First off, watch this Seth Meyers segment on Americas bombing of ISIS in Syria. Its good, funny, and accurate. Now for those interested in a little more learnin... Princeton political science professor Markus Prior has found that the increase in media options has not led to greater political knowledge or turnout. Those already interested in politics and news become more knowledgeable due to more resources, while those interested in entertainment focus on that and become less likely to learn more and less likely to turnout to vote. Its voluntary segmentation. So, those choosing entertainment get their news or political information when they either stumble across it (Crap! I was too lazy to change the channel after watching this Seinfeld rerun and now the news is on....) or via entertainment shows, say Jimmy Fallon or SNL. This is for all you entertainment choosers, and its a perfect example of Priors point. Seth Meyers explains what the heck is going on in Syria. BTW, entertainment choosers, this isnt a value judgement on your choice. In fact, economist Anthony Downs argues that you are making a rational choice because returns from information gathering costs “are so low that many rational voters refrain from purchasing any political information per se. Instead they rely upon free data acquired accidentally.” Like Seth Meyers explaining Americas bombing in Syria. You sought entertainment and accidentally received information. (Purchasing refers to spending your time, not necessarily money.)
Posted on: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 19:22:10 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015