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phenomena are the current leading cause of social and political polarisation. This
diminishes any mutual understanding and often leads to an environment where people are so far apart in their ideologies, that they have no common ground. 83
Media Biases
The term ‘media bias’ alludes to the tendency of media outlets to convey
information through a means that supports or opposes certain political viewpoints
or agendas. Critics have argued that ‘the 24-hour news cycle serves more to inflame than to provide balanced news’ . 84 As depicted in Figure 3, Media biases
are highly common in the U.S., where partisan reporting by both left- and right-
wing outlets cultivate loyal audiences who keep returning to ‘hear what they want to hear’ . 85 Unequal coverage of varying political movements entails the
disproportionate focus on certain issues or perspectives whilst actively neglecting
others, thus leading to a sense of disenfranchisement among certain sectors of the
population, which, in turn, leads them to refer to far-right ideologies as an
alternative.
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