What the US Media Are Ignoring in Government Shutdown Coverage

[Commentary] Writing in It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism, Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein argue: “[T]he Republican Party continues to demonstrate that it is an insurgent force in our politics, one that aspires to rewrite the social contract and role of government developed and affirmed over a century by both major political parties.” Mann and Ornstein contend that media "continues, for the most part, to miss this story." It's not just that media miss key elements of the story, it's how media frame the story; after all, research shows that words and tone do shape opinion.