Appearing on Friday's CBS This Morning, Sirius XM radio and CNN host Michael Smerconish, to promote his new fictional novel about the talk radio business entitled "Talk", denounced the industry: "I think it's entertainment masked as news and I wanted to expose it because I think it's had a horrific impact on polarization and incivility in the country."
According to newsbusters.com, co-host Norah O'Donnell challenged Smerconish's accusation that talk radio was to blame for polarization: "The rise of talk radio has coincided with increasing partisanship in politics. But I'm not sure it's the cause of it. There are a lot of other factors and there's always been partisan media since the beginning of media."
Smerconish insisted: "Norah, I disagree with you, respectfully. I think it is a significant causal factor in this....In the early 1980s, on Ronald Reagan's watch, 60% of the Senate comprised of moderates. Today, literally none." O'Donnell countered: "And that's because of talk radio?"
Co-host Charlie Rose wondered why so many talk radio hosts were conservative. Smerconish explained: "I think conservatives rightfully believed they had nowhere to go. The Big Three networks, the Washington Post, the New York Times didn't give them a feeling that the red carpet had been rolled out. So they carved out this clubhouse for themselves."
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