Contentious Talk Shows Really Are Hurting America
American Prospect
By Mary Beckman
When The Daily Show's Jon Stewart
told CNN's Crossfire hosts that their form of combative political
commentary was “hurting America,” he was on to something. And when
CNN/US President Jonathan Klein agreed and canceled the show, he also
might have sensed what new research is getting at: “In-your-face”
television has the capacity to polarize viewers on political issues and
turn people off of the political process.
What
has changed in the last 50 years has been the way Americans get to know
their candidates. Voters used to gather in town squares and watch
politicians live and in person. Now citizens welcome their favorite
candidates into their homes on television. And during the last decade,
rancorous “debate” shows such as The O'Reilly Factor and Crossfire have
gained in popularity, bringing obnoxious behavior up close and
personal.
When
faced with confrontation in person, people tend to back off to preserve
their personal space. But when conflicts break out on television, the
camera zooms in. Close-ups don't allow us to step back, making the
experience somewhat unnatural. Diana Mutz, a political-science
professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and her colleagues wanted
to know what effect incivility in televised political debates had on
viewers. Their results were published this month in The American
Political Science Review and presented at last month's meeting of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.
(Click here to read the entire article)
Help stop media bias in Iowa. Click here to receive action alerts from Rapid Response – Iowa
Blog For Iowa 