With critics decrying the “echo chambers,” “filter bubbles,” and “information cocoons” created by the rise of online news and social media, you’d think that the entire American public was consuming a near-exclusive diet of politically pleasing news. …
However, these claims are vastly overstated. A deep dive into the academic literature tells us that the “echo chambers” narrative captures, at most, the experience of a minority of the public. Indeed, this claim itself has ironically been amplified and distorted in a kind of echo chamber effect. CONT.
Andrew Guess (Princeton), Benjamin Lyons (U. of Exeter), Brendan Nyhan (Dartmouth) & Jason Reifler (U. of Exeter)