In-Your-Face Politics: The Consequences of Uncivil Media

Citizens, politicians, and journalists alike enjoy decrying political incivility. Diana C. Mutz complicates these attacks on incivility by investigating the effects of in-your-face politics. In-your-face political television includes two attributes: it contains incivility, that is, violations of face-to-face interaction norms, and it violates norms of interpersonal social distance by including close-up shots that make a televised person appear physically close to the viewer. Mutz’s thorough analysis suggests that in-your-face television, while damaging to citizens, also is more arousing and entertaining than civil political television. Mutz investigates the effects of in-your-face politics using a convincing multimethod approach. A series of tightly constructed lab experiments provide causal evidence that in-your-face political talk shows with both incivility and close-up camera shots increase physiological arousal, entertainment value of the show, and open-ended recall of political candidate issue positions. However, people who watched in-your-face television believed that the arguments made by candidates they opposed were less legitimate than people who saw other types of televised political interactions. Further, incivility alone—even without close-up camera shots—decreased individuals’ levels of political trust. Mutz tests the external validity of her findings by conducting content analyses of political programing, replicating results using a survey experiment, and examining public opinion data to ensure that people watch this type of programming outside of the lab. Although each study has its weaknesses, together the tests paint a convincing picture that televised incivility attracts audiences to politics—especially audiences with low levels of political interest—while also undercutting their political trust.