There are some things that everyone knows but many refuse to admit. Then there are the cretins that have a critical gene missing that would allow them to absorb truth.
Fox doesn’t just make the occasional error. Their coverage on every subject, even those that might be considered non-political, is riddled with what might be generously characterized as “facts” created from whole cloth.
Fox News viewers are less informed than people who don’t watch any news, according to a new study from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
The poll surveyed New Jersey residents about the uprisings in Egypt and the Middle East, and where they get their news sources. The study, which controlled for demographic factors like education and partisanship, found that “people who watch Fox News are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government” and “6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government” compared to those who watch no news.
Overall, 53% of all respondents knew that Egyptians successfully overthrew Hosni Mubarak and 48% knew that Syrians have yet to overthrow their government.
Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson, explained in a statement, “Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News. Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all.”
This isn’t the first study that has found that Fox News viewers more misinformed in comparison to others. Last year, a study from the University of Maryland found that Fox News viewers were more likely to believe false information about politics.
Fox News viewers are much more likely than others to believe false information about American politics, a new study concludes.
The study, conducted by the University of Maryland, judged how likely consumers of various news outlets and publications were to believe misinformation about a wide range of political issues.
Overall, 90% of respondents said they felt they had heard false information being given to them during the 2010 election campaign. However, while consumers of just about every news outlet believed some information that was false, the study found that Fox News viewers, regardless of political information, were “significantly more likely” to believe the following false information:
–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)
In addition, the study said, the greater amount of time spent watching Fox News, the greater the percentage of believing these false stories.
In other words, it isn’t necessary to read or watch the real news to actually know more about what is really happening. To stop looking so foolish, just stop watching Faux News.
Why is it that these people can’t understand that, if their positions on issues depend entirely on lies, it could be a hint that they should change their positions?
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{ 15 comments }
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Hello! I realize this is kind of off-topic however I needed to ask. Does operating a well-established website like yours require a massive amount work? I am completely new to blogging but I do write in my diary every day. I’d like to start a blog so I will be able to share my experience and feelings online. Please let me know if you have any kind of suggestions or tips for new aspiring blog owners. Appreciate it!
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Is it a lot of work? That depends on what you want it to be. I have graduate degrees in internatinal relations and economics. I have been a foreign correspondent. I have served in intelligence and public elective office. My intention is to present a more realistic perspective on current events than most people would otherwise get. Keeping up with events and checking to ensure it is factual does take time. The actual writing may take only the bulk of a day per article but selecting and formating the graphics takes time. More time than you might think is spent deciding what subjects to write on and false starts that never see the light of the monitor. That’s the way it is for me but not everyone, obviously. My blog is presently being shorted because I am trying to write two more books and other matters occupying my time. I feel that apparent credibility is, for many people, determined by how professional the site appears. Therefore, I have endeavored to put in the effort make it appear professional. That also takes some time. I can only explain my situation. The purpose needs to be your guide.
Howdy! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be okay. I’m undoubtedly enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
Sorry, but I don’t do Twitter or Facebook. I tried Facebook to promote a book. My then 13-year old granddaughter asked to ‘friend’ me. How do you refuse to ‘friend’ your own granddaughter? It quickly became a focus for all of her 13-year old buddies. That didn’t seem helpful in promoting my book, so I closed it down. My time is now occupied primarily with research for 2 more books. I can’t devote the necessary time to that and divert any to Twitter or Facebook. My apologies for having to cut down the time I devote to this blog. I will continue to blog occasionally until I can devote to it the effort I wish.
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I have had to slow down my blogging as I am working on two books and a couple of other projects right now. So, it’s me that’s late, not you. I may have to unretire in order to catch up.
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Compliments are appreciated. Regular visitors are loved.
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Working on two more books, I do not devote as much time to this site as I wish. I certainly don’t have the time to expand it to another language but would gladly allow anyone interested to do so. My mother taught French but it has been more then 50 years since I have had any involvement with that language. Since then I took a year of German as an undergraduate, picked up Korean while living there and visiting 51 times and 3 years of Chinese in grad school. With all of that, foreign languages were never easy for me. My last use of Chinese was in 1981.
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