Broken Links: How Do Media Silos Undermine Social Solidarity?

October 21, 2025

Broken Links: How Do Media Silos Undermine Social Solidarity?

Pope Leo XIV has urged the media to serve as peacemakers and to embrace communication that brings us out of the confusion of lovelessness, ideological, or partisan languages. Yet the proliferation of new and heavily ideological media outlets prevents dialogue among people with differing views, continues to deepen existing polarization, and erodes possibilities for a politics of solidarity. A growing share of Americans now hold increasingly hostile views toward those with different beliefs, and today’s highly fractured media landscape only seems to reinforce those divides.

This Salt and Light Gathering examined how our current media environment fuels our political, religious, and social fragmentation in the United States, with a particular focus on young adults. It considered how, within this climate, young people might respond to Pope Leo’s call to build a culture of solidarity through a “disarmed and disarming communication [that] allows us to share a different view of the world and to act in a manner consistent with our human dignity.”

Anna Gordon, assistant director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, moderated the dialogue.

This gathering will had three parts:

6:00 - 7:00 p.m. | Welcoming Happy Hour
Meet and network with other young leaders over food and drink

7:00 - 8:00 p.m. | Dialogue
A conversation on “Broken Links: How do Media Silos Undermine Social Solidarity?”

8:00 - 9:00 p.m. | Reception
Continue the conversation with other young leaders over food and drink

Resources

View articles, podcasts, and other resources for this dialogue.

This Salt and Light Gathering is for Catholics under 40 years old in Washington to help them explore links between faith, Catholic social thought, and their lives and work.

Photo credit: Rawpixel Ltd.

Participants

Pete Davis

Pete Davis is a writer and civic advocate focused on strengthening American democracy and building solidarity. He is the co-director of Join or Die, a documentary on Robert Putnam’s work, and the author of Dedicated: The Case for Commitment in an Age of Infinite Browsing (2021). He is also the co-founder of the Democracy Policy Network, which advances ideas to deepen democracy.

José Manuel De Urquidi

José Manuel De Urquidi is the founder of Juan Diego & Company, which helps Catholic organizations connect with U.S. Latinos through strategy, content creation, and marketing. In 2023, he was appointed by Pope Francis to be a delegate in the Synod on Synodality, and he advises both the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Council of Bishops from Latin America and the Caribbean on digital evangelization and accompaniment.

Christine Emba

Christine Emba is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where her work focuses on gender and sexuality, feminism, masculinity, youth culture, and social norms. She is concurrently a contributing writer at the New York Times and a visiting fellow at the Center for Economy and Society at Johns Hopkins University’s SNF Agora Institute.

Salt and Light Gatherings