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Echo Chamber News

People are drawn to the echo chamber, and they want to have their opinions validated more often than they want to have their opinions challenged.
-Campbell Brown, CNN

Campbell Brown resigned her prime time slot on CNN after being consistently beaten in the ratings by the opinionated pundits on cable channels such as FOX News.

Fortunately, my on-air TV news work ended before it turned into a ratings battlefield. Even so, I have not been untouched by the conservative and liberal forces trying to control public opinion.

Not too long ago I got a epistle by a conservative group listing a number of points supporting their position -- including a statement attributed to a well-known conservative personality.

I responded with several pages of indisputable evidence that clearly contracted each of their points. The facts I laid out could easily be checked. My reply included a quote from the person's website that they had used in support one of their points -- a quote that clearly disavowed the view attributed to him by the people who had written me.

I got a reply, but they didn't challenge any of my points. They simply said, "Please don't write us again." At that point I was taken off of their mailing list.

Time and time again, evidence has been given that contradicts statements by right-wing pundits. But, as the old adage states: "I've got my mind made up, don't confuse me with the facts."

We are living in times of significant personal and economic insecurity and people want to hear what they prefer to believe; they don't want to be confused or further distressed by contradictory information.

A number of studies support this.

To cite just one example, a recent study done by the Pew Research Center found that people who regularly watch FOX News were far more likely to distrust other news sources. The study found that the level of mistrust among regular FOX News listeners went significantly beyond the attitudes of the general population -- Republicans or Democrats.

Could it be that those other news sources include stories that they would prefer not to hear?

The New York Times has the motto, "All the news that's fit to print."

This seems to have been replaced in many of today's cable news outlets by, "All the news that supports our viewpoint."

-Ron Whittaker.

See The Most Popular Pundits Are the Most Apt To Get It Wrong
The issue of incestuous amplification is also important in this discussion.
See also Easier to Hate Than to Love.