Not only does Fox News do a horrible job covering LGBT stories but, according to a recent poll, watching it actually makes viewers less informed than if they had just sat around watching a red sock tumbling in the dryer.
Fairleigh Dickinson University’s latest PublicMind poll phoned a random sample of 612 New Jersey adults via landlines and cell phones. They then asked them how they get their news and questioned them about about the success of the revolts in Syria and Egypt, the popularity of Republican presidential candidates, the European financial crisis and the political affiliation of Occupy Wall Street protestors.
Researchers found that the best informed respondents watched Sunday morning news programs. Such shows “tend to spend a lot more time on a single issue than other news broadcasts, and… are less likely to degenerate into people shouting at each other.”
Sadly, they reported that most Americans viewers prefer watching morons shouting at each other rather than the calm, rational discussion on Sunday news programs. Typical.
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They also found 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 respondents were:
- 18 points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government.
- 6 points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government.
- No more or less likely to name the Republican frontrunner in the GOP presidential race.
You can also pretty much count on Fox News not reporting this recent study either.
Image via Jake Olzen
Cam
Probably because anybody with any intellectual interest realizes what FOX is doing and turns the channel in irritation, leaving them with the people with no intellectual curiosity who just want to get angry.
FreddyMertz
I have three letters for you……duh!
Tommy Shepherd
Most Fox News viewers would probably view their ignorance as a badge of pride. Being clever and knowing “facts” and stuff is for those liberal pussies who think they’re better’n everyone else. Look at Sarah Palin, that never stopped her from… oh.
Caliban
Fox News is the propaganda arm of the Republican Party, no more, no less. Hell, they even WENT TO COURT TO DEFEND THEIR RIGHT TO LIE knowingly in their “news” reports, defending it as their Constitutional right. They won.
Don’t believe me? http://ceasespin.org/ceasespin_blog/ceasespin_blogger_files/fox_news_gets_okay_to_misinform_public.html
TK
@Politically Incorrect Thug: @Politically Incorrect Thug:
If you go look at the study, it says after controlling for other sources of news (such as newspapers) Fox viewers were less likely to get the right answers than those who didn’t watch any programs, not less likely to get the right answer than those that got no news from any source. The article here isn’t clear enough with the distinciion.
GreatGatsby2011
@Politically Incorrect Thug: I watch no news programs at all and I’m still pretty well informed. I get my news by reading the newspaper, hearing things through the grapevine and then fact checking, reliable web-based news services, etc. There are many more news sources than just television. And if television is the ONLY place a person gets their news, that’s a sad state of affairs indeed.
John
Talk about junk science…
manho
fair and balanced???!!!?!!!
my ass
Politically Incorrect Thug
@TK: Thanks for the clarification–and I don’t necessarily doubt those facts.
@GreatGatsby2011: You have a point about print news vs. televised news, however, both are guilty of bias they may try to camouflage as news, but is laughably ideological. Fox is likewise ideological, but at least they have debates between both sides, whereas CNN and the networks largely present only the liberal POV.
Cam
@Politically Incorrect Thug: said..
“Of course, the question remains: Why does Fox have more viewers than CNN or MSNBC? ” and “Except in the fantasy world of the left, it’s a blatant impossibility.”
_____________________–
Easy, there are MSNBC, CNN, ABC etc… so you have every other networks splitting the viewers that don’t like what Fox offers.
As for your “It’s a blatant impossibility” line. You just showed exactly what FOX does. You claimed something was an impossibility without any proof. The study corrected for political bias for other news sources etc… They have all their sites attached to the study. But again, something you don’t agree with you stamp your foot and cry and scream that it is untrue. Fine, show your proof, or all you are doing once again is having a tnatrum because something doesn’t support your world view as you do quite often on here.
The crustybastard
@Cam:
Nailed it as usual.
Politically Incorrect Thug
@Cam: As usual, you didn’t take the time to read what I posted, you simply reacted. I said it’s a blatant impossiblity for someone who has no exposure to news to have more worldly knowledge than a Fox viewer, and TK clarified Queerty’s intent with comment #6:
“If you go look at the study, it says after controlling for other sources of news (such as newspapers) Fox viewers were less likely to get the right answers than those who didn’t watch any programs, not less likely to get the right answer than those that got no news from any source. The article here isn’t clear enough with the distinciion.”
I was simply pointing out the ridiculousness of stating that someone who gets no news is more informed than someone who gets Fox news—YOU are the one who interpreted that as me crying and screaming and stamping my feet as a victim. At least TK took the nano-second to read what I said and respond rationally rather than, like you, having responded with the usual vitriol.
the other Greg
Faux News viewers have their own “facts.” For instance, science is all a bunch of b.s. … even though lately, they are all snooty about recent college graduates in debt with “useless” degrees, i.e. anything other than a B.S. (Bachelor of Science, not bullshit) degree.
