Greetings,

As we approach Thanksgiving it seems like an appropriate time to give my thanks to you for giving On Point a home on your schedule — and a special thanks to the more than 60 stations who have picked up On Point this year. And of course, thanks to all your listeners who are turning to On Point and making us part of their listening day. We were delighted to see that according to Nielsen, even accounting for carriage changes, our national audience has continued to grow.

That alone should be cause for celebration but I’m finding it hard to be in a celebratory mood. And I know I’m not alone. The terrible events in Israel and Gaza that have echoed around the world on and since October 7th have left many of us feeling a little emotionally fragile, even though most of us sit in relative safety thousands of miles away.

I know from long experience working on daily news shows that even producing interviews on topics like the war between Israel and Hamas can take its mental toll. There’s also the stress and challenge of covering a story about which many of our listeners are deeply polarized and asking tough questions is all too easily seen as taking a side or ignoring someone’s truth. Our team has had long, deep conversations — some in person, others over Slack — to talk about the people who we should be hearing from, the stories we need to hear and the questions we should be asking, that will reveal the depth, nuance, and complexity of the human experience that is all too often seen in binary terms.

We see those binary perspectives reflected in emails we receive from listeners. I have no doubt you are seeing this too. The On Point team has been struck by how our efforts to go deep, taking the opportunity we have with an hour to explore one topic, has resonated with many listeners.

For example, after our October 19 episode featuring a cross-spectrum panel of Jewish Americans, one listener wrote to us to express how, as a Jewish American, their feelings were equally “as complex and even conflicted” as our guests. They “appreciated feeling less alone in what (they’re) personally experiencing. As well as learning about other viewpoints.” And, they added, they were looking forward to the upcoming panel of Palestinian Americans.

After that one, another listener wrote to tell us how she had heard something she “thought was impossible in the United States – “Palestinian Americans speaking as Palestinians” She went on to write “I had to pull into the breakdown lane and cry…. there is simply no way for the American public to understand the depth of this conflict and the possibilities for its resolution without hearing both people’s voices, understanding their national narratives, and feeling their collective pain.”

And after our episode exploring the language and labels that has so often been uttered in such conflicts – genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity – one listener wrote to say that they “believe that many intelligent listeners (whether given to sympathy for Hamas or Israel) will likely come away with feeling that the “guilty” case of the “other” party has been forwarded — combined with a lingering sense that perhaps their own “side” has not quite been pronounced “innocent” either. This outcome is probably the best evidence of outstanding journalism in addressing this very serious, fraught, complex challenge confronting nations — and individuals.”

I’m grateful for the compliment and I truly believe that even in our polarized world ‘outstanding journalism’, or even just ‘journalism,’ has the power to broaden all our perspectives and even change minds. I know we’re all in that together.
Jonathan Dyer
Executive Producer, On Point