As we continue to move this political polarization conversation forward, one of the most glaring problems that is evident lies with the media. With more and more media outlets becoming more prominent with time, there are more and more ways for the general public to obtain the news from all sorts of biases. One of the biggest reasons for the media’s play in political polarization is the emergence of more one-sided media outlets. It seems that the people who only watch or view those forms of media are affected the most when it comes to forming strong opinions.
A study made by MIT political science professors Adam Berinsky and Teppei Yamamoto, covered the question surrounding political polarization and if it causes citizens to seek out partisan media sources, and if partisan media pushed people toward more polarized views. They conducted the research by combining a large online survey about the news that people like to read, along with web browsing data that tracks the news sites the participants actually visited. After this, they found the differences between the two.
While examining the participants’ stated media preferences from the survey, the researcher discovered that people may be receptive to information from sources that they actually disagree with politically. On the other hand, the data gathered from the web browsing information implied that people are primarily influenced by the news sources they agree with. The researchers stated “Together, these results suggest that inferences about media polarization may depend heavily on how individuals’ media preferences are measured,”. This claim makes sense because what media a person engages with on a regular basis is typically about what they agree with, or it forms beliefs. I found the first part of the study particularly interesting because it claimed that people are receptive to information from sources they disagree with. This makes sense however, because when someone is viewing media they disagree with, they may be more engaged because they actually want to hear out what the opposition is saying.
Furthermore, a paper written by MIT philosopher Dr. Kevin Dorst, dives into the logical processes that can drive and create polarization. Dorst argues that people understandably scrutinize evidence that contradicts their existing views more aggressively than evidence that supports it. Dorst explains in his paper that the people who develop radically different views are not necessarily being misled or reacting with strong emotions but are responding rationally to ambiguous information. In other words, Dorst is claiming that people with strong views scrutinize the opposition’s views because the information is misleading.
I think that the study and paper both make excellent claims about the media’s role in political polarization. I think that these claims show that a good solution to these problems is to simply view more forms of media that have different central viewpoints. By doing this, you can see all aspects of the political landscape and all of the opinions surrounding every conceivable topic.
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/28/1087666/new-insights-on-political-polarization/