The Cognitive Dissonance Olympics


To my recollection at no time in my life has reality been more different for partisan Republicans than for partisan Democrats. News that would cause them to question their views can’t even sneak in because they’re getting their news from different sources as the chart above suggests.

I tend to sample outlets that fall within the “Skews Liberal” to “Skews Conservative” portion of the spectrum. As I pointed out in one of my earliest posts here it is only from the center that you can see both the left and the right. Those on the far ends tend to see as far as the center which they interpret as the “far left” or “far right” depending on their own partisan or ideological outlooks. The opposite extremes are actually largely invisible to them.

Highly partisan Democrats think that the House Democrats have prepared an unassailable case against Trump. Highly partisan Republicans think the entire thing is an attempted coup against Trump. Highly partisan Republicans think that Democrats are deliberately trying to import enough voters to create a permanent majority. Highly partisan Democrats think that racism is the only possible motive for opposing mass immigration.

No meeting of minds or compromise is possible. I just don’t know what to make of it all.

9 comments… add one
  • PD Shaw Link

    I’ve not seen that chart before; it’s interesting that CNN has the distinction of placing itself right on the line btw/ fair and unfair news. I assume that’s because it has tried to be a leader in repeating “news” from nontraditional sources.

    I’ve come to the conclusion that the actual malice standard of NY Times v. Sullivan needs to be reversed or revised. I recently came across a book review from then-Professor Kagan pointing out a number of problems and implications of that decision that go overlooked, such as the decline in journalistic standards, the increase in cost of litigating libel cases (with fewer, but more costly judgments), promotion of false statements of fact that pervert public discourse, increased coverage of sensationalist subject matter outside of its core function, and ultimately an arrogant body that lacks the ability of self-reflection.

    She was writing in 1993, before the WWW and all that came after. Many of her observations seem stronger today, but at the same time I think the media feels more economically vulnerable. Kagan didn’t suggest reversing Sullivan, but thought the extensions were a mistake. There are other balances that can be struck; the easiest one would be to go back to common law standards with caps on liability.

  • Guarneri Link

    Who produced the laughable chart?

  • As it says it’s from MediaBiasChart.com

    And the point is that people who get most of their news from MSNBC and those who get most from Fox live in different worlds.

    IMO NYT and WaPo are a bit farther left than they used to be. How much of that is simply because of Trump I do not know.

  • Guarneri Link

    Its garbage. Any sane person would split and identify Fox News (the news) as center right. The opinion portion as hyper-partisan conservative. CNN? Hyper-partisan left all the time. Etc.

    ABC, NBC, NPR, CBS neutral? Laughable.

    Spare me.

  • Here’s the chart I was actually looking for when I found the one at the top of the post:

    I like that one a bit better. It conforms more closely to how I see things.

  • Guarneri Link

    I think that’s more sensible. I note that after wall-to-wall coverage of Schiff and Nadler, CNN and MSNBC have chosen to limit coverage of Horowitz today – where they can’t shape the narrative – including complete omission of Graham’s opening statement.

    I note that Brett Bair devoted 20 minute uninterrupted segments of the impeachment hearings, both sides, on his show.

    I’d be prepared to entertain examples of factual omission or misrepresentation from Fox’s news programs vs NBC, CBS, ABC, WaPo, NYT, CNN or MSNBC similar news etc. Does CNN do news??

    You seem to have faith in NPR. I have very little. So be it.

  • steve Link

    It bothers me that there are no longer any common data sites or sets that you can use. As an example the UE numbers were not considered reliable by Republicans when Obama was in office, but with Trump in office they are now totally reliable. It would be nice if we had data sets accepted by everyone regardless of who held the presidency.

    Steve

  • Andy Link

    Personally, I don’t use any of the major news organizations anymore, I find them all wanting. I’m at the point where I don’t trust the accuracy of reporting for political stories.

  • Grey Shambler Link

    Missing In that news media chart is Facebook. My wife spends a lot of time there, and the videos and articles forwarded or posted are very anti-Trump. Unlike other media, they are posted by your friends and family. Do you want to belong or don’t you? I don’t share their views so I don’t participate. I’m silent on Facebook. The peer pressure is impossible not to see. I wonder but don’t know how to know what others experience on that platform.
    Unlike other news outlets, it’s interactive. Your friends and family can shun you for your opinions, which makes it strongly opinion forming. .

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