Blog Prompt: Is Polarization a Bad Thing?

One of the issues Ronald Jacobs and Eleanor Townsley address in their book The Space of Opinion is the popular fear that the sort of partisan narrative and views aired cable opinions shows are contributing to polarization:

To the extent that these kinds of narratives reinforce the partisan political identification of viewers, and to the extent that they encourage those viewers to see the opposing party as morally weak or even evil, then it becomes more difficult to organize a public dialogue built around mutual respect, trust or openness.

      While these patterns are certainly problematic and justify much of the public concern that has been expressed about the growing influence of the cable news networks, we think it would be a mistake to simply condemn the newer formats. The audience for cable television's opinion shows has different levels of knowledge and media engagement than its general news audience...(Jacobs and Townsley 238). 

What do you think? Are the "newer formats"-- the O'Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes, The Daily Show, The Rachel Maddow Show, etc.-- contributing to political polarization and a breakdown of dialogue and mutual respect across America's various ideological divides?  Or, does such programming actually raise the level of knowledge and the political engagement of its audiences? Could the popularity of such shows actually be good for democracy?