ABSTRACT
Scholars have challenged simplistic notions that the media radically change how people think about politics. However, the rise of highly partisan and shrill news programs raises the concern that one-sided coverage might distort how citizens view politics and further polarize America into warring camps. Kevin Arceneaux and Martin Johnson design intriguing experiments using college students to assess the impact of the partisan news media. One experiment allows subjects to use a TV remote to pick what they want to see from a range of programs. Their findings challenge conventional wisdom and caution us against thinking of citizens as passive “blank slates.” In an era of abundant programming, citizens are highly selective in choosing what they want to watch, which dampens the impact of partisan news shows. Arceneaux and Johnson's research raises important questions about other ways partisan media might impact citizen views and what happens to a democracy when people can opt out of watching news altogether. Their work also generates insights about why people do not like or trust the media. This chapter, in particular, explains what it means to create experiments with internal and external validity to ensure that scholars identify causal relationships that can then be applied to the real world.
