A Major New Study Shows That Political Polarization Is Mainly A Right-Wing Phenomenon

[VOX]

26. You're blaming "liberal media" for driving Republicans into the arms of extremist ideologues?

Your argument presupposes that Republicans (traditionally less cosmopolitan, less educated, more religious, etc.) would not have gravitated to Limbaugh, et al, in the 1990s had they been somehow "included" to a greater degree in mainstream media some 30 years earlier.

The problem with this idea is that the American right was on the wrong side of history throughout the 1960s, an era you correctly identify as a watershed. Consider some of the positions of the right during this period:
-Pushed back hard against civil rights legislation, branded MLK, Jr. a communist. Fought against non-discriminatory housing laws.
-In 1964, Republican presidential candidate Barry Goldwater carried, significantly, six states: Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina, marking the first time that a GOP candidate did so well in the Deep South (understood as a rage-vote commentary on civil-rights activism). The GOP platform called for large cuts in social programs; Goldwater himself toyed with the idea of making Social Security optional, and suggested deployment of nuclear weapons in Vietnam (ironically, Goldwater became more liberal as he aged).
-Convinced that communism's goal was total world domination; uncritically backed the Vietnam conflict, which included napalming of civilians, and extended carpet-bombing into Laos and Cambodia. Fruitlessly dragged what had been LBJ's millstone for another 5 years, at great cost of lives and resources.
-Convicted world-renowned boxer/activist Muhammad Ali to five years in prison (conviction overturned, no time served) and banned him from his livelihood for three years.
-Resisted women's fight for equal rights and equal pay (still ongoing).
-Publicly contemptuous of the 60's youth movement, looked the other way when anti-war demonstrators were beaten, or killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University in spring of 1970. "Goddamned hippies," etc.
-By the 1970s, resorted to "high crimes and misdemeanors" by breaking into the DNC headquarters, ultimately resulting in Nixon's resignation.

There are numerous examples, these are just a few. If the media at the time appeared to favor Democrats, it's because Republicans were extremely reactionary in their politics, out of step with views not shared by most Americans.

Liberals will forever wonder what the world would have been like had JFK, MLK, Jr. and RFK not been snuffed out over a short, 5-year window. The right has never suffered such a massive loss.

Finally, welcome to DU.