Question 7: Cable News Polarization?

Question 1

Partisan News Polarizing the Public? (Logic)

Answer 1

Exposure to “like-minded” news programming, which aggressively (and often in a vitriolic way) promotes one political viewpoint over the other, will lead people to adopt more extreme views
- HOPEFULLY - this could be ameliorated if people were exposed to crosscutting news

Question 2

Levendusky Experiment

Answer 2

1. Like minded programs lead people to develop more extreme views
2. Crosscutting programs lead people to moderate their views
   - But only among people with weak attitudes
   - People with strong attitudes counter-argue when exposed to crosscutting news programs

Note this is when people are forced to watch the specific programs

Question 3

Arceneaux and Johnson

Answer 3

1. People choose what they watch
2. Selective exposure experiments
3. When people are exposed to partisan news (either on TV, or presumably online):
   - trust in government may decline
   - like-minded programs can polarize attitudes
   - crosscutting programs have little effect
4. The effects of partisan news are heterogeneous
   - Like-minded news further polarizes people who already have extreme views
   - Cross-cutting exposure has its beneficial effects among moderates, the people whose views are not polarized
5. Overall, the effects of partisan news are small
   - The most vulnerable don’t consume it
6. By further polarizing extremists, however, partisan news is important
   - These are the people most active in politics
   - May have a disproportionate influence on what representatives think/do
   - Spillover effects through social networks?