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Buckeye_Democrat

(15,532 posts)
6. Here's a website that delves into some of those questions.
Thu Apr 13, 2017, 11:16 AM
Apr 2017
http://www.dailysource.org/about/problems#

This part is interesting about nonprofit vs. for-profit news sources:

Nonprofit media organizations rate far higher on educating the public than for-profit entities

A seven-month series of polls by the Center for Policy Attitudes and Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland found that Americans receiving their news from nonprofit organizations were far more likely to have accurate perceptions related to American foreign policy than those receiving their information from for-profit entities. The study also found the variations could not be explained as a result of differences in the demographic characteristics of each audience, because the variations were also found when comparing the demographic subgroups of each audience.

For example, in three areas of information related to Iraq (whether weapons of mass destruction had been found, if clear evidence had been found linking Iraq and al-Qaeda and if worldwide public opinion supported the war in Iraq), only 23 percent of those who received their information from PBS and NPR had an inaccurate perception, while 55 percent of those who received their information from CNN or NBC had an inaccurate perception, 61 percent for ABC, 71 percent for CBS and 80 percent for Fox.

Similarly, on the specific question of whether the majority of the people in the world favored the U.S. having gone to war, 63 percent of those who received their information from CBS misperceived, 58 percent who received their information from ABC misperceived and only 26 percent of those who received their information from PBS and NPR misperceived. Those receiving information from the other networks fell into a similar pattern as demonstrated in the example above: Fox at 69 percent, NBC at 56 percent and CNN at 54 percent - all with rates of misperception twice as high as the nonprofit media organizations.

When the percentages of people misperceiving in each area were averaged, it was found that those receiving information from for-profit broadcast media outlets were nearly three times as likely to misperceive as those receiving from the nonprofit media organizations. Those receiving their information from Fox News showed the highest average rate of misperceptions -- 45 percent -- while those receiving their information from PBS and NPR showed the lowest - 11 percent. CBS showed at 36 percent, CNN at 31 percent, ABC at 30 percent, and NBC at 30 percent.

The study found similar patterns also existed within demographic groups, and that differences in demographics could not explain the variations in levels of misperception.

For example, the average rate for all Republicans for the three key misperceptions was 43 percent. Yet for Republicans who took their news from PBS and NPR, the average rate was only 32 percent - a full one quarter less. This same pattern occurred in polled Democrats and Independents.

Similarly, among those with bachelor’s degrees or higher, the average rate of misperceptions was 27 percent. However among those who had their news from PBS-NPR the average rate was 10 percent. This pattern was observed at other educational levels as well.

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