Polarization

But the rhetoric within the conservative echo chamber also resonates outside of the closed community, heavily influencing media coverage and narratives across outlets and throughout public discourse. “In due course, even the proudest old-line media outlets allow much of their agenda to be taken up by topics launched from the right-wing noise and echo machine.”393 Even when other media outlets cover topics and issues discussed in conservative media with the explicit purpose of debunking myths and pointing out distortions, they still have to address the topics and frames chosen by those within the conservative media bubble. A perfect example of this can be found in the debate surrounding “death panels” during the healthcare reform debates of 2009: ...