http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/james-carville/328731-polarization-in-media-worsens-partisanship
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Media Fragmentation to Blame For Polarization?
An interesting article by James Carville posted on TheHill.com offered up a new perspective when analyzing the causes of polarization. Carville believes that the extreme fragmentation of the media, particularly news sources, is largely to blame for the ever-increasing polarization of the public, and consequently, congress. He stated, "Today, conservatives can get all their information from conservative outlets, and liberals can get all their information from liberal outfits. And you can spend your whole life never being challenged, never having to hear or think about or confront viewpoints that are different from your own." Carville points out an undeniable truth that people are predispositioned to tune into news channels that reinforce their personal policy preferences. When people hear their ideals being justified in the media, they are personally strengthened in their ideologies and are then less likely to confront opposing opinions with any real consideration. The public can watch all the news they want still remaining uninformed. This is because, "Instead of taking all this information and using it as a window to the entire world, a big part of the media industry now exists in large part to confirm your beliefs. People have figured out that there’s a lot of money to be made telling you that you were right in the first place. It makes both sides more dug in," according to Carville. One thing individuals should carefully consider is whether their news source is selling opinions or providing facts.
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True but once again we should ask ourselves does the media shape us or do we shape the media? It is probably a little of both and it is hard for minorities like Latinos to hear the opposition because they basically only have one channel, Univision. Univision has a one hour program weekly that talks about politics and the one key issue to Hispanics, the immigration reform. Where the Democrats are the good and the Republicans are bad for stopping the immigration reform that is not even on the floor when there is a great deal of support among most Americans.
ReplyDeleteYes I agree with your source. The media shapes helps shape how we think. Today we have networks that are for either side and will push those views to the viewer to strengthen them onto the public. The media will never change their ways , they see that their shows effect voting so they will keep their public strong views on television. There will never be a neutral news station that is not pointing a finger at the other side. This is what gives television channels numbers.
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