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Commentary By Eric Kaufmann

British Media Is Becoming More Divided and Hysterical

Culture Culture & Society

Descriptions of opposing ideologies as extreme are the new normal

Polarisation is on the rise in Britain. A new paper by David Rozado and myself shows that major British media outlets have, like their American equivalents, grown increasingly extreme in their characterisation of opposing ideologies since 2000. Terms like ‘extreme-Right’ and, to a lesser extent, ‘extreme-Left’ have surged since 2014 alongside social justice phrases like ‘racist’ and ‘white supremacy’ whose explosion in frequency has been dubbed the Great Awokening.

Although it goes in both political directions, the use of extreme language is slanted against the Right, with Left-leaning outlets like the GuardianIndependent and Mirror using extreme language for the Right 5.6 times more often than for the Left, as figure 1 shows. Meanwhile, the Right-leaning MailTelegraph and Sun only use extreme language for the Right 2.1 times as often as for the Left. Centrist sites like the BBC use extreme language for the Right around 3 times as often as they do for the Left.

Continue reading the entire piece here at Unherd

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Eric Kaufmann is professor of politics at Birkbeck College, University of London and an adjunct fellow of the Manhattan Institute.

This piece originally appeared in UnHerd