The idea of an informed public
Would you agree that Sunstein's assertion that the choice introduced by new media has caused polarization?
Gearheart- Choice exists in political parties, it exists in worlds outside our media. It depends on the consumer. If you are a responsible consumer, there will be less polarization.
Greenberg- New media has expanded the echo chamber. Your own words can come back to you. Move towards placing a value on a useful way to interacting in the public sphere. The web allows it but does not encourage it.
Wilson- Consumer's fault, hardwired into the way our brains work. We accept information that confirms our biases.
I think the panelists make an important point here that Sunstein sort of downplays in his book. While it’s true that the internet certainly facilitates polarization more than did its “old media” counterparts, the onus to actively seek diversification has always ultimately lain with the consumer. Sunstein seems to point to the “Daily Me” centered internet as the root of the problem, but it seems to me that we have largely used the media to, as Geordie Wilson said, “confirm our biases” long before the advent of the world wide web. In other words, its not really the internet’s fault that we’re lazy and bigoted, it’s a fault of human nature and, thus, humanity’s problem to deal with.
ReplyDeleteSunstein also puts a lot of stock in the power of the “stumbled upon” opinions of the public forum, as in widely circulated publications, television shows, radio, and public speech. He acts as if before the rise of new media, one could stroll through his local park or flip through tv channels and be exposed to many impassioned speakers and a wide array of perspectives. But in truth, this exposure means little when it is merely flipped through as the consumer searches for their desired content. Never mind both the fact that mainstream news organizations tend to be, all things considered, pretty bland and middle of the road and the fact that I have not once in my eventful park-going life casually stumbled across a rally.
Consumers have always been remarkably adept at ignoring what they don’t want to hear. Now, Sunstein isn’t wrong in suggesting that the internet isn’t exactly helping things; he’s quite spot on, actually. But while the internet helps to keep this unwanted content more hidden from the convenience-seeking consumer, the decline in exposure time from old media to new media seems pretty negligible, and the panelists seem to have agreed with this notion.