The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility First Edition

by Jeffrey M. Berry (Author), Sarah Sobieraj (Author)

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ISBN-13: 978-0199928972

ISBN-10: 0199928975

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In early 2012, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh claimed that Sandra Fluke, a Georgetown University law student who advocated for insurance coverage of contraceptives, "wants to be paid to have sex." Over the next few days, Limbaugh attacked Fluke personally, often in crude terms, while a
powerful backlash grew, led by organizations such as the National Organization for Women. But perhaps what was most notable about the incident was that it wasn't unusual. From Limbaugh's venomous attacks on Fluke to liberal radio host Mike Malloy's suggestion that Bill O'Reilly "drink a vat of
poison... and choke to death," over-the-top discourse in today's political opinion media is pervasive.

Anyone who observes the skyrocketing number of incendiary political opinion shows on television and radio might conclude that political vitriol on the airwaves is fueled by the increasingly partisan American political system. But in The Outrage Industry Jeffrey M. Berry and Sarah Sobieraj show how
the proliferation of outrage-the provocative, hyperbolic style of commentary delivered by hosts like Ed Schultz, Bill O'Reilly, and Sean Hannity- says more about regulatory, technological, and cultural changes, than it does about our political inclinations.

Berry and Sobieraj tackle the mechanics of outrage rhetoric, exploring its various forms such as mockery, emotional display, fear mongering, audience flattery, and conspiracy theories. They then investigate the impact of outrage rhetoric-which stigmatizes cooperation and brands collaboration and
compromise as weak-on a contemporary political landscape that features frequent straight-party voting in Congress. Outrage tactics have also facilitated the growth of the Tea Party, a movement which appeals to older, white conservatives and has dragged the GOP farther away from the demographically
significant moderates whose favor it should be courting. Finally, The Outrage Industry examines how these shows sour our own political lives, exacerbating anxieties about political talk and collaboration in our own communities. Drawing from a rich base of evidence, this book forces all of us to
consider the negative consequences that flow from our increasingly hyper-partisan political media.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"In politics, reason persuades but emotion motivates. This outstanding book offers a fine contribution to our understanding of how and why this form of communication achieves both goals."
--The US Army War College Quarterly, Parameters

"Jeffrey Berry and Sarah Sobieraj have written an important book about a phenomenon that has been a major contributor to partisan conflict and gridlock in Washington in recent years-the development of an increasingly hyperbolic, emotional and negative style of media commentary. The Outrage Industry
will be must reading for anyone who wants to understand why our political system is so dysfunctional."
--Alan Abramowitz, Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science, Emory University

"Amidst a changing media landscape, we are fortunate to have Berry and Sobieraj as guides, mapping the terrain of an expanding media genre. This rich and compelling analysis of the production and consumption of outrage media is sure to inspire much-needed discussion about the politics of today's
news media and stimulate new research on this powerful but understudied genre. The Outrage Industry is essential reading for media scholars and students, and for all those concerned about the future of journalism in the United States."
--William Hoynes, Professor of Sociology and former Director of Media Studies, Vassar College

"The Outrage Industry provides a thorough, revealing look behind the scenes of today's angry rhetoric and the networks and systems that make it tick. The book is admirably empirical, thorough, and nuanced, and it should be required reading for those trying to understand our political landscape, how
we got here, and the role of media in building and reproducing political identities."
--Andrew Perrin, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

About the Author

Jeffrey M. Berry is John Richard Skuse Professor of Political Science at Tufts University.

Sarah Sobieraj is Associate Professor of Sociology at Tufts University.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Oxford University Press; First Edition (January 7, 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0199928975
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0199928972
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.08 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.3 x 1 x 6.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,631,252 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #750 in Media & Internet in Politics (Books)
- #1,157 in Media Studies (Books)
- #2,200 in General Elections & Political Process

Customer Reviews:
39 ratings

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Jeffrey M. Berry
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Sarah Sobieraj
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Sarah Sobieraj is a professor of Sociology at Tufts University, with expertise in US political culture, extreme incivility, digital abuse and harassment, and the mediated information environment. Her most recent book, Credible Threat: Attacks Against Women Online and the Future of Democracy (Oxford University Press, 2020), examines the impact of identity-based digital abuse on women’s participation in social and political discourse. She is also the author of The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility (Oxford University Press, 2014) with Jeff Berry, and Soundbitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism (NYU Press, 2011). Sobieraj edited (with Rob Boatright, Danna Young, and Tim Schaffer) A Crisis of Civility?: Political Discourse and Its Discontents (Routledge, 2019). She is currently editing the Oxford Handbook on Sociology and Digital Media with Deana Rohlinger, which is due out in 2021. Sobieraj’s most recent journal articles can be found in Information, Communication & Society, Social Problems, PS: Political Science & Politics, Poetics, Political Communication, and Sociological Theory. Her work has also been featured in venues such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Politico, Vox, CNN, PBS, NPR, the American Prospect, National Review, the Atlantic, Pacific Standard, and Salon. Sobieraj serves on the advisory board of the Social Science Research Council’s Disinformation Research Mapping Initiative, is a member of the National Institute for Civil Discourse Research Network, and is a faculty associate with the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.
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Eric

