Outrage Politics or Hilarious Politics?

Fox News broadcaster Sean Hannity has had Anjem Choudary on his show multiple times. Considering every time Choudary has been on Hannity, they end up in a screaming match, trading insults and critiquing each others’ intelligence, why would he continue to feature such an explosive personality on his show? Well, Arbitron, a radio research firm, determined that shows sponsored by outrage politicians such as Rush Limbaugh and Hannity “draw 15 and 14 million weekly listeners” (Berry and Sobieraj). But how can a radio host simply yell at his guest for 10+ minutes and receive such a large audience? Notably because outrage politics happens to be extremely popular at the moment. And admittedly, I think it’s extremely fun (while likely not nearly as educational) to watch in comparison to a regular news broadcast.

The popularity that outrage politics carries is noted as the top 12 radio hosts of outrage politics draw “roughly 35 million listeners daily” (Berry and Sobieraj). The popularity of outrage politics can be explained by the fact that the “two major political parties have both become more philosophically homogeneous over time” (Berry and Sobieraj). Furthermore, this incivility has proven to be very lucrative, targeting a specific niche audience and appealing to their emotions and increasingly polarized views. While this variety of “news” has proven very popular amongst Americans today, “outrage-based media may limit our willingness to engage in political conversation with people who do not share our worldview,” which will only inhibit our ability to reach across the aisle and produce bipartisan thoughts. Outrage politics also plays a large role in reframing debates on key issues, being “effective at changing the terms of the debate” (Berry and Sobieraj). All in all, while humorous (to me), outrage politics has changed the political spectrum and shifted the focus of key issues for several years, further polarizing the political climate in the United States.