Breaking news! Sources say American journalism exploits our negativity bias to maximize profits, and social media algorithms add fuel to the fire.
Dubner references a journal article on virility of headlines and the language used. Unsurprisingly, the best chance of achieving high engagement is to mix negative language and the “out-group.” In other words, if I’m a Democrat, I’m way more likely to share “Mike Pence is a liar” than anything positive about Joe Biden or anything neutral about Mike Pence.
What that article is about:
“An increasing number of Biden allies have voiced their disappointment in his handling of issues like the border crisis, Afghanistan and the Democratic-controlled Congress, where two major pieces of legislation furthering his domestic agenda remain stalled due to party infighting.”
First, as I said, it is positive that Biden is losing support among Democrats.
What, you want an article on how good a job Biden is doing at the border?
But what do you head for as an example for your concept of negativity? Fox News.
Are we going to ignore the super build up that the left is giving to the trespassing oft the capitsl on January 6, as if though it were a continuing event and righ up there with 9/11? There’s your worst examplte.
I pulled CNN and Fox screenshots to highlight how they portray “the other” in a negative light. You’ll note the CNN articles in the right column are telling me you’re dangerous.
If you can’t see “Biden losing support among Democrats” is a negative article about a Fox News reader outgroup, I don’t think I can help you understand, so probably best you shuffle along…
Of course. I don’t waste effort being nice to sycophants and conspiracy theorists.
I mean - it’s not like I didn’t point you all to a podcast absolutely dunking on CNN and NYT and post screenshots of CNN and Fox News. And it’s still not enough for you people!
There’s “Trump won the election and Democrats are stupid and evil” or nothing.
What’s the point of treating you with anything but derision?
It wasn’t a criticism. You were presented with a bunch of headlines. You latched on to the one that was negative about your political opposite. That’s the whole point of the op.
