NSF Studies Political Talk Shows on Fox News and MSNBC –

(Philadelphia, PA) $66,638

Bill O’Reilly and Rachel Maddow are not to blame for polarizing American

politics, at least according to one researcher. The National Science Foundation

(NSF) provided a $66,638 grant to Temple University political scientist Kevin

Arceneaux to study the influence of political programming in mass media. He set

out to test the claim that cable television shows allow the public to insulate

themselves from opposing viewpoints

-polarizing the electorate.253

For the study, Arceneaux conducted two experiments. In the first, subjects were

forced to watch a 15-minute segment from The Rachel Maddow Show or The

O’Reilly Factor. In the second experiment, another group of subjects were

allowed to choose between Hardball with Chris Matthews or one of two

unrelated entertainment shows, with a separate control group watching only an

entertainment show.

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His test results found that while the choices people make in consuming the news

have some effect, it is possible that some of the problem lies with a public that is

more interested in voting than it used to be. Among the more puzzling of his

findings, Arceneaux places the blame for polarization on ―increasing voter

turnout.