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In reply to the discussion: Rupert Murdoch The Most Evil Human In History [View all]JonLP24
(29,322 posts)They cause so much destruction indirectly. Look at the Caravan fearmongering. They're setting off mass shooters with their rhetoric and they don't care about the damage they cause.
I also blame the Telecommunications Act for deregulating the industry leading to channels like Fox News.
Study links U.S. polarization to TV news deregulation
PULLMAN, Wash. Increasing American political polarization is linked to television news deregulation following the federal Telecommunications Act of 1996, according to a Washington State University study.
After 1996, we see changes in polarization based on how much television people are using, said researcher Jay Hmielowski, assistant professor in WSUs Edward R. Murrow College of Communication. He conducted the study with Murrow colleague Myiah Hutchens and former colleague Michael Beam, now at Kent State University.
Their work was recently published online in the International Journal of Public Opinion Research (http://ijpor.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2015/07/02/ijpor.edv012.short).
The telecommunications act sought to open markets to competition, but the result was consolidation. This included large companies like FOX and NBC buying smaller, independent TV stations and cable news channels.
Scholars and pundits have voiced concern that the U.S. government has become increasingly inept at solving important problems. Many point to political polarization as the culprit, with evidence of increasing attitude divergence among party elites, interest groups and activists.
https://news.wsu.edu/2015/09/24/study-links-u-s-polarization-to-tv-news-deregulation/