Before cable news and the Internet, the vast majority of Americans received their news from the three major broadcasters.  Additionally, their news divisions weren't as profit driven as news outlets are today.  As such, for the most part these broadcasters focused on delivering professional news and analysis.

But technology changed all that.  Although there are a number of high quality news sources available on cable and on the Internet, people now have access to more fringe outlets than at any time in history.  Moreover, with a limitless choice of channels and tons of airtime to fill, niche marketing and narrowcasting of news has become virtually the only way for many of these stations to achieve profitability. 

For instance, The O’Reilly Factor became a major success because of its conservative focus (amazingly enough even O’Reilly is not considered conservative enough in some circles).  On the other end, to gain ratings, MSNBC transformed itself into essentially the cable channel of the Democratic Party.  To survive in this bizarre new news marketplace, professional shows like Ted Koppel’s Nightline were forced to dumb it down.

Thanks to cable and the Internet, news has become just another commodity to be packaged and marketed for all tastes - just like the  cereal aisle in your grocery store.  News entrepreneurs will produce what the market desires - even if that is essentially garbage and propaganda.

Ted Koppel does an excellent report on this ugly degradation of the news business for NBC’s Rock Center and he quotes the

In a speech at CSIS, ex-Defense Secretary Robert Gates stated: “24/7 digital media environment that provides a forum and wide dissemination for the most extreme and vitriolic opinions, leading, I believe, to a coarsening and dumbing-down of the national political dialogue.”

New York Times' David Carr as saying “the partisan news business is so profitable, as much as $1 billion a year for one cable news network, that it's clear why others have followed suit.”

Technology has changed the nature of the news business - and not for the better. Talking heads of all political stripes with unwavering conviction are telling their audiences how right they are and how all the problems facing America are a result of the other group’s greed, laziness, etc. - all of which increase political polarization.

Studies have shown that when seeking information, people generally search for types of data that confirm their preconceived beliefs. 

In a review of the book How We Know What Isn’t So by psychologist Thomas Gilovich,  The Bowser.com writes:  “A large part of the book is about positive information bias – the fact that we like to believe that we’re right and so we ignore all sorts of evidence that suggests we might be wrong. That’s why conservatives watch Fox and liberals watch MSNBC. Which isn’t the biggest revelation in the world – but there’s all sorts of clever studies that demonstrate this again and again, that show just how blinded and blinkered we are. We think we’re so objective, but there’s actually nothing objective about the human mind. We have these working beliefs and we seek evidence to confirm beliefs: that, unfortunately, is the best summary of how we seek out evidence.”

Listening and talking to people who share our beliefs tend to result in even further polarization 

The Law of Group Polarization by Cass R. Sunstein of Harvard Law School is a study that shows: “In a striking empirical regularity, deliberation tends to move groups, and the individuals who compose them, toward a more extreme point in the direction indicated by their own predeliberation judgments. For example, people who are opposed to the minimum wage are likely, after talking to each other, to be still more opposed; This general phenomenon -- group polarization -- has many implications for economic, 

Confirmation bias:

We tend to search for and interpret information that validates our preconceived views and ignore or dismiss conflicting data points. Read more at Wikipedia.

In-Group Bias: 

We tend to seek and favor those with similar thinking as ourselves – which in turn reinforces our preconceived beliefs and increases our dislike of those in Out-Groups. Read more at Wikipedia.

Steven Strauss, an Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University for 2012 with a Ph.D. in Management from Yale University, wrote an insightful essay that highlights the perverse incentives of modern media. Here are some excerpts from his essay:

“Our political debates reflect little interest in facts and nuanced discussion -- soundbites reign supreme. The fault's not with our politicians, however; it's with us.

Politicians (e.g., Mitt Romney, President Obama, etc.) don't deal with reality because citizens prefer politics as entertainment and theater. If we're the generation that loses our republic, the epitaph should read: "American Republic, Killed by the Internet and Cable TV.”

Courtesy of technology, we can now receive all our information from people who agree with us -- which is exactly what human beings want. And, the new economics of media makes it extremely profitable for information-providers to pander to what we want to hear.

A significant body of peer-reviewed academic research demonstrates that we seek information confirming what we want to believe. Prof. Daniel Gilbert describes this as a contractual relationship between brain and eye, where the eye agrees to look for what the brain wants to see.”

Compounding the problem, there is also the perverse incentive of campaign money for media companies.  According to Bloomberg:  “CBS Corp. Chief Executive Officer Les Moonves said, “Super PACs may be bad for America, but they’re very good for CBS” because political action committees are boosting the amount of money being spent on television and radio commercials in support of candidates and issues.

The following story from the Rolling Stone highlights the perverse incentives of advertisement driven media when it comes to campaign finance and our democratic procedures:

“Since the Supreme Court voided limits on political donations in Citizens United, more money than ever is being devoted to