In a second message to stores this week, the retailer removed its comments about news and politics but continued to suggest that televisions be tuned to sports. “This guidance allows flexibility to make adjustments based on the ‘news of the day’ and local needs,” it said.

Stars and Stripes reported news of the first message on Wednesday.

The Army & Air Force Exchange Service, which is part of the Department of Defense and one of the largest retailers in the country, is the latest group to try to tiptoe around the question of what to do with televisions in shared spaces, at a time when partisan identification has grown to be one of the biggest wedges in America.

In recent years, people have complained about Fox News playing in doctors’ offices and hospitals, leading one waiting room in California to block the network temporarily. Dozens of airports across the country show CNN to the chagrin of those who see the network as biased. Thousands of people signed an online petition to “remove CNN’s airport monopoly.”

One fitness chain decided it was best to get rid of cable news entirely. The chain, Life Time, a Minnesota-based gym with locations across the country, removed cable news — both left- and right-leaning stations, including CNN, Fox News and MSNBC — from the large-screen televisions in its gyms last year as part of its commitment to a “healthy way of life.”

T. Franklin Waddell, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Florida, said that people tend to make assumptions about overall public opinion based on which news network is shown on public televisions.