Lies, damned lies, statistics, and Fox News
A recent Pew Research Center study reveals that viewers of the Daily Show and/or Colbert Report are the most informed TV viewers out there, as well as those who get their news from the web. Comedy show viewers are top? More than TV news shows? More than NPR? More than newspaper readers, and news magazine readers? Oy! So chicken or the egg question, is it because the viewers of these shows are already informed, or because the show is informing them? Or, like reality (as opposed to politics) is it a bit of both? And who are the least informed? It will come as no surprise to most of you that viewers of Fox News, local TV stations and morning shows are bringing up the rear. Sadly, local TV, local newspapers and Fox News represent 3 of the 4 most regularly used news sources. Are we seeing some of the problems with the current political landscape? The Pew questions are often lightweight, but nevertheless the O'Reiley Factor's viewers do pretty well too, much to my surprise.
Despite all the newfangled sources of news, Pew found that, "today’s citizens are about as able to name their leaders, and are about as aware of major news events, as was the public nearly 20 years ago." Ouch! Men are also considerably better informed than women overall, which surprised me, given recent politics and most women I know.
You can take their online test. I got 12/12, but it would have been less if it were not multiple choice. Their answer on the DOW was also well out of date. Much has changed, heh/sob.
As an aside, this is not the first study to reveal Fox Viewer ignorance. Another from Maryland (PDF) found Fox viewers 3X more likely to hold Iraq war misconceptions. Faux Noise masquerade as a news organization, rather than what they are, the propaganda arm of a wealthy oddball. But again, it's chicken and egg time. Are the viewers of Fox going to fox to have their pre-existing views backed up, or are they learning from Fox? I suspect both again, but mostly the former. And I'm sure there's a lot of that going around, including on the left.
Oh, and finally, on those web sites that result in people being more informed, it seems that political websites have seen a, um surge in traffic and left-wing sites currently rule, with Arianna Huffington's Huffington Post leading the way. Again, are the websites benefiting from a leftie surge, or are they driving it. A bit of both I suspect, but mostly the former.
Fascinating times. I can't wait for the election to be over already. Vote!
Despite all the newfangled sources of news, Pew found that, "today’s citizens are about as able to name their leaders, and are about as aware of major news events, as was the public nearly 20 years ago." Ouch! Men are also considerably better informed than women overall, which surprised me, given recent politics and most women I know.
You can take their online test. I got 12/12, but it would have been less if it were not multiple choice. Their answer on the DOW was also well out of date. Much has changed, heh/sob.
As an aside, this is not the first study to reveal Fox Viewer ignorance. Another from Maryland (PDF) found Fox viewers 3X more likely to hold Iraq war misconceptions. Faux Noise masquerade as a news organization, rather than what they are, the propaganda arm of a wealthy oddball. But again, it's chicken and egg time. Are the viewers of Fox going to fox to have their pre-existing views backed up, or are they learning from Fox? I suspect both again, but mostly the former. And I'm sure there's a lot of that going around, including on the left.
Oh, and finally, on those web sites that result in people being more informed, it seems that political websites have seen a, um surge in traffic and left-wing sites currently rule, with Arianna Huffington's Huffington Post leading the way. Again, are the websites benefiting from a leftie surge, or are they driving it. A bit of both I suspect, but mostly the former.
Fascinating times. I can't wait for the election to be over already. Vote!