Cable chatter narrows electoral landscape

The increasing polarization of cable news is transforming, and in some ways shrinking, the electoral landscape. What has emerged is a form of narrowcasting, allowing candidates a welcoming platform that helps them avoid hostile press questioning and, in some cases, minimize the slog and the slip-ups of retail campaigning.

"There's no question it's contributing to the splintering of the political system and the means by which people get information about that system," said Robert Thompson, who runs the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. "If there's no standard base line of fact and reporting, where can the conversation go?" Each party's message is amplified by former officeholders and strategists who sign exclusive agreements with the cable networks as soon as they leave the public payroll. And their celebrity - magnified by their constant screen presence - gives them more influence than most members of Congress.