Researchers at the
University of Missouri School of Journalism have published results of an interesting study on polarization of attitudes vis-a-vis media consumption by format. The headline is that heavy listeners of radio in the U.S. have the most extreme views, while regular newspaper readers are the least likely to adopt extreme views.
That makes sense. If your media consumption mostly involves listening to talk shows and the likes of
Rush Limbaugh on the right or
Air America on the left, you may well develop extreme views as your media diet lacks balance. Newspapers, without the same space and time restraints as radio, provide readers with more information on both sides of issues.
What's the most interesting is that people who mostly use the Internet as the preferred medium for news also were less extreme in their views. You might think that because there's so much available online, that people would tend to gravitate toward coverage that just confirmed their viewpoints and beliefs and ignore the rest. But it appears, from this study at least, that the breadth of online information rather serves to counter extremism.
The Mizzou study was conducted by Princeton Research Associates and sponsored by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
