Study Confirms That Fox News Makes You Stupid

[Elmore Furth]

The Echo Chamber of the Right Wing is drowning out real information.

A new survey of American voters shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources.

December 15, 2010 | Advertisement Yet another study has been released proving that watching Fox News is detrimental to your intelligence. World Public Opinion, a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitudes at the University of Maryland, conducted a survey of American voters that shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consumers of news from other sources. What’s more, the study shows that greater exposure to Fox News increases misinformation.

So the more you watch, the less you know. Or to be precise, the more you think you know that is actually false. This study corroborates a previous PIPA study that focused on the Iraq war with similar results. And there was an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that demonstrated the break with reality on the part of Fox viewers with regard to health care. The body of evidence that Fox News is nothing but a propaganda machine dedicated to lies is growing by the day.

In eight of the nine questions below, Fox News placed first in the percentage of those who were misinformed (they placed second in the question on TARP). That’s a pretty high batting average for journalistic fraud. Here is a list of what Fox News viewers believe that just aint so:


•91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
•72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
•72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
•60 percent believe climate change is not occurring
•49 percent believe income taxes have gone up
•63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
•56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout
•38 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP
•63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear)

The conclusion is inescapable. Fox News is deliberately misinforming its viewers and it is doing so for a reason. Every issue above is one in which the Republican Party had a vested interest. The GOP benefited from the ignorance that Fox News helped to proliferate. The results were apparent in the election last month as voters based their decisions on demonstrably false information fed to them by Fox News.



Study Confirms That Fox News Makes You Stupid

[walldude]

1. In other news... snow is white!

It is nice to see an actual study on this though.. good post! K&R

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. Debunking FoxNews as a news media would be the number one

method to turn things around in this country.

[KharmaTrain]

3. It's The Daily Affirmation...Ignorance Is Bliss...

The parallel universe is a nice cozy place for a wingnut. You get the talking points told to you every morning with Rushbo and then tune to faux to have it reaffirmed for the remainder of the day. By the time your pointed little head passes out, you've been filled with the latest distortion that verifies some preconcieved notion and fuels further hatred. No need to ever step out of the box since there's a good chance that you'll find others who also reside in that world and the chit chat will be of the latest talking point or "fauxrage". It's like a game of telephone...the word is spread quickly and since the images and stereotypes have long been estabished it's easy to pass along tripe as gold.

Faux knows its fishes well and keeps them on the hook. Even if they had half the ratings they do they'd still be playing the same game. They distort and the others decide...meaning the rest of the corporate media. And for the most part they parrot the latest faux talking point and then force those with contrary opinions to defend against them.

[felix_numinous]

4. Fox and hate media injected a virus in society

that made it easy for the coup of 2000 to be successful. Propaganda is anti-American and needs to be disassembled once and for all if we are to rebuild this country.