Media Polarization and the Spiral of Silence

.docx

School

New York University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

268

Subject

Communications

Date

Feb 20, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by MinisterCrownJellyfish107

Media Polarization and the Spiral of Silence – Megan Santos In the 1950s and 60s America became dominated by television and the news. As America battled through the Civil Rights Movement, the Cold War, and Vietnam, network news broadcasts and mammoth papers like The New York Times and The Washington Post kept Americans informed and acted as watchdog through scandals like The Pentagon Papers and Watergate. It was during these years when Americans, with some issues specific exceptions, were relatively unpolarized as the political ideologies of Republican and Democrat stayed more middle ground. Yet as America entered the 1980s, the political and news landscapes took a dramatic turn. Throughout the 1980s, 90s, and 2000s American politics became increasingly polarized. In the middle of this shift was the rise of new media including cable news, 24 hour news channels, and eventually the internet and social media. It is often debated whether the news is polarized because Americans are polarized or whether Americans are polarized because their news sources are polarized. While there is definitely a cyclical nature to this dynamic, the rise in increasingly polarized new media heightened and added to the polarization of America creating a newscape dominated by often extremely polarized minority voices. One of the most prominent factors influencing the rise of ever more partisan news media is competition. As news sources increased with the rise of 24 cable shows like Fox News and MSNBC and the dominance of the internet and social media, the competition for viewers, which is key to ad revenue, became increasingly intense. Cable news networks, which are almost always more biased than their broadcast counterparts, now draw the largest share of viewers (Sobieraj & Berry, 2011, p. 23). The problem is that these stations attract viewers by doing what is called “narrowcasting”, catering their content to niche audiences that are appealing to advertisers, creating ever more homogenous and partisan viewing groups (Sobieraj & Berry, 2011, p. 22). These effects are even more prevalent amongst social media users. Despite the abundant access to news in the digital age, the increasing choices have actually been shown to have a negative effect on consumers’ exposure to unbiased content. Instead this digital environment has led to the creation of echo chambers in which users are rarely exposed to content that challenges their pre-existing beliefs (Bakshy et. al, 2015, p. 1130). A wider range of choices often leads consumers to choose only that media which fits with what they know, with some social media algorithms actually expanding this issue by filtering out cross-cutting content (Bakshy et. al, 2015, p. 1130-31). Exacerbating this self-inflicted polarization is the fact that those spreading information on social media are often more extreme members of their ideology that do not represent the broader electorate (Cohn & Quealy, 2019). This cycle of filtering increasingly polarized information leads to further spreading of polarization. This cycle of polarization in new media has led researchers to an idea they have termed the spiral of silence in which individuals’ willingness to share their opinions is based on their perception of whether or not their opinions will be accepted (Scheufele & Moy, 2000, p. 7). New media consumers are constantly bombarded by heavily polarized information that occasionally borders on the extreme. If this is all that is seen it is easy to assume that this is what most people believe. The spiral of silence states that this will make those who disagree

less willing to share their opinions out of fear of public backlash (Scheufele & Moy, 2000, p. 7-8).While the rise in social media as a source of news came well after Scheufele and Moy’s study, their work has alarming implications in the digital age. If fear of public reprisal inhibits the sharing of differing viewpoints, social media and internet news will only confirm this idea. Comment sections and public responses on internet sites are known for being highly reactive and negative. It would stand to reason that the spiral of silence has become even more pronounced as highly polarized media encourages a highly polarized society which then aggressively attacks any challenges to the vocal media users. As Scheufele and Moy mentioned, this perception of public opinion and unwillingness to challenge it can only happen “if the media take an identifiable position” on a given issue (Scheufele & Moy, 2000, p. 11). As new media outlets like Fox News are known for taking firmly partisan positions on many issues, this spiral has likely only grown in recent years. The rise of new media and the polarization of America in recent years is highly cyclical in nature. Media needs viewers/users to survive and thus cater to their audiences. As society becomes more polarized, so does the media. However, as the media becomes more polarized, those who view and spread it tend to also align with it. As the spiral of silence diminishes the likelihood of challenges to these viewpoints, the polarziation becomes ever more pronounced. If this trend continues, it is likely that American society, and its news media, will only drift further apart. References Bakshy, E., Messing, S., & Adamic, L. A. (2015). Exposure to ideologically diverse news and opinion on Facebook. Science , 348 (6239), 1130-1132. Cohn, Nate, and Kevin Quealy. “The Democratic Electorate on Twitter Is Not the Actual Democratic Electorate.” The New York Times , 9 Apr. 2019. Druckman, J. N., Levendusky, M. S., & McLain, A. (2018). No need to watch: How the effects of partisan media can spread via interpersonal discussions. American Journal of Political Science , 62 (1), 99-112. Hallin, Daniel & Giles, R. (2005). Presses and Democracies . The Press. Overholser, G. & Jamieson, K. eds. New York: Oxford University Press. 0195172833. pp. 1-16. Iyengar, Shanto. (2016). “The Media Marketplace: Where Americans Get the News.” Ch. 3 in Media Politics: A Citizen’s Guide. 3 rd ed. New York, NY: W.M. Norton and Company. Prior, M. (2005). News vs. entertainment: How increasing media choice widens gaps in political knowledge and turnout. American Journal of Political Science , 49 (3), 577-592 Scheufle, D. A., & Moy, P. (2000). Twenty-five years of the spiral of silence: A conceptual review and empirical outlook. International journal of public opinion research , 12 (1), 3-28. Sobieraj, S., & Berry, J. M. (2011). From incivility to outrage: Political discourse in blogs, talk radio, and cable news. Political Communication , 28 (1), 19-41.

Your preview ends here

Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help