General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Intelligence Institute Study shows Fox News viewers have an IQ that is 20 points lower than the U.S. [View all]pbrower2a
(132 posts)Intelligent, learned people would surely hate FoX Propaganda Channel -- if I am any indicator. Even when it isn't political (as on a crime story) it quickly makes me angry. Riling people is not news; it is manipulation. Smart people recognize and loathe crude attempts to manipulate them. People who abhor FoX News shut it out.
Level of intelligence? Sesame Street is less troublesome. But it heavily uses humor, some of it working on different esthetic levels. It has to be tolerable at the level of a parent who might try to use it to influence a child's learning even if its primary focus is children. FoX is deadly serious even if it doesn't merit belief. Heck, North Korean 'news' is offered as deadly-serious material even if it is ludicrous if contrasted to official news from the People's Republic of China on anything outside China. I trust Russian and Chinese news about the US more than I trust FoX news.
Someone who can see what FoX tries to do can avoid damage. Now contrast PBS' News Hour. It competes with the superficial news coverage on the three main networks, but it can go in depth on a subject as ABC, CBS, or NBC Nightly News (or for that matter, CNN Headline News) can't. It can cover three stories in one hour-long program with nearly twenty minutes each without filler. After ads, the 30-minute newscasts reduce to about twenty minutes and five to eight stories and obviously little on each.
But...FoX News is 24/7 and has good resources, right? Of course. But much of it is analysis directed at pushing a political agenda. Are America's hard-working and worthy super-rich in need of even higher profits and executive compensation... or much more, irrespective of the human cost to people who really don't matter? Is Barack Obama simply evil or is he the agent of destruction of America? That is not what I think of as useful analysis. I prefer "what are the economic consequences of proposed changes of tax laws?", "does this offered agreement make sense?", or "What will the Russians do if Assad uses chemical weapons?"