With American parties finally acting more like those in most other industrial democracies, with lines of ideological dispute clearly drawn, 1995 created an opportunity for the media to move toward their ideal role as civic educators. This case study explains how and why they missed this opportunity, highlighting the impact of the persistent nonideological and nonpartisan biases that structure the news. These biases led journalists to frame the debate over environmental policy reform in ways that prevented the average citizen from engaging in rational deliberation.
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