According to the latest results from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind Poll, some news sources make us less likely to know what’s going on in the world. In the most recent study, the poll asked New Jerseyans about current events at home and abroad, and from what sources – if any – they get their information. The conclusion: Sunday morning news shows do the most to help people learn about current events, while some outlets, especially Fox News, lead people to be even less informed than those who they don’t watch any news at all.
Among other topics, New Jerseyans were asked about the outcome of the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East this past year. While 53% of New Jerseyans know that Egyptians were successful in overthrowing the government of Hosni Mubarak, 21% say that the uprisings were unsuccessful, and 26% admit they don’t know. Also, 48% know that the Syrian uprising has thus far been unsuccessful, while 36% say they don’t know, and 16% say the Syrians have already toppled their government.
But the real finding is that the results depend on what media sources people turn to for their news. For example, people who watch Fox News, the most popular of the 24-hour cable news networks, are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government than those who watch no news at all (after controlling for other news sources, partisanship, education and other demographic factors). Fox News watchers are also 6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government than those who watch no news.
"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," said Dan Cassino, a professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson and an analyst for the PublicMind Poll. "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."
You know the sad thing is that the peo0ple who most need to be exposed to this information are never going to see it, because Fox news will never report it. Kinda like a "Catch 22" there.
I wonder if someday we will see class action suits against Fox news the way we see them against cigarette manufacturers? Just imagine:
"Your honor my client was led to believe that he was viewing a NEWS program, and that watching it would IMPROVE his information base and make him MORE knowledgeable. But as you can clearly see your honor the poor son-of-a-bitch is a drooling moron who can barely form a coherent sentence or wipe his own ass much engage in an intelligent conversation on current events or political matters. If it pleases the court we would like ask that Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes be forced to compensate my client in the amount of one hundred million dollars, and be further court ordered to issue an apology to the American people for lowering the national IQ by an average of 20 points."
Seems fair to me.
But they want the voters scared and uninformed. Look how Bush won in 2004 (besides the machine rigging in Ohio.) He, who had stated "Mission Accomplished" only months before, used the election to scare people into trusting HIM over decorated war vet Kerry.
ReplyDeleteThe right counts on misinformation, lies, and fear to win people to their side. And, amazingly, it works.
Any ?News source that would hire Granny Grifter and Newtron Leroy as
ReplyDeletePolitical contributors, is lacking in judgement anyway.
Gosh, I sooooo want to send this to my inlaws without them knowing it was me. Any suggestions.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of ignorance, your tax dollars at work:
ReplyDeleteKNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The government paid nearly $2,500 for Sarah Palin's husband to come to the trial of a Tennessee college student who hacked into her email – even though Todd Palin never testified, court records show.
In all, the government paid more than $29,000 to fly members of the Palin family and other witnesses to Knoxville, send a prosecutor to Alaska for research and pay other travel expenses . . .
www.huffingtonpost.com/
2011/11/22/
todd-palin-sarah-palin-
hacking-trial_n_1108349.html
The real deal is that EVERY single person at faux "news" - from gretard van sumppump to the interns making coffee - HAVE to know that they're disseminating disinformation. Sorry, but it takes a brain to function in the broadcast industry and anyone with said brain should be able to discern between actual REALITY/FACTS and the right wing, retarded fiction that faux spews. Therefore, the tragically cynical fact is that almost EVERY single fucktard that works for Ailes' fux noise KNOWS that they're making idiots even dumber and don't give a shit beyond their next paycheck. To each and every one of you who work for fux spews, I raise my glass and say, FUCK YOU, BURN IN HELL, YOU ASSHOLES!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for helping to make the USA WORSE!!!
ReplyDeleteI think we were twins separated at birth. Your sense of humor mirrors my own and I freaking love it.
ReplyDeleteO/T and Scary shit:
ReplyDelete'Christian Right Wing Pastor And Endorser Of Michele Bachmann Admits That The Religious Right Wants Dominionism And ‘World Conquest’
November 15, 2011
By Stephen D. Foster Jr.
Meet Dr. George Grant. He is an evangelical educator and a Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) pastor from Texas. He reportedly supports executing homosexuals and he has also publicly endorsed Michele Bachmann for President. In a video that had been featured on the website of the Bachmann campaign, Grant admitted that dominionism exists and that dominionism is exactly what the religious right wants. Basically, Grant is saying that the Christian Right seeks to declare America a Christian state and replace constitutional law with Bible law. He also said that the aim of the religious right is “world conquest.”
