← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Sertorius
Thread ID: 18891 | Posts: 6 | Started: 2005-06-29
2005-06-29 08:11 | User Profile
Every so often it is possible to actually hear something interesting from Limbaugh. This story is a case in point. While it is probably true that the people who did this are "liberals", I can attest from years of listening to the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, Boortz, etc and along with most of their callers that the researchers are on to something here. Someone else did a survey a year age and concluded that people who got their news and information from talk radio tended to be some of the most ill inform people in the country. This article and Limbaugh's reaction to it convinces me that the research in this area is valid. A person is much better off to read newspapers and at the same time make use of the Internet to find as many difference sources and a variety of viewpoints in order to be able to get some sort of a handle of where the truth lies.
I know from listening to Rush that the only reason he commented on it was because he is mentioned and it gives him an opportunity for self promotion.
Source: University of Missouri-Columbia Released: Mon 27-Jun-2005, 16:05 ET Radio Listeners Have Most Extreme Political Views, Newspaper Readers Least Libraries Life News (Social and Behavioral Sciences) Keywords RADIO NEWSPAPER JOURNALISM POLITICS POLARIZATION IDEOLOGY EXTREME
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Description Recent studies indicate that Americans are becoming increasingly extreme in their political, ideological and cultural views. A study suggesting that it is the type of media a person consumes, not necessarily the message, that determines how polarized people are on a certain issue.
Newswise ââ¬â Recent studies indicate that Americans are becoming increasingly extreme in their political, ideological and cultural views. From issues such as stem cell research to the environment, Americans are clinging to viewpoints that are increasingly opposed to one another, a phenomenon that some researchers attribute to the highly contested 2000 presidential election. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Journalism have completed a study suggesting that it is the type of media a person consumes, not necessarily the message, that determines how polarized people are on a certain issue.
Journalism professors Wayne Wanta and Stephanie Craft and journalism doctoral student Mugur Geana used data from a telephone survey administered nationally to 2,528 adults in the United States. Survey respondents answered a series of questions on the government, religion and a combination of those areas, and then their polarization scores were calculated. The researchers then compared variables such as income level, main news source and interaction time with the media to the polarization scores.
The study found radio listeners were the most polarized news consumers, due in part to shows hosted by conservative political commentators such as Rush Limbaugh. Conservative listeners have their ideals reinforced by the shows, which ultimately lead to even more extreme views, Wanta said. Newspaper readers were the least polarized news consumers. Since newspapers do not have the same space and time constraints as television or radio, newspapers are able to provide readers with more information on both sides of an issue. As a result, Wanta said, readers are less likely to adopt extreme attitudes about certain issues.
"Overall, our findings point to radio being a possible reason for the increasing polarization of the U.S. public," Wanta said. "This apparent polarization effect of radio is probably not caused by the amount of information radio listeners receive. If respondents had been using media content as an information source to crystallize their own opinions, we would likely see the sameââ¬âif not strongerââ¬âeffect with newspapers or the Internetââ¬âmedia that have information that is more in-depth than the content on radio."
Internet news consumers were also some of the least polarized citizens, which the researchers say is surprising since the Internet users could have easily received their news from outlets that matched their existing views.
"By narrowly concentrating their information consumption on content that reinforces their views, Internet users potentially could experience the same reinforcing process that could be taking place with conservative radio listeners," Wanta said, noting that Internet users are actually become less polarized in their views. "One plausible explanation is that Internet users are seeking breadth as well as depth in the information they get from the Internet. This breadth of information shows both sides of political issues, leading to a wider acceptance of differing political views."
The study was conducted by Princeton Research Associations and sponsored by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. It was presented to the Political Communication Division at the International Communication Association annual convention in New York City in May.
é 2005 Newswise. All Rights Reserved. [url]http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/512784/[/url] ========================= [url=http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_062805/content/america_s_anchorman.guest.html]Limbaugh's diatribe[/url] on this story:
BREAK TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Let me give you a little bit more on the survey here. "Recent studies indicate that Americans are becoming increasingly extreme in their political, ideological and cultural views." Of course given what we just heard from somebody on campus of the University of Missouri J-School, I don't think you can get more extreme than hanging effigies of Bush, saying "Bush = Hitler," and having a radical Muslim stop traffic in the middle of one of the quadrangles there and start lecturing the students. "From issues such as stem cell research to the environment, Americans are clinging to viewpoints that are increasingly opposed to one another, a phenomenon that some researchers attribute to the highly contested 2000 presidential election..." I know why this is. You know, there's a story I had from yesterday's stack Michael Barone writing about this in US News, "Why you all this partisanship...?" I'll tell you about it here in just a minute. I've got my own theory. I know why this is. The 2000 election is but one small adjunct to it, one small part of it. It's a much bigger story, and it's right in front of our faces. Really I guess the simplest way I could say it before I give it to you in detail: For the first time in their living memory, the left has serious intellectual opposition and doesn't know how to deal with it -- and as such they are retrenching and retreating, not into intellectual positions but emotional positions that really express their anger at not being a monopoly anymore. They are just livid that they don't run the show. They're just livid that they're not the mainstream anymore. Conservatives are no more partisan today. I'm no more partisan than I've ever been. I've been a partisan all my life because I have passionately held views and beliefs. They are my core. But they're no different today than they were 15 or 20 years ago. In fact, I get e-mails, "You're moderating too much, Rush. You need to hit back a little harder like you used to!" I think this new partisanship is strictly all behavior modification on the part of the left.