5.13 - Changing Media

Changes in News Consumption

• Reliance on Social Media: more people, especially younger generations, get their news primarily from social media.
• In a 2026 Pew Research Center survey, 59% of U.S. adults said they get news from social media at least sometimes, and 20% said they regularly get news on TikTok, up from 3% in 2020.

• Blurred Lines: the line between straight news reporting and opinion/commentary has blurred, making it harder for people to feel confident they're actually informed.

• More Choices, Not More Informed: despite way more media options than ever, the public isn't necessarily better informed as a result.

• Effects on Participation: constant coverage and commentary can pull people into politics, and social media makes it easy to share news, sign petitions, donate, or organize a protest within hours. But clicking and sharing takes much less effort than voting or volunteering, and people who find the flood of news exhausting may tune out entirely.

• Effects on Institutions: officials now talk to the public directly on social media instead of going through reporters, and politicians who attract attention online can raise money and build national followings fast. Many observers argue partisan media also makes compromise in Congress harder, since each member's base is watching.

Ideological Programming and Polarization

• Open Bias: more outlets now openly embrace a clear ideological lean, which can leave audiences less informed overall.

• Ideologically Oriented Programming: more news content is now specifically produced for conservative, liberal, or progressive audiences.
• This grew after the FCC dropped the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, a rule that had required broadcasters to cover controversial issues and air contrasting views. Political talk radio took off, and cable channels like Fox News (conservative-leaning) and MSNBC (liberal-leaning), both launched in 1996, built audiences around a point of view.

• Reinforcing Beliefs: this kind of targeted programming tends to reinforce what audiences already believe rather than challenge it.

• Divergent Realities: outlets on opposite ends of the spectrum often cover completely different stories, so audiences who stick to one side end up disagreeing not just on interpretation, but on the basic facts themselves.

• Media Ownership: a small number of large companies own many newspapers, TV stations, and websites. Critics worry that owners can shape coverage to fit their politics or business interests. In 2018, for example, dozens of local TV anchors at stations owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group read the same company-written script warning viewers about biased and false news. Meanwhile, thousands of local newspapers have closed since the mid-2000s, leaving many communities with little coverage of local government.

• Partisan News Sites: websites on both the left and the right report news from an openly partisan angle. They're cheap to start and spread fast on social media, which adds to debates over bias and credibility.

Consumer-Driven Media and Algorithms

• Consumer-Driven Media: outlets are ultimately businesses chasing profit. They give audiences the version of the news they want to hear, which reinforces existing beliefs, and lean into dramatic, emotionally charged stories over substantive reporting, since the real goal is clicks, views, and engagement, not civic enrichment.

• Social Media Algorithms: designed to maximize engagement (and therefore ad revenue). Since fear and anger drive engagement, platforms are happy to serve up plenty of both. This can trap people in ideological bubbles, cutting them off from opposing views and steadily reinforcing and intensifying their existing beliefs.

• Emerging Technology and Credibility: AI tools can now create fake but realistic audio, video, and images (deepfakes). In January 2024, an AI-generated robocall imitating President Biden's voice told New Hampshire Democrats not to vote in the state's primary. Fakes like this make it even harder for citizens to know which sources to trust.

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