muon2
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« on: May 23, 2014, 08:01:56 AM » |
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I would not overlook the change in the media from the 1950's to the present. From the New Deal through the Cold War the media was dominated by radio and television networks that were few in number and played to the middle both for economic reasons as well as federal regulation of the air waves. This corresponds to the "bygone era" of political collegiality.
Before radio, newspapers were often highly partisan and with the advent of the privately controlled telegraph could organize papers with a similar editorial philosophy. At its peak the era of yellow journalism reflected a period of high political polarization and a lack of collegiality across the aisle.
With the rise of cable TV and the internet with media model in many ways has returned to its pre-radio days. There are far more outlets with diverse opinions than there were in the 1950's. Many of today's media giants have a clear editorial slant, not unlike Hearst and Pulitzer did during the Gilded Age. Even small independent outlets (blogs, etc) show a clear uncompromising agenda that one wouldn't easily find 60 years ago, but one could find 120 years ago.
Today's cutthroat politics would be easily recognized in the bygone era of the bygone era.
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