Does reading the newspapers make you more liberal and less likely to support expanded police powers and for limits on privacy and freedom of information?
Study: Post-9/11 news drove liberals toward a harder line
Liberals who gleaned most of their news from television in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks increased their support for expanded police powers, bringing them closer in line with the opinions of conservatives, a study by a UW-Madison researcher shows.
In contrast, heavy newspaper reading by liberals was related to lower levels of support for expanded police powers and for limits on privacy and freedom of information, basically reinforcing the differences between liberals and conservatives, says Dietram Scheufele, a journalism professor who conducted the study.
"TV pushed the two groups together in their thinking about post-9/11 policies, such as the Patriot Act. It made liberals more conservative. It took them away from what they initially believed and pushed them more toward a more conservative law-and-order stance," Scheufele says.
More on the Flip!
Liberals who watched Television to get their news, become more conservatives. Liberals who read Newspapers continued to hold liberal views. Does this prove that the media is not liberal, but Conservative?
"Newspaper reading tended to reinforce partisan leanings, partly because it is more selective, readers have more options and seek out their own viewpoints," Scheufele says. "By contrast, TV coverage is very linear, doesn't offer any choice and was more image driven. You saw the plane hitting the building time and time again."
Scheufele says post-9/11 television coverage quickly switched to war themes, such as CNN's "America's New War," MSNBC's "America on Alert" and Fox News' "War on Terror."
In addition to repeated images of the terror attacks, Scheufele says television news coverage emphasized flag-waving ceremonies, religious services and celebrity telethons.
"It wasn't just a Fox News phenomenon. It was across all of the TV coverage," says Scheufele, who was the lead investigator on the project. His associates were Matthew Nisbet, an assistant professor at The Ohio State University, and Ronald Ostman, a professor at Cornell University.
The Television media is dominated by Conservative talking heads, so people only get one-sided views over and over. If the television media keeps repeating Conservative talking-points this might lead to a changing of views in people.
I watch Television, as entertainment. I get my news from newspapers and off the internet. The study shows, People who actually read, and seek out information are more liberal then people who only get news from Television.
I bet this study is not going to make the Television News on FOX, CNN, NBC and so on.