was real and wasnt, and bias was always important. One thing i think we have done, which kind of got us off on the wrong foot by focusing on facebook and twitter, we have an opportunity, i see this in the educational system, to work with social media and its new form and we failed. That is called wikipedia. Wikipedia has as some of the best and worst information out there. It is different from the old days when you sat and watched Walter Cronkite and he listened to what he said and you accepted it, a oneway street. In the future we have to see this as a twoway street, that means we have to participate and make discerning information about what we are getting and what we rely on. For example, when i use wikipedia, i see all the information that is out there and you have to then take it to the next layer and make a decision about whether it is coming from a reliable source, like i did in the appraisal business. If i asked a Real Estate Agent with the building was worth, they were always bias. The assessor was biased too. You have to tease that out. That is a challenge for people and i think eventually we will learn how to use this as a tool. It is just a tool. If we look at it from the historical point of view, like water concrete, and expect us to get hurt with information, then we are not looking at it the correct way. We have to look at this in a forward thinking way. One of the nice things about wikipedia is it does not requ