Torrey Dixon

Media Effects
Professor Stanley Baran
Final Paper
12/6/2016

Final Paper: Media on Polarization

For many years there has been major disputes on whether or not the different forms of

media have been one sided and shapes citizens views unethically. Much research has argued this

point to be accurate as the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media does. This article says

that most of the major television news networks are aimed towards one specific party. For

example, they say that CNN and MSNBC are skewed towards the Liberal party while Fox and

talk radio shows are more focused towards the Conservative party. Theoretically speaking, if this

point is true than that makes the news media unbalanced which means it is unfair to the public.

This is stated because not every citizen can afford cable to be able to get multiple news sources

so they are almost forced to lean towards whatever party their sources allow them access too. In

other words, this person will only be receiving information from one media source not knowing

any information about the other parties because they physically cant get the information. So this

effects citizens online use, partisanship, and their perceptions of the medias bias in which effects

the change in time spent with neutral sources. (Kaye and Johnson, pg. 605) What this means is

that, when a new media source enters the picture, citizens tend to spend less time viewing the old

media because they are transitioning towards the new media as long as it meets similar needs.

The Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media talks about four theories in which all are

different ways address the time spent with media. The theories consist of Relative Constancy,
Displacement Effect, Niche theory, and Media Substitution. Those these theories are all

addressing the same thing, they differ in the sense that they appear in different scenarios when a

new media or technology source comes about. Relative Constancy is the direct immediate shift

from and old media source to the newer one. Displacement Effect states that citizens reduce the

time they spend on an older media source and puts more time into the new form only if it meets

their needs. Niche theory says that in order for new media sources to compete, then they must

completely differentiate from the existing media. Media substitution has two outcomes with the

first being that the new and existing media are equivalent but because the newer media is new,

than it will become more favorable. Secondly, if the existing media meets more satisfactory than

both media forms will become complementary and the time spent on the existing media will stay

the same or grow.

This article then proceeds to talk about the four types of bias in which consist of

Gatekeeper bias, Coverage Bias, Statement bias, and Perceptual bias. Coverage bias, Gatekeeper

bias, and Statement bias are all biases in which are formed from the media while Perceptual bias

is obviously the viewers perceptions. These types of biases are very common during the time of

a debate or election. This is part of the reason researchers feel that news networks are one sided

for example, again MSNBC and CNN news being liberal. However, this is not just a belief of

researchers but a major belief of the American citizens and that belief has done nothing but

increase. In 1985 that belief was as low as 53% and by the year 2010, it had increased to 77%. It

is because of this belief that the news audience feels the need to look towards other media

options like online news sites for more neutral political satisfactions. However, that does not

mean that those very same online political media outlets are any less biased. Another way that

this article argues news audience to look for other media forms is that most of the audience
initially lean towards likeminded sources that support their views. These likeminded sources can

be newsletters, newspapers, or television media. Then often times they will turn towards

mainstream neutral media forms to compare information allowing them to be able to fairly

determine where to put their beliefs.

Researchers in this article question if the amount of time news audience spend online

looking at political information, takes away from the time they spend looking at traditionally

delivered media in which is considered neutral? The answer to that question is yes time spent

with traditionally delivered media is effected but also the fundamental relationship between news

use and political attitudes are effected. This is bad for the public because the media can shape

political attitudes such as political trust, self-efficiency, and campaign interest. In turn, these

attitudes influence the ideological slant of content sought. (Johnson & Kaye, 2003. Pg. 607) On

this same token, it isnt just the news audiences in which is effected by these actions. It actually

enters the political parties circle as well. This is because they are constantly trying to make

attempts to draw more supporters and believers to follow their view points. This can be hard for

the traditional media to do because they constantly feel competition, or as least they feel that

way. Really, its not so much competition, its more so the fact that each party feels that if the

media sources dont support them then they are bashing their name. For example, Liberals feel

that Conservatives only speak about their flaws and vice versa. This is the reason that news

sources have been found to favor one side more than the other like Fox News and Talk Radio

shows are known as Conservative supporters.

So through reading this article, you can see that there is major competition between

traditional media and the new online media. Prior to reading this article, you may not have

known that online media as far as in political terms was as big as it is to the point where it
competes with traditional media. Traditional media consist of television news, newspapers, and

things of that nature. One main point that boldly stands out in this article is that online news

sources are becoming bigger because the news audience has become more educated on the fact

that traditional media always favors one side of politics.

Today, citizens would like to be able to consume equal information from multiple sites.

This well better allow them the opportunity to compare and contrast making for better a decision

making process. It has been made clear that citizens will often go looking for alternate sources in

the traditional media that share similar views but have a hard time finding that. This is the main

cause to the growth in online news media because a citizen can find more similarities there

because as this article says, there is more neutral political media online than in the traditional

media. When there is more neutral media than the polarization that takes places becomes

different. For example, partisan polarization becomes more relevant due to the fact that online

media allows for more diversity between political parties, rather than just showing only the

negatives of another party in order for your supporting party to persevere as they do in traditional

media. Through traditional media. Attitude polarization plays a key role because all political

parties do is create a wider attitude gap in this form of media.

This article discusses the four theories in which break down how both traditional media

and online media either grow or fade into the shadows. Out of the four theories, Displacement

effect and Niche theory are the most key theories to look at. This is because when talking about

the shifting of media sources, there is really two ways in which this can be done. Many would

say three because a person can obviously just follow the Relative Constancy theory. Here is

where they will just switch to a new media form because its new and that does happen otherwise

there wouldnt be a theory for it. However, the more educated political viewer will do like the
Displacement effect theory says and spend more time with a newer media source because it

better meets their needs. The second looked at theory which is most likely the most accurate

theory is the Niche theory. This is because like anything else, no one wants the same exact thing.

For example, if the IPhone 8 is just like the IPhone 7 then citizens would most likely just keep

the IPhone 7 and wait for the IPhone 9 in hopes that it will be completely different. So the Niche

theory says that in order for a new source to become a favorite then it must be completely

different from other political news sources whether its a traditional media or an online media

source.

In the end, after reading the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, I couldnt

agree more with the research that has been done. This article states almost the same information

as the Structural Changes in Media & Attitude Polarization article in which was presented to

Professor Barans Media Effects class. Through this article, you can gain a better understanding

of why citizens who view politics think and vote the way they do. However, I must also say that

because of the two journal articles previously stated, I believe that the forms of media presenting

the information to American citizens is unfair. This is something that wont change because

politics is a demanding topic as each party wants all the positive attention facing towards them.

With this being said, each party will go out their way to bash other political parties to make then

look better and they will use both traditional media sources and online media to do this.

Nevertheless, as the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic media states, online media is the

better form of media to use as it holds more neutral political information and also most of the

time citizens have the power to state their ideas. All in all, the Journal of Broadcasting &

Electronic Media is a very accurate and well researched article. To make that statement more
powerful, it is a recent article so the information is more accurate to what is happening today in

politics as far as traditional media and online media.

References:

Kaye, Barbara K., and Thomas J. Johnson. "Across The Great Divide: How Partisanship And

Perceptions of Media Bias Influence Changes In Time Spent With Media." Journal Of

Broadcasting & Electronic Media 60.4 (2016): 604-623. Academic Search Premier.

Web. 7 Dec. 2016.