Also they looooove Christianity so much, but they love Ayn Rand even more despite her being a raging atheist who hated Christianity. Look for many more hypocritical examples, if you can deal with an hour or so at a time.
Avenn
“actually makes viewers dumber”
That’s not what the research was about. The term they used was “the best informed”, which in this case implicates interest, awareness and knowledge towards hot societal topics.
Ian
I won’t argue that FoxNews is actually journalism. But it’s interesting to dig into the issue a bit and find how bad mass journalism has become. CounterSpin (or other work by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) shows that all the cable news outlets (as well as the networks) have really deteriorated. Fox is maybe the worst, but it has more and more company as time goes on and journalism degrades.
PLAINTOM
@Politically Incorrect Thug: Actually this is quite understandable. If I no nothing about a subject, I have a 50/50 chance of guessing the correct answer but if I have been brainwashed with fraudulent propaganda the possibility of every giving the correct answer drops.
WillBFair
Fox is the worst, but all tv news is deplorable. Liberal MSNBC specializes in weak arguments and non issues. The middle of the road shows on Sunday morning are flooded with conservatives. All are controlled by the same financial interests, and their first job is to dumb down public discourse. That’s been obvious for thrity years.
Politically Incorrect Thug
I really have to wonder how much of the Fox news channel the above commenters have actually watched, and how much of their opinion is based on buzz-words they hear from their fellow sycophants of the left. For example, “Michael Moore hates Fox news and therefore so do I, facts be damned.”
FYI, the 3 a.m. Fox show “Red Eye” has more viewers than do the prime-time shows of MSNBC’s line-up, and more viewers than CNN has in its entire prime-time line-up. I know, I know, you tell yourselves that the American public must be comprised of nothing but morons if a middle-of-the-night show on Fox attracts more viewers than Anderson Cooper or Rachel Maddow, but somehow the rest of the country doesn’t see things as you do.
Go figure.
tjr101
If you want to kill off your brain cells, watch Fox News!
Josh in OR
@Politically Incorrect Thug: “Of course, the question remains: Why does Fox have more viewers than CNN or MSNBC? Literally, their ratings dwarf the other cable news channels.”
And the ratings for American Idol dwarf the ratings for presidential debates. The ratings for crap like “The Real Housewives of…” or “Survivor” or any of the “reality” TV shows out there that kill brain cells and souls dwarf the ratings of well-written, character-driven dramas on opposite them. Does that mean that “reality” programming is better than everything else? No, it means that “reality” programming is easier to watch because it requires less critical thought or brainpower.
Just like Fox News.
Darrell
In terms of viewership, Fox News is EVERYWHERE and I don’t even get MSNBC or ABC on my TV so you have to take into account the availability of the stations as well.
Politically Incorrect Thug
@Josh in OR: Um, we’re talking about NEWS shows, Josh, not the frilly Logo or Bravo shit that you guys watch. News. To say Fox is “easier” to watch because it’s less intellectually demanding is funny beyond words, especially since CNN offers up such mental giants as Nancy Grace and Joy Behar as their prime-time philosophers. Might I suggest that, rather than believing everything you hear from angry leftists, watch it for yourself and make up your own mind, which shouldn’t be a problem since it requires “less critical thought or brainpower” than the superior programming you’re accustomed to watching.
ScaryRussianHeather
This makes no sense. And if you don’t see the study you have no idea what or how the questions were asked or the results driven.
You completely ignored this phrase LOL:
(after controlling for other newssources, partisanship, education and other demographic factors).
What EXACTLY does THAT mean? Controlling for “education”??? Really?
Way to go ignoring page 2 entirely, in part:
“New Jerseyans are not necessarily more likely to be knowledgeable about domestic politics than international events. Just 47% are able to identify the Occupy Wall Street protesters as predominantly Democratic: 11 % think they are Republicans.
Viewers of cable news on MSNBC are the most likely to think the protestors are Republicans.
Watching the left-leaning MSNBC news channel is associated with a 10-point increase in the likelihood of misidentifying the protesters.”
Correct me if I’m wrong but when has MSNBC ever in any way suggested the protesters could possibly be Republicans? So I’d say MSNBC viewers far surpass Fox viewers in the idiocy quotient.
Rraiju Narhnuif
“Fox News do a horrible job covering LGBT stories but, according to a recent poll, watching it actually makes viewers less informed”
should be read as FOX NEWS didn’t cover LGBT stories because the viewers are less INTERESTED in LGBT stories