“Christians have an obligation, a mandate, a commission, a holy responsibility to reclaim the land for Jesus Christ-to have dominion in the civil structures, just as in every other aspect of life and godliness.
But it is dominion that we are after. Not just a voice.
It is dominion we are after. Not just influence.
It is dominion we are after. Not just equal time.
It is dominion we are after.
World conquest. That’s what Christ has commissioned us to accomplish. We must win the world with the power of the Gospel. And we must never settle for anything less.
If Jesus Christ is indeed Lord, as the Bible says, and if our commission is to bring the land into subjection to His Lordship, as the Bible says, then all our activities, all our witnessing, all our preaching, all our craftsmanship, all our stewardship, and all our political action will aim at nothing short of that sacred purpose.
Thus, Christian politics has as its primary intent the conquest of the land – of men, families, institutions, bureaucracies, courts, and governments for the Kingdom of Christ. It is to reinstitute the authority of God’s Word as supreme over all judgments, over all legislation, over all declarations, constitutions, and confederations.”
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11/15/christian-right-wing-pastor-and-endorser-of-michele-bachmann-admits-that-the-religious-right-wants-dominionism-and-world-conquest-video/
@Smirnon,
ReplyDeleteI'm good with that.
@dmoreno56
ReplyDeleteI believe you can create a fake email account through Google's Gmail.
Or you could print it off and put it in the mail with no return address!
: )
And yet when I point out to my acquaintances that Fox news went to court in order to protect their right to lie - they refuse to believe it.
ReplyDeleteSo, I guess they deserve what they get.
But it will sure be messy when Faux News finally explodes and people start getting sent to jail.
This is soooo satisfying! Lawrence lays it out brilliantly. I'm cheering!
ReplyDeleteBarack Obama, Best Budget Strategist in History?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=gHE2KgN73dw
Fox viewers didn't just stumble upon Ailes' creation while channel-surfing before concluding it must be fair and balanced. They know they're getting right-wing "opinion" and that's just the way they like it: It's reassuring not to feel alone.
ReplyDeleteOn the bright side, around 1 to 2 million viewers in a country of over 300 million isn't THAT moronic!
Some other things which are like Fox suggesting pepper spray is a vegetable.
ReplyDeletewww.quickmeme.com/Megyn-Kelly/popular/1/?upcoming
Many of you may know, but Faux Nooze does not broadcast in Canada. They have laws prohibiting dissemination of lies on the air.
ReplyDeleteAnd we have the best government money can buy.
I got into a huge argument with my parents when I was visiting a couple weeks ago, all about Fox News. They insist that it is Fair and Balanced, they believe that it gives both sides of the story! And, that is the ONLY channel they watch. And yes, they are ignorant!
ReplyDeleteNancyB in SC
demoreno 56 - print it up, put it in an envelope without a stamp, put their name and address in the sender's position, and adress it to Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity. Mission Accomplished! ;o)
ReplyDeleteI wish the fcc would follow Canada's lead.
This poll is interesting, since it's the college that gave us the witch from Delaware, the Governor who uses helicopters owned by the state for his kid's ballgames, and the state that gave us Snookie, Kelly Ripka, and The Situation.
The state that thinks it's citizens are too stupid to pump their own gas!
Can't make this stuff up, but it's all Fox News's target audiences.
Of course, we didn't need a poll to tell us this pearl of wisdom.
To NancyB in SC @6:26 PM:
ReplyDeleteWhat do your relatives define as "the other side"?
-------
I have to wonder if this is intentional. Is Fox News actually out to deceive people, or are they just doing what will make them a lot of money? Are the immoral or amoral?
You all get it wrong. The Fox news listeners come away with huge amounts of knowledge, all wrong, all hate flamed rhetoric which they believe and act on, so they are way ahead of the general population as they act on the misinformation and thus the nation in deep trouble.
ReplyDeleteGryph, I don't agree with your conclusion at all, and it's not supported by the poll. You have made the assumption that Fox viewers either were better informed before they became Fox viewers or in the alternative that they would be better informed people if they watched something other than Fox. You're way out on a limb with either of those assumptions, and there's nothing holding you up. I know several Fox viewers, and the alternate reality that Fox makes available to them was tailored to them. I would conclude that the poll reveals the kind of viewers Fox attracts, and not what watching Fox does to those who watch it. Just think about the six dumbest people you went to high school with and five of them are probably watching Fox right now.
ReplyDelete