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maximusveritas · 10-03-2003, 08:19 AM

wow, this is some pretty damning evidence against FoxNews.
People who named FoxNews as their primary source of news had a much higher chance of having a misconception.

At first, I thought this was just because most FoxNews viewers are conservative Bush supporters, so they would naturally believe anything to help support their cause. But then I noticed the stat that the average rate of misconception for Republicans who watch FoxNews is 54%, while the rate for Republicans who watch PBS/NPR is 32%. Also, 48% of Democratic supporters who watched FoxNews had the misconception that the US has found evidence of a direct Saddam-Al Qaeda link. But not a single Democrat who got their news from PBS/NPR had this misconception.

So then I considered that perhaps its just that the people who tend to watch FoxNews and CBSNews(2nd highest rate) tend to be less educated and intelligent and may not take as much of an interest in the news. Then, I noticed the interesting stat that while for all other news sources, those who kept up with the news more closely had a LOWER rate of misconception, FoxNews viewers who kept up with the news more closely tended to have a HIGHER rate of misconception. For example, on the issue of whether the US has found WMD in Iraq yet, FoxNews viewers who watched very closely had the highest rate of misconception at 44%, while those who watched less closely had a lower rate(somewhat=32%, not very=24%, not at all=34%). Meanwhile, among those who use the print media as their primary source, those who didn't follow the news at all were much more likely(35%) to have misconceptions than those who watched more closely (not very=14%, somewhat=18%, very=13%).

Those who have said that FoxNews is harmless should take note of these numbers.

10-03-2003, 08:19 AM	#3 (permalink)
maximusveritas Winner	wow, this is some pretty damning evidence against FoxNews. People who named FoxNews as their primary source of news had a much higher chance of having a misconception. At first, I thought this was just because most FoxNews viewers are conservative Bush supporters, so they would naturally believe anything to help support their cause. But then I noticed the stat that the average rate of misconception for Republicans who watch FoxNews is 54%, while the rate for Republicans who watch PBS/NPR is 32%. Also, 48% of Democratic supporters who watched FoxNews had the misconception that the US has found evidence of a direct Saddam-Al Qaeda link. But not a single Democrat who got their news from PBS/NPR had this misconception. So then I considered that perhaps its just that the people who tend to watch FoxNews and CBSNews(2nd highest rate) tend to be less educated and intelligent and may not take as much of an interest in the news. Then, I noticed the interesting stat that while for all other news sources, those who kept up with the news more closely had a LOWER rate of misconception, FoxNews viewers who kept up with the news more closely tended to have a HIGHER rate of misconception. For example, on the issue of whether the US has found WMD in Iraq yet, FoxNews viewers who watched very closely had the highest rate of misconception at 44%, while those who watched less closely had a lower rate(somewhat=32%, not very=24%, not at all=34%). Meanwhile, among those who use the print media as their primary source, those who didn't follow the news at all were much more likely(35%) to have misconceptions than those who watched more closely (not very=14%, somewhat=18%, very=13%). Those who have said that FoxNews is harmless should take note of these numbers.