An eye-opening read

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2014

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This book sets out to make three arguments:
- That political opinion media contains more manufactured outrage than before, which could be characterized as the "new incivility;"
- That the increase in outrage doesn't reflect polarization among audiences, per se, so much as structural changes in the media industry driven by technological and regulatory developments; and
- That outrage has some positive effects but on the whole has a pernicious effect on the way government functions.

I think the book is largely successful. The authors make a good case that a) outrage as a pervasive feature of our political media is relatively new, and b) it has mostly to do with media companies figuring out how to make money in a rapidly changing environment. The takeaway, for me, has been to be much more vigilant to when authors or media hosts employ outrage techniques, and to be skeptical. While conservative readers may feel like the authors are unduly focused on conservative outlets like Rush Limbaugh and Fox News, I'd say on balance the authors go out of their way to be even-handed, despite the relative paucity of liberal outrage outlets (which the authors explain convincingly, incidentally, by reference to structural factors).

There are a few places, albeit relatively minor ones, where I think the authors miss the mark. First, the authors oddly make repeated reference to the shooting of former Rep. Gabby Giffords in the context of discussing the outrage industry. To my knowledge, the overwhelming consensus on that event is that it was driven by the untreated mental illness of an individual, rather than having anything to do with politics per se. Second, for reasons I cannot fathom, the authors lump the National Review together with outlets like NPR as examples of non-outrage-based media outlets. I'm sorry, but on the authors' own definition of outrage, the National Review--whatever it may have once been under Wm. F. Buckley--is an outrage outlet, full stop. A better example of a sober-minded source of opinion on the right would be something like The American Conservative, for instance.

Overall, I highly recommend this book to anyone who struggles to understand why political opinion media is as a rule so vitriolic and over-the-top. Speaking for myself, this book has profoundly changed the way I approach such media, and generally has led me to conclude that much of it is actually, ultimately, pretty silly.

27 people found this helpful

Helpful

Randolph Eck

It Just Outrageous

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2016

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Political scientist Berry and sociologist Sobieraj have written an interesting book here on outrage in the media today. In the last twenty-five years, we have seen vitriolic commentary go from existing in small pockets to a new genre of political opinion, which the authors refer to as outrage. This genre is defined by several attributes: it is personality centered, it is ideologically selective, it is engaging, and it is marked by internal intertextuality. We can see the growth of the industry by just considering talk radio where there are now 3795 all-talk or all-new outlets in the U.S., which is triple the number of 15 years ago. The authors had discovered that the aggregate audience for this media is huge. The book covers three commercial sectors: cable, radio, and the blogosphere/newspapers, which as a group have outrage as their product, and this outrage is differentiated from incivility, where someone simply may not be treated with due respect. After careful analysis, we see that the rise in this behavior has been “propelled by a synergistic confluence of economic, technological, regulatory, and cultural changes that converged to create a media environment that proved unusually nurturing for outrage-based content.” This medium succeeds because each day new content is generated, and this is primarily outrage based, inexpensive to produce, and dramatic enough to cut through the clutter of alternatives, according to the authors.

In Chapter 5, we learn about the camaraderie people develop with their hosts in the media. They come away feeling up to date on current events, and they now know what is really going on. Forget the mainstream media – it can’t be trusted they feel. These outlets bring “reassurance that the fans’ insights are astute and their priorities are in order.” In the next chapter, we discover what linkages may exist between this outrage media, advocacy groups, and political parties. Finally, the authors assess the Outrage Industry’s impact on public policymaking. It seems it does have an impact. We definitely see an increase in polarization. From the 95th to the 104th Congress, among Republicans, moderates shrank from 33 percent to only 3 percent.

I do have to point out that I tend to disagree with the authors selection of some of the candidates that they include in their selection of purveyors of outrage media. Some of the candidates exhibit significant outrage in their presentations while other display little to none, and perhaps those ones should not be included in the surveys.

We do see some checks on the Outrage Industry via organizations such as Media Matters for America (liberal) and Media Research Center (conservative). And then there’s the satire circuit with the likes of Jon Steward and Steven Colbert. I think Colbert sums up why this outrage seems to work by expressing it as “the quality by which one purports to know something emotionally or instinctively, without regard to evidence or intellectual examination.”

3 people found this helpful