CAN WATCHING FOX NEWS MAKE YOU DUMBER?
According to a Farleigh Dickinson University Public Mind Poll, watching certain news sources -- especially Fox News -- can actually make you less informed about what's going on in the world.
The poll asked 612 New Jerseyans about current events and from what sources they get their news. The results show a correlation between where the respondents get their news and how informed they are. Fox News in particular stood out as having poorly informed viewers.
POLITICS IN DISGUISE
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."
Fox News viewers are not only a whopping 18 points less likely to know what's happening in Egypt than people who don't watch news at all; they are also significantly less informed than viewers of other cable news networks. 57 percent of CNN and MSNBC viewers answered the Hosni Mubarak question correctly, compared to only 49 percent of Fox News viewers.
BETTER THINKING
As Political Wire points out, the results of the PublicMind poll mirror those of a University of Maryland study from last year. The survey showed that people who rely on NPR, Sunday morning news shows, and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart tend to be the most well-informed. Viewers of the 24 hour cable news networks lagged significantly behind, showing that in this case quantity is not correlated with quality.
I always suspected something like this. It's good to see it finally proven true! Now how about an in-depth study showing which Fox shows are worse than others! I agree 100%. They are republican biased. They are a propaganda news station. I urge people to do their own research and see who owns and runs fox news. I did. Fox actually broadcasts disinformation, the Rupert Murdock mantra day in day out.
Honestly, I may watch FOX News periodically to keep up on the dialogue. “ typically see what the pagans are saying"! Murdoch's band of supposedly "journalistic" rogues are akin to the Keystone Cops but, these "commentators" can be very dangerous because there are people who actually believe this tripe FOX is putting out!
Bill O, probably the "Head Rogue" of this lock-step bunch of liars sets the tone and the other Bill O wanna-bees follow suit! It's amazing they're still on the air..what a country!
The other evening on FOX footage was shown of a violent clash or what very much looked like one between a group protesting and occupying versus police in riot gear who vastly outnumbered them. This is one case where some context and explanation of just what exactly was going on here was critical.
But FOX, instead of having anything like that, had no verbal commentary. Instead, across the bottom of the screen were a bunch of words saying "the popularity of the Democrats continues to plunge..." Here on the screen is a vivid scene of action/violence or at the very least something pretty important going on. Instead of describing it, telling us what it's all about, we're given a worse than bogus factoid or statistic, pretty much implying that the groups were Democrats and they are being "defeated" or "losing their popularity or influence."
I sample all news channels and have found that if I want to hear anything that might be the least bit derogatory toward the progressive narrative, I will hear it only on Fox and, maybe, 60 Minutes. But that was a nice try toward demonizing without presenting any facts or specific examples.
This isn't news at all, it is biased, opinionated propaganda. Just compare the reporting of the Tea Party protests by Fox. The Tea Party is a conservative movement supported by Fox. The same was true of their coverage of health care and their coverage of the deficit debate. Those who wanted higher taxes on the wealthiest reaping the greatest rewards were labeled as vilifying the wealthy, job creators and producers. Those who oppose the conservative agenda are called vermin, lazy, leeches and worse by Faux News.
HATE MONGERING
This is not balanced or informative reporting, it is "hate mongering" because the goal of Fox is about encouraging fear and distrust, not providing useful information. Fox wants to further a conservative agenda that favors the wealthiest Americans and it believes the most effective way to do that is to divide middle America.
It is not and never has been to provide unbiased, informative and balanced news reporting. Just listen to Fox's Chris Wallace-Jon Steward interview. Mr. Wallace doesn't even recognize what the purpose of reporting the news is supposed to be.
Fox news fans love to selectively watch personalities such as OReily belittle liberals. What news is presented always has a conservative bias. Every Fox show and hired employee with few exceptions, immediately and automatically parrot the exact same line. With few exceptions only extreme conservatives are hired.
They must get a directive from top management on what to say because immediately they all say the same thing with the exact same words and phrases, and opinion. It is amazing. Fox does this to an extreme, much more than any other network. Not all the blame goes to the network, viewers must take some blame also.
They rather be told what to think than make up their own minds. I often watch Fox News for entertainment and contrast. News Hounds, Media Matters and Fact Check do a good job straightening things out but I doubt Fox fans want another view point
This is only one of many non-partisan studies on the news media. Those that can't believe that Fox News spreads mis-information might just do their homework; there are scores of these studies out there, some by credible universities, some by Media watch-dogs -- all prove that the facts are skewed and re-worked on Fox News, leaving their viewers no more informed than their own bias allows.
