Media and Political Polarization

 Media and Political Polarization 

 

    Media and Political Polarization, November 2020

    Various types of media have been utilized throughout history to draw attention to political candidates, social issues, and scandals long before the birth of the internet. In 1883, abolitionist and women rights advocate, Sojourner Truth, distributed photographic images to raise funds for her public speeches, a common practice for many activists. Harper Bazaar, a widely popular magazine in the 19th century, began to take on a political stance by addressing slavery and women's suffrage. The 1950s and 1960s gave birth to evening newscasts and access to real-time news as Americans watched Neil Armstrong take his first steps on the moon in 1969 and the live broadcast of the President Kennedy assignation in 1963. Media also at times contributed to segregation and political polarization by censoring civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. and taking a cue from political influence to promote the leader as a wanted criminal. 

 

    History shows that the Media is a powerful tool and that the political divide has always been present. It was the development of the internet in 1983 and its growing accessibility in 1995 that pulled the trigger on the mounting issue of political polarization. In 1995 the Drudge Report, a weekly aggressive conservative news report delivered by email, gained extensive popularity as it unapologetically exposed the Monica Lewinsky case against President Bill Clinton, reaching millions of readers across the world. Matt Drudge's news report via email could be left uncensored, produced for $19.95 a month, and divulge information without consequence. The weekly news article gained momentum among republicans and significant attention from a radio show that would soon become the republican go-to for news in the decades to come, Fox News. The Clinton scandal was perhaps one of the most published and shared events of the 90s also introduced a harsh clash between media sources and publications while providing a catalyst for divided media and a segue into political polarization. 

 

    Today 4.66 billion people in the world have access to the internet, social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook have shown minimal efforts to create fact-checking software and protect democracy from outside interference. The dangers of a media with no restraints combined with the echo chamber effect, caused by a person hearing the same political perspectives repeatedly, can only continue to contribute to the political polarization we are currently experiencing. Aside from web-based media, the viewer also needs to accept responsibility for America's divided political parties since the choices a person makes in selecting a preferred media tend to seek out validation for already established beliefs. Each day as Americans unfollow a news source, friend, or ignore a specific publication over a simple disagreement in political ideology, the dangers of a disconnected democracy increase while the bridge toward unity collapses.