TV Will Tear Us Apart: The Future of Political Polarization in American Media -- in 1969!

[unrepentant progress]

In a {1969} paper titled “On the Impact of the New Communications Media Upon Social Values,” {internet pioneer Paul} Baran ... looked at how Americans might be affected by the media landscape of tomorrow. ... Perhaps most interestingly, Baran also anticipated the political polarization of American media; the kind of polarization that media scholars here in the 21st century are desperately trying to better understand. Baran understood that with an increasing number of channels on which to deliver information, there would be more and more preaching to the choir, as it were. ... Baran saw the media’s role as a unifying force that contributed to national cohesion; a shared identity and sense of purpose. With more specialized channels at their disposal (political or otherwise) then Americans would have very little overlap in the messages they received. This, Baran believed, would lead to political instability and increased “confrontation” on the occasions when disparate voices would actually communicate with each other.

"With the diversity of information channels available, there is a growing ease of creating groups having access to distinctly differing models of reality, without overlap. For example, nearly every ideological group, from the student underground to the John Birchers, now has its own newspapers. Imagine a world in which there is a sufficient number of TV channels to keep each group, and in particular the less literate and tolerant members of the groups, wholly occupied?"

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/paleofuture/2013/04/tv-will-tear-us-apart-the-future-of-political-polarization-in-american-media

[DollarBillHines]

1. "and in particular the less literate and tolerant members of the groups"

Yep.

[nightscanner59]

3. http://www.turnofffox.org

Another of a thousand reasons, D.U.er's-- to register/participate in--
http://www.turnofffox.org/

[ms liberty]

2. K&R...marking for later n/t

[bananas]

4. Media ecology was a popular topic back then

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_ecology

edit to add:

http://www.nextnature.net/2009/12/the-playboy-interview-marshall-mcluhan/