US: Over-mediated environment cultivates political apathy and obsession

Although 24/7 news fosters a more fervent “news junkie” culture, many Americans are apparently content to replace political coverage with more vapid, superficial, and immediately gratifying media.  According to Prior, this leads to an uninformed population and “a mounting inequality in the political movement.”

Another effect of the current media environment is that more people are tuning out from the constant stream of information.  Indeed, a recent Harvard University study found that most young Americans claim to be “consuming” the news, even if it is only playing in the background.

Prior worries that constant media exposure will also foster an environment in which Americans may only consume information from sources biased in the same direction drowning out alternative viewpoints.  In addition, the growing number of less-informed citizens may risk losing their representation of interest in politics, as politicians tend to favor the opinions of voters over non-voters.

Based on Prior’s observations, it seems that number of news junkies cannot counteract the growing number of less-informed Americans. The danger of today’s news world, he cautions, is not the increased exposure of extreme views, but rather, the cultivation of a population apathetic towards and uninformed about politics.

Source: The Washington Post