Obama bemoans the disparate realities of Americans.

Former US President Barack Obama has argued that a "splintered media" has left Americans too divided to address controversial challenges based on a common understanding of reality. He said that when the country had only three major television news outlets, people were getting a similar sense of what is true and what isn't, what was real and what was not. Now, people are saying, "Well, that didn't happen,' or, "I don't believe that,' or, "I don't care about the science,' or, "I'm not concerned about these experts, you know, 'cause they're just all liberals,' or, 'that's just conservative propaganda.'" Obama said that past generations of Americans were able to confront issues based on a common view of the facts, even as they disagreed on policy decisions. Former President Barack Obama has stated that he wants to help return America to a "common conversation" based on a "common set of facts". He has previously warned that "disinformation" and splintering of media are further dividing Americans and making democracy "more complicated". However, his own partisan views creep into his arguments about bringing Americans onto the same page factually. Obama also made his latest comments about divided realities in the context of his view that America needs tighter restrictions on gun ownership. He said that Australia had one mass shooting 50 years ago, and they said, "Oh, we're not doing that anymore."