Study links U.S. polarization to TV news deregulation

Re:Study links U.S. polarization to TV news deregulation by bsder on Sunday September 27, 2015 @01:03AM (#10285539)

I'd probably attribute it more to the rise of cable TV, period. My family still didn't have cable in 1988. They got it sometime after that when I was no longer in the house.

I would also say that the 2000 gerrymandering was the worst ever due to the fact that cheap compute power allowed the politicians to carve up the electorate very precisely. Safe and majority districts skyrocketed--which shifted the electoral fights to primaries--which moved the politicians further toward the edges.

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Re:Study links U.S. polarization to TV news deregulation by hga on Sunday September 27, 2015 @08:47AM (#10286330)

Computerized gerrymandering is very likely a culprit here. As far as I know it started in earnest after the 1980 "Burton-mander" of California, which alerted everyone to its potential.

Akin to the U.K. rotten and borough problem: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotten_and_pocket_boroughs

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