Editor, Gazette-Journal:

As evidenced by recent letters in this paper, I believe the political divide is wider now than it has ever been in my lifetime, including the Vietnam War era. It has reached the point that each side almost considers the other side to be the enemy rather than fellow citizens.

I believe this situation is largely the result of the growth in the number of news sources in the last decades. Forty years ago, we got most of our news from one local newspaper and three national TV and radio networks. Now, we can choose our news sources from scores of cable TV networks, scores of talk radio stations, and thousands of internet sites.

As each news source competes for our attention (and thus advertisers’ money) they subtly tailor their news to attract viewers by inventing good guys who are trying to save the country and bad guys who are trying to ruin the country.

They are highly skilled at attracting and influencing some groups, while repulsing others. While this ...