A Conversation with Eric Thompson ’11: Alum Launches Nonpartisan Media Company

How would you describe Framechange?
ET: Framechange is a nonpartisan newsletter that summarizes viewpoints from multiple sides of current issues. Each weekly email explores a hot topic issue by summarizing prevalent arguments from across the spectrum, along with supporting data and links for readers to continue forming their own opinion. Our mission is to reduce polarization by helping readers understand diverse perspectives, evolve their thinking, and practice empathy for viewpoints they disagree with.

Can you give us some insight into how you go about choosing topics and researching them?
ET: Each week, we tackle a hot topic issue that is prevalent in the current news cycle (i.e., from the past one to two weeks) but also stands to have broader, longer-term relevance. We thoroughly research perspectives from everyday citizens, politicians, academics, industry leaders, and other experts from across the spectrum. Then we tightly summarize specific arguments that will best inform our readers on the variety of viewpoints out there. We research across dozens of news sources, academic publications, and primary sources, filtering out hate speech, conspiracy theories, and apparent disinformation.

What are some of the issues Framechange has been addressing recently?
ET: Our coverage tends to be a mix of politics, business, technology, and education. Recent topics we've covered include the outlook for Trump's presidency (e.g., should Americans be optimistic or pessimistic about Trump's second term?), the Electoral College , the AI safety bill , the Israel-Hezbollah escalation , Google's antitrust loss , trans women in college sports , and standardized testing in college admissions .

What led you to set this up?
ET: I started Framechange as a way to address the polarization and oversimplified thinking I was experiencing in interactions with friends, family, colleagues, strangers, and the media. The inspiration really dates back to 2016, when I first started to see divisiveness around politics and current events tick up. Since then, it's only grown-fueled by social media algorithms, shortening attention spans, and media sensationalism.

What are your aims for the project?
ET: Our goal is to help reduce polarization and promote a new normal for media consumption, centered around quality information and viewpoint diversity. I think reducing polarization and instilling "empathy as the norm" can have a huge impact on the world. As Bowdoin professor and Framechange ally Dan Stone argued brilliantly in his book, Undue Hate, polarization is extremely inefficient and leads to suboptimal outcomes. Not only does it drive individuals and leaders away from coming together to create effective solutions for critical problems, but it can also drive them to make *ineffective* decisions that create more problems.

What kind of distribution does Framechange have?
ET: We launched this year and have over one thousand subscribers and growing. Our readers come from a diverse mix of political leanings (i.e., left/right, Democrat/Republican, moderate).

How is Framechange funded?
ET: Framechange is fully bootstrapped. We are open, however, to funding from the right partner(s) to help accelerate our growth and impact. The revenue model will be primarily subscription-based to support the work, though it's important to note that we're providing college students with free access throughout their time in school.

Do you have a staff of journalists/researchers helping you?
ET: Right now it's primarily myself and my research advisor Krysia Sakori driving the work. I have deep experience in research and content generation, having previously started 6Pages -a subscription market intelligence platform focused on major shifts in business and tech. Krysia has experience as a researcher at a DC think tank with particular expertise in election disinformation. With that said, we are exploring growing the team! Please reach out to us if you have a passion for connecting people with high-quality information and are interested in getting involved.