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Changing Minds or Changing Channels?: Partisan News in an Age of Choice Kevin Arceneaux and Martin Johnson. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2013.
In an era of partisan television news networks and ideologically-driven hosts, commentators, and analysts, it comes as no surprise that many blame the highly polarized nature of American politics on mainstream media. Yet, in Changing Minds or Changing Channels?: Partisan News in an Age of Choice, Kevin Arceneaux and Martin Johnson challenge this widely held perception. With so many viewing options today, Arceneaux and Johnson suggest that partisan news media actually have a very small effect on the general public because most people simply avoid the news and only a small self-selected group of individuals gravitates towards partisan news programs.
This trend, which is described by Arceneaux and Johnson, is a relatively new phenomenon caused by the changing media landscape. In the years before widespread cable and Internet access, television news programs attracted large audiences simply because there were so few options. Today, however, ninety percent of American homes are connected to cable or satellite television, and the average person now has access to more...