Americans largely fault the media for increasing polarization

Exaclty. Both sides are guilty of this. The sooner everyone wakes up and realizes this the better. The racism/racist increase by the NYT and Washington Post is a good example of stoking the flames as is any illegal immigrant committing a crime being front and center on Fox.

 

Is your argument that the media only started manipulating how people thought after 2013?

 

Maybe the year of 9/11 shouldn't be the starting point and your ideal (maybe we should look at how people felt about Islam during the decade after lol if you want to talk about media manipulating and dividing people), I'd like to see those numbers circa Rodney King and the LA Riots, probably not dissimilar to numbers after Ferguson

 

No, I think most of it is trying to cover and explain the news, with a widely varying amount of depth. I don't think there's a lot, or any, discussion in a newsroom about whether a story brings us together or divides us.

Multiple reasons. You've got events such as the killing of George Floyd and the resulting protests that demand a huge amount of coverage.
You've got the political stuff, whether it's black history courses, CRT, etc. DeSantis pushing hard against diversity and anything that might make white people uncomfortable about history is going to create a lot of news coverage that wasn't there before.

No, I think the racism that's always been there with some people has become more apparent, more outspoken.

Just to be clear, I think there is often too much coverage about race. For example, I usually defend the media in general and praise the New York Times. But in 2020's aftermath of the Floyd killing, story after story in the NYT had a racial focus, usually about diversity and inclusion. It had a story about whether or not black jam-makers felt properly included in the world of artisan jam-making.

 

Go see above when the NYT's and Washington Post started ratchetting up the racism/race propaganda. The media used to try to be semi-unbiased for a long time. That changed a while ago. But it has increased to now infect basically every news organization to an extent. Sucks for the public.

 

Then you go do that research and get back to us.

 

That's pretty half-baked like all your arguments. Used to be "semi-unbiased." For "a long time" and "that changed a while ago" ... way to nail down the specifics and commit to something! Do some more research beyond posting a poll that starts in 2001 on one subject and come back with something concrete maybe, get back to us.

 

Think you are being a bit naïve in thinking the media is just trying to cover and explain the news. That is a liberal viewpoint for sure. The George Floyd issue happened in 2020. The NYT and Wash Post started ramping up their racial rhetoric in 2013, so that doesn't quite explain it.

 

I posted the data showing how quickly the NYT and Wash Post increased their racial stories. Half baked perfectly describes how your brain seems to be working.

 

Ferguson was in 2014, seems pretty obvious that's when those attitudes changed, which I'm sure was media driven, by you know, reporting actual events among other things.

 

Trayvon Martin was killed in Feb 2012 and then Michael Ferguson in August 2014. Those were huge stories. Then you had Ahmaud Arbery and George Floyd in 2020. I'm sure there are others in between that I've forgotten. That's going to account for a good chunk of those word counts.

 

Ah, so then we should increase the racism angle by around 850% since 2012. Brilliant!

 

LOL. So nothing racial happened for a decade? Seriously, that is your take?

 

This applies to a lot of posters on here unfortunately.

 

How many terrorism stories do you think the NYT, etc ran during the decade after 9/11? Do you think its reporting on Muslims/Islam was dividing people?

 

I don't know Skippy, you go pull that data and show us in graphs. Thanks in advance. If you have the data to back it up post it.

 

There was one other major force between 2015 and 2020 who kept stoking racial tensions but I can't quite put my finger on it...

Why does this bother you so much? Do you feel personally attacked?

 

Since we are talking about being divided by media, do you think this poll question was worded in a way that was constructive and non-divisive?

 

Come on. Calling me naive and claiming any news you don't approve is propaganda is just throwaway stuff. Not real discussion.
So, why exactly do you think the NYT and Wash Post started mentioning race more often?

 

Both sides are pushing the divide. Trump was just what the left leaning media wanted. Their numbers increased every time they discussed Trump, so they rinsed/repeat for 4 years. I think most of the public is being played. You are in that lump even though you think you aren't.