Is the media helping to polarize the American public?

I came across this interesting column by Jared Martin in the Daily Mississippian that argues that cable TV news is fueling the polarization of the American electorate.

If you want liberal news, tune in to CNN or MSNBC. If you want conservative news, tune in to FOX News. Whatever happened to just reporting the news without the political spin?

Martin writes:

CNN, Fox and MSNBC may well be the harbingers of this doomed and divided America. As Americans grow more polarized and more intolerant of political viewpoints that aren't their own. To you Democrats, when is the last time you civilly debated a Republican friend? Same to you Republicans? Do you even have a friend in a different political party? Americans have sought refuge and affirmation in a media that doesn't challenge their beliefs.

How many Republicans roll their eyes at the mention of CNN or The New York Times? How many Democrats feign disgust at the notion of watching FoxNews or reading The Washington Post?

Read the full column, "A media of selecting reporting," at the newspaper's Web site.