In the wake of the recent presidential election, political television such as The O'Reilly Factor and Crossfire reclaimed the national spotlight, mostly due to accusations of "uncivil" discussions and possible harm to the political process.
Addressing both the growing popularity of and dissatisfaction with these shows, Annenberg Political Science and Communication professor Diana Mutz spoke yesterday on the effects of political television on the validity of conflicting viewpoints.
Mutz led off the discussion with a quote from former University President Judith Rodin.
"No one seems to question the premise that political debate has become too extreme, too confrontational, too coarse," Rodin once said.
Mutz spoke before a packed audience about the etiquette involved in face-to-face political discussion, such as taking distance in disagreement. According to Mutz, people always prefer to discuss politics with others who share their views rather than those who oppose them.
Although the discussion was not as heated as a now-infamous Jon Stewart appearance on "Crossfire," -- in which the comedian attacked the two hosts for their approach to discourse -- Mutz offered insights into why so many Americans are glued to confrontational political programming.
Such shows have gained popularity because television viewers can watch political arguments without becoming personally involved. The use of behavior that would not be acceptable in normal settings, along with close-up photography, is what attracts and retains viewers to show such as O'Reilly.
An experiment conducted by Mutz showed significant correlation in response to uncivil and close-up political programming and physical arousal.
"People process television as if it were real life," Mutz said.
She added that the uncivil nature of our political media is designed to grab your attention, just as a political shouting match in the line at the supermarket would do the same.
Critics are skeptical of political media presenting balanced discussions, Mutz said. However, research has yet to provide a conclusion, probably due to the relatively recent inception of political mass media.
Mutz also spent time detailing her current research work and its effect on future communications testing. She is currently working on Time-sharing Experiments for the Social Sciences through a five-year National Science Foundation Infrastructure grant.
TESS utilizes the powers of computers and the Internet to conduct interviewing. The project's goal is to allow more social scientists to combine their data on topics such as this to ultimately provide a more accurate view of our media systems in general.
This lecture was part of the Population Studies Center colloquium series, which meets weekly in the McNeil Building.
