Party Polarization in New Media

Rush Limbaugh wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal expressing his anger towards the liberals opposition to conservative radio talk shows and expression in general. Limbaugh writes, "the Obama.Clinton/ media left are comfortable with the unrest in our society today. It allows them to blame and demonize their opponents (...talk radio, Fox News) in order to portray their regime as the great healer of all our ills, thus expanding their power and control over our society. A clear majority of the American people want no part of this...They love their country and want to save it from those who do not."

Talk radio, cable news shows, blogs, basically New Media in general have greatly polarized our country in bias news and partisan opinions. While New Media functions as a watchdog to government and the press, I think a very dangerous aspect of New Media is the intensity of opinions and hatred that is spewed from many prominent New Media figures from both parties.

Newspaper circulation down

The Huffington Post wrote an article about the decline in newspaper circulation in the United States. The top 25 US newspapers all saw a decrease in sales and readers, except for the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal, getting a lot of news today, because of their new additional section focusing on New York news. They are trying to rival the NYTimes in sales and circulation through their new section's advertisements and interests.

Reasons for decrease in newspaper circulation can be any number of issues. Internet for one, could lead newspaper readers to just look to online newspapers instead. Also, other online sources, such as blogs, twitter, and facebook may provide newspaper readers with direct specialized information about what interests them.

Think Again: The Internet

Foreign Policy published a comprehensive analysis of the role the Internet had had in promoting democracy around the world. From the disappointing results of democratic movements propelled by participatory media to the double standards of Google as a promoter of democracy around the world, Think Again: The Internet gives us a bleak picture of what the internet has actually done compared to its objectives of bringing the world closer together and ultimately guaranteeing freedom and peace around the world. As the article concludes “the Internet looks like a hypercharged version of the real world, with all of its promise and perils, while the cyber utopia that the early Web enthusiasts predicted seems ever more illusory.”

Fox news...crosses the line. what's new?

Media Matters posted some of the reactions from the various anchors and news sources of the proposed Arizona Immigration law. First, the Arizona immigration law will "require law enforcement to demand immigration papers of those they suspect to be in the country illegally, which many argue will lead to racial profiling." Of course, while newspapers like the NY Times or the Arizona Republic bash the proposed bill for it's embedded racism and discrimination towards Latinos, many Fox news anchors praised it for that very same quality. Fox has crossed the line. While reading the reactions of Fox anchors and newscasters, I cannot believe the ignorance they are spewing out to the public. It is NOT okay to racially profile people that could "fit" the description of an illegal immigrant aka Latinos. Fox news' motto, "Fair and Balanced", has time and again proven how bias and opinionated its programs can be.

The Daily Show- a watchdog on New Media

The New York Times wrote about the highly criticized, debated Daily Show and anchor Jon Stewart's role as a news source. While The Daily Show is just "comedy", not serious news, it acts as probably the most prominent watchdog of not only of government, but also to New Media. As of this year, 24 segments of the Daily Show have been dedicated to critiquing Fox News. Jon Stewart has used satire to not only poke fun of political issues but bring the public's attention to problems within the press and many news outlets. "Combining the earnestness of a journalism professor and the sarcasm of a satirist, Mr. Stewart routinely charges that Fox's news anchors and commentators distort Mr. Obama's policies and advance a conservative agenda."

Why CNN loses to MSNBC and Fox...

Time magazine's media critic, James Poniewozik, wrote an article critiquing CNN's media role in the ever-changing media environment in cable news. Poniewozik argues CNN hasn't kept up with the Jones': while MSNBC and Fox have an increasingly stable fan base due to their bias, partisan news, CNN has kept with traditional media's role as impartial, non-bias stance on news. Yet, this is not what Poniewozik thinks is the main problem with CNN's shrinking popularity. CNN, if sticking behind non-bias role in news coverage, should play a more watchdog role like its competition, MSNBC and Fox. Although bias news shows/ anchors may stick primarily behind party lines, they still play an active role in critiquing government, politicians, governmental decisions, etc. For example, Shepard Smith, a Fox anchor, who is willing to "step on conservatives' toes", and Jon Stewart, who will poke fun at conservatives as well as liberals in office. The popularity of bias news is not only the partisan stances they may take on issues, but it's the sureness of their opinion and watchdog role.

The Pulitzers 2010

Sheri Fink, a reporter from Propublica won the Pulitzer of Investigative Journalism: the prize of prizes. This is the first time that an online not for profit news organization wins the prestigious award. Fink's story about deadly medical choices made in the immediate aftermath of Katrina was published in The New York Times Magazine in collaboration with Propublica. As Richard Perez Peña (from the New York Times) acknowledges, this comes only after a few years that the Pulitzer relaxed its rules to submit articles that have only been published online. This is a major recognition of the role that new media especially in collaboration with old media can have in advancing investigatory journalism.

More on this and the reaction of the media later.

The battle of cable news

The Larry King Show, CNNs prime time show, lost half of its viewers in the first quarter of 2010. CNN ratings continue to drop while Fox News ratings are better than ever. Did Fox News got the business model formula right? While journalists and academics continuously criticize the channel's polarizing and deceiving content, the public seems to love it.

CNN made a bet to cover hard news and lost. The channel is starting to switch its strategy by hiring Erick Erickson a controversial right wing blogger that will bring the channel a breath of polarizing air...

Jon Stewart gives us a piece of his mind in this respect:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
CNN Hires Erick Erickson
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Reform

Love or at least know thy enemies...

Jeff Bercovici suspects Rupert Murdoch has no idea how the Internet business model works. How do big media corporations expect to compete/take advantages of Internet if they don't understand what it is?