They'll have to dig themselves out of a pretty deep hole, reputation-wise. While there are specific subject subreddit with fantastic content, most of the regional subs they carry lots of news and politics have a well-earned reputation for racism and xenophobia, and the more discussion-oriented subs add in misogyny into the mix.
Only the subs with obsessively strict moderation like the science subs (or /r/Canada politics) seem to succeed in discussing issues without hatred.
Meanwhile, Twitter maintains mainstream acceptance despite being the online home of David Duke and various other infamous white supremacists.