The Rise of Partisan Media

By Melanie Harster

The rise of partisan media speaks to the intense polarization of American politics today. In recent years, there has been a drastic change in how the media landscape interacts with the public and politicians with an increased rise in the distrust of news outlets due to the perception of bias in media coverage.  With the advent of social media and the increasing presence of the internet in our day to day lives, there’s no longer a barrier to entry in journalism, with the internet permitting anyone to get involved directly to communicate and connect with others. The ease of disseminating  information to the public permits a greater opportunity to become informed; however, there is just as much if not more opportunity for misinformation due to “fake news,” information that is both deliberately and inadvertently factually incorrect and partisan news. The rhetoric President Donald Trump has frequently employed when attacking traditional media and legacy sources has helped to usher in the rise of conservative skepticism of traditional media, sowing distrust on the right of popular news outlets. Today, Americans are more split along party lines than ever before. As partisan media continues to dominate the media landscape, it will serve to further exacerbate polarization.

The news media is a political institution. Its institutional purpose is primarily derived from its function in spreading candidates' messages and influencing voters’ perceptions about candidates and important current issues. Technological diffusion encourages further polarization through the emergence of echo chambers and filter bubbles. With filter bubbles, many Americans' existing views are reinforced and our social media timelines are populated with opinions already shared by those who view them. The rise in polarization and negative partisanship has hindered Congress’ ability to pass legislation and will impede society’s ability to come to an agreement on important issues and the way to address them. The extent of political polarization is illustrated by data from the Pew Research Center “Today 92% of Republicans are to the right of the median Democrat, and 94% of Democrats are to the left of the median Republican” and the rise of negative partisanship can be seen as well, since “In each party, the share with a highly negative view of the opposing party has more than doubled since 1994.” With the growth of fake news and partisan media there is a reduced demand for high-precision low-bias reporting and there is less incentive to invest in accurate reporting. Considering how the media is where most Americans are informed about politics, the partisanship of political journalism must be confronted sooner rather than later.