Table of Contents

Preface ; 1. How the Conservative Media Attack the Democratic Opposition ; 2. How the Conservative Opinion Media Defend Conservatism ; 3. Conservative Opinion Media: The Players ; 4. The Conservative Opinion Media as Opponents of Liberalism and Custodians of the Reagan Narrative ; 5. Effects of an Echo Chamber ; 6. Speaking to the Republican Base: An Analysis of Conservative Media's Audience ; 7. Vetting Candidates for Office ; 8. Stirring Emotion to Mobilize Engagement ; 9. Framing and Reframing the Mainstream Media ; 10. Engendering and Reinforcing Distrust of Mainstream Media ; 11. Defining and Defending an Insular Interpretive Community ; 12. Balkanization of Knowledge and Interpretation ; 13. Distortion and Polarization ; 14. Conclusion: Echo Chamber: Cause for Concern or Celebration? ; Afterward ; Notes ; Index

About the Author

Kathleen Hall Jamieson is Director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, which runs FactCheck.org. Her books include unSpun, Capturing Campaign Dynamics, and The Press Effect. Joseph N. Cappella is Gerard R. Miller Chair at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania. A nationally recognized communications theorist, he is a past president of the International Communications Association and the co-author (with Kathleen Hall Jamieson) of the award-winning Spiral of Cynicism: The Press and the Public Good.

Reviews

Echo Chambers is a thoroughly well-presented analysis of Balkanisation, and of those who promote it.
*Rob Griffiths, Political Studies Review*

Readers seeking a carefully researched view of the changing face of news media will be rewarded for their efforts.
*Publishers Weekly*

Fascinating, illuminating, fun - and also a little scary. Highly recommended, even indispensable, reading for anyone who wants a clear understanding of the current relationship between the media and democratic self-government.
*Cass R. Sunstein, Harvard Law School and author of Republic.com 2.0*

Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Joseph Cappella-two of the nation's foremost experts on politics and communications-offer a searching analysis of the conservative media establishment, from talk radio to Fox News to the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal. Indeed, here is the first serious account of how the conservative media arose, what it consists of, and how it operates. By analyzing actual cases, together with survey data, the authors find that this media establishment creates a self-protective enclave for conservatives, shielding them from other information sources, and promoting strongly negative associations with political opponents.