General Discussion

portlander23

(2,078 posts) Fri Sep 25, 2015, 10:15 PM Sep 2015

WSU: Study links U.S. polarization to TV news deregulation

“After 1996, we see changes in polarization based on how much television people are using,” said researcher Jay Hmielowski, assistant professor in WSU’s Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. He conducted the study with Murrow colleague Myiah Hutchens and former colleague Michael Beam, now at Kent State University.

The telecommunications act sought to open markets to competition, but the result was consolidation. This included large companies like FOX and NBC buying smaller, independent TV stations and cable news channels.

Scholars and pundits have voiced concern that the U.S. government has become increasingly inept at solving important problems. Many point to political polarization as the culprit, with evidence of increasing attitude divergence among party elites, interest groups and activists.

1 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

WSU: Study links U.S. polarization to TV news deregulation (Original Post) portlander23 Sep 2015 OP

This makes sense Kilgore Sep 2015 #1

Kilgore

(1,733 posts)

1. This makes sense

Reply to portlander23 (Original post)

Sat Sep 26, 2015, 08:39 AM

Sep 2015

I remember the day when our home had four viewing options. Nbc, abc, cbs & npr. Today we have 200+ channels, from 24/7 food to 24/7 news not even counting all the streaming options.

Specifically for news, our Spectrum now ranges from FSTV to Fox. So is it worse to have a wide range of options or just 4?

The old days had everything mashed together and targeted to the lowest common denominator. For me, no way I would go back.

Reply to this discussion