Study Finds FOX, ABC, CBS news fans BADLY misinformed

[Terwilliger]

this may be a dupe, but it bears repeating

DAVID FOLKENFLIK, BALTIMORE SUN(published at Undernews) - Heavy viewers of the Fox News Channel are nearly four times as likely to hold demonstrably untrue positions about the war in Iraq as media consumers who rely on National Public Radio or the Public Broadcasting System, according to a study released this week by a research center affiliated with the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs. . . Fox News officials did not return repeated requests yesterday for comment on the study.

Funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Ford Foundation, the study was conducted from June through September. It surveyed 3,334 Americans who receive their news from a single media source. Each was questioned about whether he held any of the following three beliefs, characterized by the center as "egregious misperceptions":

- Saddam Hussein has been directly linked with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

- Weapons of mass destruction have already been found in Iraq.

- World opinion favored the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

. . . Twenty-three percent of those who get their news from NPR or PBS believed in at least one of the mistaken claims. In contrast, 80 percent of Fox News viewers held at least one of the three incorrect beliefs.

. . . Among broadcast network viewers there also were differences. Seventy-one percent of those who relied on CBS for news held a false impression, as did 61 percent of ABC's audience and 55 percent of NBC viewers. Fifty-five percent of CNN viewers and 47 percent of Americans who rely on the print media as their primary source of information also held at least one misperception.

Emphasis mine...I'll note that these misperceptions are decidedly against the interests of the US

[Selwynn]

1. Why do the numbers add up to more than 100%

I showed this to a friend who promptly got all sarcastic and defensive becasue the poll numbers add up to 341%..

I was trying to explain, but he didn't want to listen. What's the best way to explain it to him?

[indigo32]

2. it's simple

your friend got it backwards.. it's not saying of all the people who got it wrong... this many listened to this news source...it's saying
% of viewers of that specific station who had the answer wrong.

[Selwynn]

3. Never mind I got it

67% of 100% of FOX viewers

Duh.. I got flustered becuase he was freaking out about how blantantly false it was.

Dork. (He's my great friend though.)

[kwolf68]

4. No shit...

LMAO...Good stuff. I will copy this and toss it on to my madre.

[coda]

5. The only viewers flogged with the mantra "fair and balanced" hold

the highest % of "demonstrably untrue positions"?

Look for Faux full page attack ads soon. :-)

[loudnclear]

6. I wonder why?

"Keeping your eyes shut is worse than being blind."

"Keeping your mind shut is worse than being dumb."

[AP]

7. DU should stick a pin in this story and should sit atop GD for a long time

This, folks, is the retort to much stupid shit that goes in America.

"Do you get your information from TV? Yes? Then that's why you have no idea what you're talking about."

And to think that this is an accident is plain ignorant.

This is the result these media companies are looking for. It's called propaganda.

[Julien Sorel]

8. Chicken and egg.

No person who wants to be truly informed would depend on TV as their source of information. These people are ignorant because they start out that way; TV just doesn't change anything -- which, if you think about the medium's inherent limitations, is inevitable.

[Terwilliger]

10. yes, but they're the voters you have to persuade

ill-informed or well-informed, you still need their vote

[quaker bill]

9. Great Post

Saw the study. The results are true without a doubt, and for good cause.

The print media is only better on the margin.

Being regularily interviewed and reported on in both print and on the tube, I can say niether have a corner on the market for veracity.

To the extent that the media is not afflicted with a specific ideological prejudice, they are often taken with the notion of how the story they want to tell should read before they get the facts.

In my experience, finding a journalist in any media type that will allow the facts to get in the way of a good story line is rare.

I have had the experience once or twice, but not often.

Misinformation is profoundly abundant.

[ComerPerro]

11. Its funny, because all of those seem to be obviously false

Frankly, I don't see how anyone could belive any of those claims. But that just goes to show you how strong the disinformation campaign is.
I just find it disturbing that the precentages of people who believed these statements was so high.

[Terwilliger]

12. EIGHTY PERCENT!

"Unfair and Uninformative" more like