Political Polarization & Media Habits

[Razgovory]

Right wingers seem to have an aversion to newspapers

Do you just make this stuff up?  I don't speak for everyone on the right, but in general I still prefer to get my new via print media.  Well, I use electronic media to catch breaking news, but I'll go to print for in-depth coverage.

No... I based it on the graph.  Only one newspaper was shifted to the right and only slightly, the Wall Street Journal.

[Martinus]

Right wingers seem to have an aversion to newspapers

Do you just make this stuff up?  I don't speak for everyone on the right, but in general I still prefer to get my new via print media.  Well, I use electronic media to catch breaking news, but I'll go to print for in-depth coverage.

Yeah, in my experience it is more of a class issue than politics issue, with working/lower classes generally avoiding printed media (except for tabloids, but it seems the tabloid culture is less widespread in the US than, say, in the UK) and upper/professional/creative/academia classes using printed media. This may skew things in favour of the left using printed media more often but I don't think this has anything to do with political views.

That being said, the line between printed and digital media is becoming more blurred - if I buy and read an issue of the Economist on my iPad, am I reading a printed or a digital medium?

And also, as you point out, it all depends on the definition of "news".

[Martinus]

Right wingers seem to have an aversion to newspapers

Do you just make this stuff up?  I don't speak for everyone on the right, but in general I still prefer to get my new via print media.  Well, I use electronic media to catch breaking news, but I'll go to print for in-depth coverage.

No... I based it on the graph.  Only one newspaper was shifted to the right and only slightly, the Wall Street Journal.

Yeah, but I would say the printed positions on the graph are not very representative, to be honest.

The New Yorker is a lifestyle magazine, so this is a bit silly it is here at all.
The Guardian is a UK magazine and The Economist is also an international/Atlanticist one (nb, considered centre-right in Europe) and there is really no equivalent of something like that on the right.
This leaves the WSJ as the only proper American politically oriented printed medium on the graph.

[Eddie Teach]

This leaves the WSJ as the only proper American politically oriented printed medium on the graph.

The NY Times, Washington Post and USA Today are all American-oriented printed media.

[Razgovory]

Right wingers seem to have an aversion to newspapers

Do you just make this stuff up?  I don't speak for everyone on the right, but in general I still prefer to get my new via print media.  Well, I use electronic media to catch breaking news, but I'll go to print for in-depth coverage.

No... I based it on the graph.  Only one newspaper was shifted to the right and only slightly, the Wall Street Journal.

Yeah, but I would say the printed positions on the graph are not very representative, to be honest.

The New Yorker is a lifestyle magazine, so this is a bit silly it is here at all.
The Guardian is a UK magazine and The Economist is also an international/Atlanticist one (nb, considered centre-right in Europe) and there is really no equivalent of something like that on the right.
This leaves the WSJ as the only proper American politically oriented printed medium on the graph.

It was my understanding that the media on here is not necessarily right or left wing, it's just showing who consumes it.  The newspapers are on the left side of the graph not because they are left wing, but because right wingers shy away from them, as they shy away from any form of media that isn't explicitly reinforcing their ideas.

[grumbler]

I don't think tendencies on a pollster style level really are determinative of every single person.  Just trends.  Don't take it personally.  Of course only for very conservative people did local print media even show up

This is simply reporting "main source" stuff, except for the graph produced in the OP.  I don't think you can read this as "right-wingers don't read print media" because there is no data that tells us that.  It only says that fewer of them have it as their "main source for news."

[FunkMonk]

Yup. The report simply presents the results of the survey. Interpretation of the data is left up to the reader.

The graph showing the average ideological placement of each media source's viewers was the most interesting in my opinion, but a lot of the other graphics are quite interesting as well.

I thought this one was pretty cool:

[FunkMonk]

None of that really addresses the issue of print vs electronic media.

Fair enough. The survey didn't specifically go into print vs electronic media.

[CountDeMoney]

The New Yorker is a lifestyle magazine, so this is a bit silly it is here at all.

Not really; it may have fiction and a shitload of other stuff, but its centerpiece works are still long form narrative journalism.

[CountDeMoney]

Yup. The report simply presents the results of the survey. Interpretation of the data is left up to the reader.

The graph showing the average ideological placement of each media source's viewers was the most interesting in my opinion, but a lot of the other graphics are quite interesting as well.

I thought this one was pretty cool:

Lol, pretty big "mixed" grouping for Fox News.  I bet there's a lot of the "I'm not racist when it comes to spics" crowd in there.

[dps]

I don't think tendencies on a pollster style level really are determinative of every single person.  Just trends.  Don't take it personally.  Of course only for very conservative people did local print media even show up

This is simply reporting "main source" stuff, except for the graph produced in the OP.  I don't think you can read this as "right-wingers don't read print media" because there is no data that tells us that.  It only says that fewer of them have it as their "main source for news."

It doesn't even say that, because it basically only deals with national or international media, and doesn't address local media at all.  My impression (which, granted, may be biased or simply incorrect) is that many older Americans still get a lot of their news from their local newspaper.  Of course, older doesn't necessarily mean more conservative, but there is some correlation.

[garbon]

I don't think tendencies on a pollster style level really are determinative of every single person.  Just trends.  Don't take it personally.  Of course only for very conservative people did local print media even show up

This is simply reporting "main source" stuff, except for the graph produced in the OP.  I don't think you can read this as "right-wingers don't read print media" because there is no data that tells us that.  It only says that fewer of them have it as their "main source for news."

It doesn't even say that, because it basically only deals with national or international media, and doesn't address local media at all.  My impression (which, granted, may be biased or simply incorrect) is that many older Americans still get a lot of their news from their local newspaper.  Of course, older doesn't necessarily mean more conservative, but there is some correlation.

All the more reason things will be better when they are dead.

[LaCroix]

Based on web respondents.

[Eddie Teach]

What is this "web" of which you speak? 

[grumbler]

It doesn't even say that, because it basically only deals with national or international media, and doesn't address local media at all.  My impression (which, granted, may be biased or simply incorrect) is that many older Americans still get a lot of their news from their local newspaper.  Of course, older doesn't necessarily mean more conservative, but there is some correlation.

It mentions local media, actually.  Not much, to be sure, but "local TV," "local radio," and "local newspaper" are among the responses for a small group (not the "main source" question, but the "3 sources" question).