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New Study Strongly Suggests that Fox News Viewers are Exceptionally Misinformed

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Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
From "New Study Confirms Fox News Makes Your Stupid":

Yet another study has been released proving that watching Fox News is detrimental to your intelligence. World Public Opinion, a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, conducted a survey of American voters that shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. What’s more, the study shows that greater exposure to Fox News increases misinformation.

So the more you watch, the less you know. Or to be precise, the more you think you know that is actually false. This study corroborates a previous PIPA study that focused on the Iraq war with similar results. And there was an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that demonstrated the break with reality on the part of Fox viewers with regard to health care. The body of evidence that Fox News is nothing but a propaganda machine dedicated to lies is growing by the day.

In eight of the nine questions below, Fox News placed first in the percentage of those who were misinformed (they placed second in the question on TARP). That’s a pretty high batting average for journalistic fraud. Here is a list of what Fox News viewers believe that just aint so:

91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
60 percent believe climate change is not occurring
49 percent believe income taxes have gone up
63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout
38 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP
63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear)​

The study can be found here (.pdf).

Source:

Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe that most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely), most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points), the economy is getting worse (26 points), most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points), the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points), their own income taxes have gone up (14 points), the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points), when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points) and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points). The effect was also not simply a function of partisan bias, as people who voted Democratic and watched Fox News were also more likely to have such misinformation than those who did not watch it--though by a lesser margin than those who voted Republican.

There were cases with some other news sources as well. Daily consumers of MSNBC and public broadcasting (NPR and PBS) were higher (34 points and 25 points respectively) in believing that it was proven that the US Chamber of Commerce was spending money raised from foreign sources to support Republican candidates. Daily watchers of network TV news broadcasts were 12 points higher in believing that TARP was signed into law by President Obama, and 11 points higher in believing that most Republicans oppose TARP.

What do you make of this?
 
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Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
I think it's an incredibly biased study designed to further the agenda of the lamestream media and persecute poor old Fox viewers. It's all part of the leftist conspiracy.

Spot on! It's absolutely amazing more folks don't see this kind of "survey porn" for what it is: A blatant attempt to discredit our nation's most well informed news consumers and make them look like idiots for choosing Fox.
 

Mercy Not Sacrifice

Well-Known Member
I know what I would say. I wonder how the Tea Party will explain this away.

The sad truth is that Fox "News" works as a business model, because it preys upon the weak-minded, who are particularly susceptible to confirmation bias. One of their many, many tactics is to intentionally distort the truth on issues such as climate change science. Another is to use loaded terms that give undue weight to the conservative position, such as with the health care public option.

Predictably, the apologists will come in and deride this study, without actually posing a plausible explanation as to how it could be inaccurate. Or they will just throw the same old barbs around--it's a librul website, it's just soshalist nonsense, etc. OR, they may just skip this thread entirely, knowing that there is nothing useful that they can say against this study.
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
Nate, they may very well pull it off I think.

I agree. This is like something from a James Bond movie.

And they aren't even doing it behind the scenes. It's open disruption of democracy.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
Predictably, the apologists will come in and deride this study, without actually posing a plausible explanation as to how it could be inaccurate. Or they will just throw the same old barbs around--it's a librul website, it's just soshalist nonsense, etc. OR, they may just skip this thread entirely, knowing that there is nothing useful that they can say against this study.

I think that pretty much covers what we've seen in the past from our conservative friends.
 

dust1n

Zindīq
Even if any of those things were correct, they would still be exceptionally misinformed. Those are rather trite things to be misinformed about as well. I imagine if you questioned any sample of people who watched TV for their news source that such statistics about incorrect assertions would be very similar.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Some problems with your "study":
- 91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
Evidence that this is wrong...particularly in a longer time frame (as we pay debt service)?
- 72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
In matters of opinion about a highly variable future, this is just opinion.
- 72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
It isn't?
- 49 percent believe income taxes have gone up
Over what period? Are we talking tax revenue or marginal rates?
- 63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
Are they speaking of their own situation, about any cuts, or overall?
- 63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear)
I'm guessing he's from Htrae.

It must be a very comforting study for Foxphobes. But I understand...I like to read things that make me feel superior too.
 

Sunstone

De Diablo Del Fora
Premium Member
I imagine if you questioned any sample of people who watched TV for their news source that such statistics about incorrect assertions would be very similar.

Although viewers of any corporate media do not seem to come off well in the survey, in most cases, Fox Viewers are more misinformed than others.
 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
In a way, that's the scariest part -- that they can do it in the open because so many people don't even care or actually support them in it because it favors their own side.

Well, it also helps that the idiotic Supreme Court lifted limits on how much corporations can give to candidates.

The combination of news exposure and financing is a win-win combination, and I'm sure that these candidates can take advantage of other resources that FOX has (strategists, public relations folks, and so on), giving them even more of an advantage.

BUT their oponents (both Republican and Democrat) are well positioned to attack these candidates for their relationship with FOX, noting that the FOX folks are groomed by a giant corporatation and the other candidate is actually chosen by the people for the people.
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
While Fox news consumers might be very well even more deluded than any other TV news viewers,
I must say I'm also unimpressed with Fox's harshest critics, who seem irrationally rabid towards them,
& overly certain of their own opinions.

Let's look at an example of NYT dishonesty in the interest of government apologistics....
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/29/business/media/29carr.html
Note how the author fails to mention that the TSA shut down most of their x-ray machines
so as to avoid the appearance of a protest? It was in the news....except for the NYT.

Mark Twain said it best....
"If you don't read the newspaper, you're uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you're mis-informed."

 
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angellous_evangellous

Guest
While Fox news consumers might be very well even more deluded than any other TV news viewers,
I must say I'm also unimpressed with Fox's harshest critics, who seem irrationally rabid towards them,
& overly certain of their own opinions.

I might agree if I heard any of these criticisms.
 
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