The Media Polarisation Model

The media polar­isa­tion mod­el explains a media bias.

The news media tends to divide issues into two oppos­ing camps. This kind of polar­isa­tion is a known media logic effect.

However, when oppos­ing view­points are both extremes, the view­points might actu­ally be closer to each oth­er than to the true centre of the issue.

What hap­pens when extreme pos­i­tions (that are non-per­pen­dic­u­lar) become less inter­ested in hon­est dis­cource based on fac­tu­al evidence?

Here we go:

The Media Polarisation Model

We often hear how the media cli­mate is “polar­ised” — a known and reas­on­ably well-under­stood effect of clas­sic media logic.

It also seems true that social media logic has amp­li­fied the effects of polar­isa­tion by group­ing people into echo cham­bers where con­firm­a­tion bias, con­ver­sion the­ory, and the hos­tile media effect are allowed to roam freely without any checks and balances.

“Political elites, par­tis­an media, and social media con­trib­ute to soci­et­al-level polit­ic­al polar­iz­a­tion, lead­ing to mis­per­cep­tions of divi­sion among the elect­or­ate and fuel­ing anim­os­ity and actu­al ideo­lo­gic­al polar­iz­a­tion over time.”
Source: Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences ¹Wilson, A., Parker, V., & Feinberg, M. (2020). Polarization in the con­tem­por­ary polit­ic­al and media land­scape. Current Opinion in Behavioral Sciences, 34, 223 – 228. … Continue read­ing

More pro­foundly, media polar­isa­tion is prob­lem­at­ic because it draws false lines between extremes that aren’t neces­sar­ily per­pen­dic­u­lar. These “false lines” will force oth­er­wise bal­anced media con­sumers to place them­selves between the media-sug­ges­ted extremes.

At the extremes, sheltered by the social safety of a like-minded peer group (i.e. echo cham­ber), it’s pos­sible to dis­reg­ard oppos­ing evid­ence as “attacks” on their pos­i­tion. As the amp­li­fic­a­tion hypo­thes­is states, any such attacks will only strengthen the pos­i­tion of the extremes.

The harder you attack someone verbally, the more you con­vince them of their belief, not yours.

The Post-Truth Zone

The amp­li­fic­a­tion hypo­thes­is sus­tains a post-truth zone at the extremes through media polar­isa­tion. If a) the zone is wide enough and b) the extremes are suf­fi­ciently close to each oth­er, the forced “bal­anced” pos­i­tion between them will also res­ult in the post-truth zone.

“Post-truth is a soci­et­al phe­nomen­on, influ­enced by the expect­a­tion that hon­esty is the default pos­i­tion, and the pub­lic tol­er­ance of inac­cur­ate and undefen­ded alleg­a­tions in polit­ics.”
Source: Nature ²Higgins, K. (2016). Post-truth: a guide for the per­plexed. Nature, 540, 9 – 9. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​3​8​/​5​4​0​0​09a

Since the forced “bal­anced” pos­i­tion will have a hard time shel­ter­ing any­one from our fear of social isol­a­tion, the spir­al of silence par­tially explains why extremes are so effect­ive in silen­cing the major­ity of oth­er­wise bal­anced media con­sumers. ³Silfwer, J. (2020, June 4). The Spiral of Silence. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​s​p​i​r​a​l​-​o​f​-​s​i​l​e​n​ce/

Why Media Polarisation is Disturbing

Like every­one else, I have opin­ions. However, as a PR pro­fes­sion­al with 18+ years of exper­i­ence, I can ana­lyse media issues without sid­ing with any of the extremes.

But no mat­ter how pro­fes­sion­al my ana­lys­is of a cur­rent media issue is, I risk blow­back from left and right extremes — with no back­ing from the silent majority. 

Many feel com­pelled by the news media to choose between out­land­ish extremes — or settle for an equally out­land­ish middle ground.

Media trends tend to be cyc­lic­al, and I estim­ate that the post-truth era peaked in 2019. My hope, how­ever, is that the pan­dem­ic, fol­lowed by glob­al infla­tion and AI pro­gress, will dampen the media’s interest in extreme pos­i­tions and shrink the width of the post-truth zone.

“Post-truth com­mu­nic­a­tion has shaped our under­stand­ing of truth, polit­ics, and the media, with its impact on pub­lic policy, his­tory, and social media.”
Source: Social Studies of Science ⁴Sismondo, S. (2017). Post-truth? Social Studies of Science, 47, 3 — 6. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​1​7​7​/​0​3​0​6​3​1​2​7​1​7​6​9​2​076

Still, it’s dis­turb­ing that the ration­al busi­ness decision for many aca­dem­ics, pro­fes­sion­als, and organ­isa­tions is to stra­tegic­ally steer clear of top­ics taken “host­age” by left and right extrem­ists — or for organ­isa­tions to opt for the media black­out tac­tic.

Normalise Not Having an Opinion

More often than not, in a post-truth soci­ety, hav­ing no opin­ion sud­denly seems like the only ration­al escape.

My opin­ion?
Let’s nor­m­al­ise not hav­ing one.

The iron pre­scrip­tion (men­tal mod­el). Senior advisor Charlie Munger argued: “I have what I call an ‘iron pre­scrip­tion’ that helps me keep sane when I nat­ur­ally drift toward pre­fer­ring one ideo­logy over anoth­er. I feel that I’m not entitled to have an opin­ion unless I can state the argu­ments against my pos­i­tion bet­ter than the people who are in oppos­i­tion. I think that I am qual­i­fied to speak only when I’ve reached that state” (Knodell, 2016). ⁵Knodell, P. A. (2016). All I want to know is where I’m going to die so I’ll nev­er go there: Buffett & Munger – A study in sim­pli­city and uncom­mon, com­mon sense. PAK Publishing.

Learn more: The Media Polarisation Model

Example: The Climate Change Issue

When dis­cuss­ing cli­mate change, one extreme pos­i­tion often por­trayed by the news media and social media algorithms is that the only viable course of action to save our plan­et from cer­tain doom is to resort to a more total­it­ari­an rule of law. Only then can we enforce the neces­sary actions.

Another extreme pos­i­tion is that the cli­mate change issue is an elab­or­ate hoax and that our only viable course of action is to resort to a more total­it­ari­an rule where dan­ger­ous revolu­tion­ar­ies can be dealt with — before they’re allowed to des­troy our soci­et­ies from within.

Both extreme pos­i­tions are flirt­ing with total­it­ari­an ideas. A straight line between them won’t include com­mon ideas like trust in the demo­crat­ic pro­cess, free speech, or humanism.

Therefore, we should all be mind­ful when allow­ing the news media and social media algorithms to dic­tate our choices regard­ing what to think, say, and do.

Read also: PR Commentary on Current Events, No Thanks

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Media Theory

• The Shannon-Weaver Model of Communication
• The Spiral of Silence
• Conversion Theory: The Disproportionate Influence of Minorities
• Information Asymmetry (Informed Minority Advantage)
• The Bandwagon Effect: Momentum Is Everything

Media Logic

• Media Logic is Dead, Long Live Media Logic
• Social Media Logic
• The Media Polarisation Model

Journalism

• Public Relations vs Journalism
• How To Convert News Junkies
• Breaking the News
• Confirmation Bias in the Media
• From Lügenpresse to Fake News
• “Alternative Facts” is Newspeak
• The Hostile Media Effect

Digital Media

• The Electronic Age and The End of the Gutenberg Galaxy
• Echo Chambers: Algorithmic Confirmation Bias

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