Jeff Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts University and co-author of “The Outrage Industry: Political Opinion Media and the New Incivility,” said that technological and market changes have increased political outrage in the media.

Americans used to listen to the radio for music, but the advent of CDs and digital music prompted a shift toward talk radio and creation of conservative talk radio giants like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin.

Before the advent of cable and satellite television, networks would need to partner with hundreds of local affiliates across the country to get a national audience, incentivizing them to appeal to the widest audience possible. A cable network, on the other hand, does not have that structural hurdle and can be profitable by appealing to a smaller audience.

“Outrage is a business and it’s feeding a product. It’s supplying a product to people who want to be angry, and want to be even more angry about politics,” Berry said.