Conventional wisdom has held that as people are exposed to more partisan news, they become more polarized. But a new study finds that’s not so. On this month’s episode of The Backdrop, Magdalena Wojcieszak discusses a couple of new studies she has co-authored that found no correlation between media exposure and political polarization.

Wojcieszak, a professor of communication at the University of California, Davis, studies how the changing media environment creates both opportunities and challenges for informed publics, tolerant citizenry and responsive governance.

The Backdrop podcast is a monthly interview program featuring conversations with UC Davis scholars and researchers working in the social sciences, humanities, arts and culture.  It is available free, on demand at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Stitcher, Spotify and YouTube. The Backdrop is hosted by public radio veteran Soterios Johnson.