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Okay, back to this University of Missouri Journalism School survey "indicating that Americans have become increasingly extreme in their political, ideological, and cultural views. On issues such as stem cell research, the environment, Americans are clinging to viewpoints that are increasingly opposed one another, a phenomenon that some researchers attribute to the highly contested 2000 presidential race. Now researchers at the University of Missouri Columbia School of Journalism have completed a study suggesting that it is the type of media a person consumes, not necessarily the message, that determines how polarized people are on a certain issue. A telephone survey of 2,528 adults in the US; a survey respondents answered a series of questions on the government, religion, and a combination of those areas and then air polarization scores were calculated. The study found that radio listeners were the most polarized news consumers due in part to shows hosted by conservative political commentators such as [El Rushbo]. Conservative listeners have their ideals reinforced by the shows which ultimate do even more extreme views. So we're back. See, nothing has changed, when it comes to the elites, the rap against this program has always been that you people are idiots. You are mind-numbed robots. You don't know anything until you tune in to me every day to, A, find out what to think, B, find out what to do, and C, get your marching orders. And this survey tends to confirm what the elites think, that you are only passionate about your beliefs because you're sponges and you soak up my passion and I stoke your fire, and I send you out there all enraged. Now, obviously there are flaws in this whole thing, and the flaw is the premise. The flaw is the premise that these people started with to try to find out why. It really isn't a mystery. Those of you who are conservative as am I know that you've been a conservative for a long time, most of your lives. Those that are recent converts, I have to excuse you from this explanation, but we've not changed. We simply react to some of the outrageousness that we see on the left. The left is whose changing. Karl Rove is exactly right. The liberals -- actually I don't know if they are changing. I think this is maybe always who they've been. They just are challenged for the first time in their memory and they don't know how to deal with it. They literally have no idea how to deal with it. I think the partisanship in this country comes from the paranoid left, which believes in all kinds of conspiracy theories. "The election was stolen! The war is about oil! It's all for Halliburton! Cheney is running the show! "You name it. They've got a conspiracy theory to explain everything because they can't accept one reality and that is that they're losing and they have been losing now consistently for 15 to 20 years, and they just can't deal with that, folks, and so they're getting rid of this mask, this disguise that they've always had. We're finding out who they really, really are, who they've always been. It's not a pretty site.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: One other little item from this Missouri J School survey. "Internet news consumers were some of the least polarized consumers they found. But if they keep on, Internet users could experience the same reinforcing process that could be taking place with conservative radio listeners," and you Internet users could also become extremists, too! You have been warned!
================= Careful, Rush...
See, nothing has changed, when it comes to the elites, the rap against this program has always been that you people are idiots. You are mind-numbed robots. You don't know anything until you tune in to me every day to, A, find out what to think, B, find out what to do, and C, get your marching orders.
That's right, they are mind-numbed idiots. Just listen to these fools. Nothing has changed when it comes to the elites, whether it is"Liberals and Democrats" or (Neo)"Conservatives and Republicans"! They will all try to feed you a line of b.s.
2005-06-29 15:20 | User Profile
How about political board posters? :shocking:
2005-06-29 16:03 | User Profile
MR,
I've heard him praise and sometimes bitch about "Free" Republic. Needless to say, the bitching was before the big purge.
2005-06-30 00:50 | User Profile
If I was a conspiracy theorist, I would say this this "study" was financed by moveon.org, Air America, or other left wing groups that wants to stifle free speech and bring back that ridiculous idea of "fairness in broadcasting."
I generally listen to Bob Grant's Talk Show and he is like a walking encyclopedia of history (he will give details down to the exact day of a significant historical events that comes up in a conversation). He reads all the New York metro papers each morning and is well versed in current events.
[QUOTE]Journalism professors Wayne Wanta and Stephanie Craft and journalism doctoral student Mugur Geana used data from a telephone survey administered nationally to 2,528 adults in the United States. Survey respondents answered a series of questions on the government, religion and a combination of those areas, and then their polarization scores were calculated. The researchers then compared variables such as income level, main news source and interaction time with the media to the polarization scores.
1) What intelligent person would participate in a telephone survey. 2) What are the demographics of the 2,500 people? 3) How are they measuring and defining the so-called "polarization?"
The study was conducted by Princeton Research Associations and sponsored by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. It was presented to the Political Communication Division at the International Communication Association annual convention in New York City in May.
Just checked out a random member of the staff at Pew Research and she has previously worked on left wing publications.
[url]http://people-press.org/about/[/url]
Jodie T. Allen Senior Editor
Jodie Allen is the senior editor at the Pew Research Center. She joined the Pew Center from U.S. News & World Report where she was a managing editor and also wrote a bi-weekly column on the political economy. She was previously the business editor and a senior writer for the magazine.
She came to U.S. News from Slate Magazine, Microsoft's online magazine of politics and culture, where she was the Washington bureau chief. Before joining Slate she was editor of Outlook, the Sunday commentary section of the Washington Post. She has also been an editorial writer and business columnist with the Post.
2005-06-30 11:41 | User Profile
Everything stinks about this study, starting with the fact that it's from people with "doctorates" in "journalism." How do you gin up a Ph.D. for something that's just learning to ask who-what-where-how-when-why, and then writing about it?
Newspapers and university journalism departments have been on a progressivist bender for many years, reaching their apogee in Woodward's and Bernstein's Watergate "investigation." The product sucks and people are no longer buying it.
2005-06-30 13:07 | User Profile
S, S.T.,
Your points are well taken and some years ago I would agree with you. However, I listen to these folks all the time and I believe the study is correct. Remember, even a blind pig ocassionally finds an acorn.