This is precisely the reason Fox News is so popular with a certain group -- a group that simply wants their own personal resentments and fears validated.
JON STEWART
Jon Stewart often shows stories from Fox where they have used pictures of some other event to show that the crowds of the events they support are larger than they were. I was at a protest of the war in Iraq in Oct 2004 and I was there early, about an hour before the event started and Fox was filming at that time and I couldn't figure out why they would film before the people came. They showed that footage on air and reported that no one showed up.
TRUTH - The march was 27 blocks long and 4 lanes wide. I've never been in a larger protest in my life. I am politically inclined, active and journalistically ave attended protests since the early 70's. Fox is not news and every study ever done has shown the same results, no matter where the information is gathered.
My brain cells are safe. " I read the NY Times, London Times, Washington Post and LA Times on line almost every day. I prefer world news on the BBC. I still don't feel perfectly well-informed but I at least avoid the outlet that drains gray matter and uses the cells as compost.
This survey proves what I have believed all alone, some right wingers are so lock stepped, they are weak, closed minded and can't see the facts because they don’t want to know the truth.
Anything that comes from Fox is propaganda. The biggest lie that I have seen clips on, "Tax increases will destroy job creation". The fact is tax cuts don't create jobs. If so, why are the jobs are overseas? The tax cuts and tax breaks allow it. Will Fox report that? NO!,
Fox News is Right Wing PRAVDA- has nothing to do with news, has everything to do with selling the right wing agenda - classic case - over and over and over again of "don't bother me the facts, just tell me what I want to hear and I will be happy.
THE PUBLIC IS DUMBED DOWN aka PALIN SYNDROME
I divide the blame between the lack of knowledge of the public into searching for the real truth and the deeper lack of knowledge of those running. Today with a polarized media supported by big dollars anything and everything winds up on the TV.
People don't read the papers the last bastion of truth. This election also showed me after countess conversations how few knew the role of the Vice President, especially..Sarah Palin, the candidate running for the job. She was asked point blank what is the role of the Vice President, she didn't have a clue.
Had it all wrong on TV in front of millions. That floored me. No one is that ignorant of a position you apply for. It's basically quite simple and I believe the shortest swearing in of all the federal positions. Who is the Vice President? "The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution indirectly elected by the people through the Electoral College to a four-year term.
What is his job: "The vice president is the first person in the presidential line of succession, ascending to the presidency upon the death, resignation, or removal of the president. If the president is not able to assume his job the Vice President would have to assume the role of Commander in Chief." Simple? Very.
Lets look at her coaching. She was heavily coached by Joe Lieberman, the Dean of Side Switching in the Congressional Senate. I once wrote that if Lieberman threw a coin in the air to decide something, it would neither be heads, nor tails. He would catch it and sell it. At first I though it was a joke. It seems there was a bunch of ignorance in the McCain camp. It turns out the Drama queen had a bad drama coach.
McCains publicity chief Nancy Mitchell Pfotenhauer was formerly executive Vice President at Citizens for a Sound Economy, President of Independent Women's Forum (IWF) and Americans For Prosperity. Great title, very impressive and a really pretty gal. Thats her strongest attribute, her looks.
Chris Mathews of Hardball had her on his show and after she went through the usual talking points, he asked her the same question PALIN was asked. As a senior advisor to Sen. John McCain she didn’t have the right answer either.
Here is her reply; PFOTENHAUER: That's right. That's right. Well, I mean, obviously the role of the Vice President is to support the President, but to also to preside when necessary over the US Senate. Wrong and wrong. Now we have PFOTENHAUER SYNDROME.
Where do we find these buffoons and the buffoons who sponsor them?
The Vice Presidential oath is the shortest in the Congress for the 2nd in command of the executive branch.
The Vice President is the first person in the presidential line of succession, and would ascend to the Presidency upon the death, resignation, or removal of the President.
Under the Constitution, the Vice President is President of the United States Senate. He does not actually preside over the Senate, he is a tie breaker because the senate is an even number. In that capacity, he or she is allowed to vote in the Senate when necessary to break a tie.
While Senate customs have created supermajority rules that have diminished this Constitutional power, the Vice President still retains the ability to influence legislation Pursuant to the Twelfth Amendment, the Vice President presides over the joint session of Congress when it convenes to count the vote of the Electoral College.