The Great Media Divide

[Commentary] Examples of the political divide in the US abound. But how the media conducts its business in this country should also be partly blamed for the political rift. The problem isn't that journalists have opinions, but rather that the standard media business models – daily news for traditional media and talk radio like Rush Limbaugh's and Sean Hannity's programs – drive some media to the left and others to the right, leading large segments of their respective audiences to become caught in media bubbles. What is needed are media businesses that break out of the bubbles, employ contributors, involve consumers of different mindsets and make the consumers, not drama, central to the action.

[Mark Jamison is the Gunter Professor of the Public Utility Research Center at the University of Florida]