News media is Driving Political Polarization

In a country where technology has become one of the forefronts of communication Americans must be able to trust what the government says. 

However, in recent years, news media has played an active role in the level of trust the American people have in their government. 

“Media polarization has increased in the past half-decade (fig. 2), and both liberal and conservative partisan media are likely contributing to polarization in the U.S. Cable news networks – of which Fox News and MSNBC are frequent targets of media bias allegations – have become “birthing centers for polarizing rhetoric,” according to the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Affairs.

There is a clear divide on whether trust in the government is impacted when it comes to news media. In 2020 Rutgers led a study that found, “online misinformation, or “fake news,” lowers people's trust in mainstream media across party lines.” It is important to examine what is causing the difference in levels of trust in the United States government because of news media. 

A current issue that is discussed a lot in modern politics is the term, “fake news” vs legitimate news. Fake news is defined as, “fabricated information that looks like news content but lacks the editorial standards and practices of legitimate journalism.” 

Depending on the party affiliation someone has could determine whether they trust the government more or not depending on the news. 

"Strong liberals exposed to right-leaning misinformation may be most likely to reject its claims and mistrust the current Republican government,” said lead author Katherine Ognyanova, assistant professor of communication at Rutgers University–New Brunswick’s School of Communication and Information. 

The distrust found in our news media is causing our democracy to crumble from the inside out. Although we must have political discussions, “polarization and animosity based on misconceptions of the other side threatens to misdiagnose problems, leading people to battle imagined enemies and distracting from opportunities for transformative reform,”  according to the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Affairs.

Greensboro Editorial Practice (1/24)

With the temperatures this winter delivering some of Greensboro’s coldest nights for homeless residents. The city’s Affordable Housing Management, a nonprofit property-management group, is set to add 16 new affordable apartment units for the homeless or those at risk of becoming homeless. 

This comes at a time when the homelessness level in Greensboro is at a crisis level, according to the Interactive Resource Center. Over 1,000 people go to sleep homeless each night in the city. Leaving many to fend for themselves, sleeping in cars, tents and on the streets has become their normal. 

Morgan Waterman, a representative of the nonprofit, said the apartments will have a set rent aimed towards households at or below 30% and 50% of Guilford County’s median income, adjusted according to family size. 

The average cost for those at or earning below 30% of the county’s median income would be between $187 and $248. For those earning at or below 50% of the county’s median income, the average cost would be between $609 and $869.

However, what about those who can’t afford anything? 

In 2022, the Census Reporter showed that 17% of the people in Guilford County live below the poverty line. This is about 1.3 times the rate in North Carolina and 1.4 times the rate in the United States. For children under the age of 18, 22% are living below the poverty line. 

Guilford County must do more to support its residents. 

Waterman said that the development has been in the works for a couple of years, and that the development will bring the total number of supportive housing units built by Affordable Housing Management to 52 in the last 12 years. 

While that has certainly helped homeless people in Guilford County, there is still a long ways to go. No one should be subjected to live on the cold ragged pavement or streets of Greensboro. Until the homeless numbers in Guilford County reach 0% no one should be satisfied.