Talk radio monetized confirmation bias by giving audiences a voice in echo chambers.

Evidence

People listened to Limbaugh’s show not to learn new “facts,” but because they felt alienated from what they perceived to be the political bias of the news coverage they were getting from newspapers and TV. And besides, until the debut of call-in radio, the media had always been unidirectional: someone else was telling them what was true. Limbaugh’s show allowed people to have their own voices heard and participate in a community. Before anyone in the media was even talking about confirmation bias, Rush Limbaugh had already discovered it. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 137

Categorization

• XREF: Builds directly on ch8 insights in book’s later chapters about confirmation bias being an inherited feature of human brains, and on idea that digital media isolate people from contrary opinion. — connects to: Limbaugh’s call-in format built community through screened agreement, not debate. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 136; Believing all media are biased pushes people toward sources biased in their favor. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 179; Echo chambers amplify beliefs by sealing people off from counter-content — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 390 (+2 more)
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source

Broader Connections

• Believing all media are biased pushes people toward sources biased in their favor. #expands (0.72) — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 179