Fox News fans dumber than folks who watch no news at all!
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission
If Fox News viewers want to be informed about current events, they might as well turn off the TV.
A poll released by Fairleigh Dickinson University on Monday found that people who get their news from Fox News know significantly less about news both in the U.S. and the world than people who watch no news at all.
In a survey of 612 New Jersey natives, Fox News fans flunked questions about Egypt and Syria when compared with people who don’t watch the news. Fox viewers were 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians toppled their government and 6 points less likely to be aware that Syrians have not yet overthrown theirs.
“Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News,” Dan Cassino, a Fairleigh Dickinson professor who served as an analyst for the poll, said in the report. “Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all…”
The most informative outlets were found to be the Sunday morning news shows as well as outlets like the New York Times, USA today and NPR.
Har.
I think the problem stems from the fact that the average age of a fox news viewer is like 82 and it’s really more their dementia setting it. Of course it’s entirely possible that fox news is responsible for that dementia in the first place.
Rob, the mainland
Rob Rubin
November 24, 2011 at 10:07 am
I used to think it was a time warp caused somehow by Rupert Murdoch being 172 years old. His animal magnetism was attracting stupidity from the past, like McCarthyism. But, then I remembered that aside from wimping out to rightwing terror messages about the Red Peril, Yellow Peril, Brown and Black Peril – Republicans also included people like Jacob Javits, Dwight Eisenhower, John Lindsay, none of whom would be allowed a membership card, today.
Or the time warp goes all the way back to the 12th Century and the Inquisition.
moss
November 24, 2011 at 10:54 am
It’s the ignorant and gullible, bigoted and timorous – seeking their own level. Small-minded beasties.
keaneo
November 24, 2011 at 9:42 pm