Fox News Viewers Uninformed, NPR Listeners Not, Poll Suggests

[hnumpah]

Fox News Viewers Uninformed, NPR Listeners Not, Poll Suggests
By Kenneth Rapoza | Forbes

A poll by Farleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey showed that of all the news channels out there, Fox News viewers are the least informed.
 
People were asked questions about news habits and current events in a statewide poll of 600 New Jersey residents recently. Results showed that viewers of Sunday morning news shows were the most informed about current events, while Fox News viewers were the least informed.  In fact, FDU poll results showed they were even less informed than those who they don?t watch any news at all.
 
Readers of The New York Times, USA Today and listeners to National Public Radio were better informed about international events than other media outlets.
 
In one major example, New Jersey poll participants were questioned about the outcome of the so-called Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa earlier in the year. A total of 53% of respondents know that Egyptians were successful in overthrowing dictator Hosni Mubarak. Also, 48% know that the Syrian uprising has thus far been unsuccessful in Assad. But on balance, Fox News viewers were 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government than those who watched no news at all.  Fox News viewers were also 6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government than those who watch no news at all, suggesting a daily dose of soundbytes from CNN at the gym, and headlines from Google News were enough to surpass what average Fox viewers polled knew about current events.
 
Fox News is the leading cable news channel.
 
"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," said Dan Cassino, a professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson and an analyst for the PublicMind Poll. "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 kicker is that MSNBC didn't do all that much better. In one question, some 11% of MSNBC viewers actually believed that Occupy Wall Street protesters were Republicans compared to just 3% of Fox viewers.
 
"Ideological media does a very poor job overall," Cassino told Forbes. "They don't challenge people's assumptions. In traditional news, you will find that more often than not, there actually is a correct answer and there is no gray area. People who tune into ideological media are motivated to hear their side of the debate and so you can have someone who watches MSNBC be so used to hearing about protests coming from the right that they automatically believe that Occupy is mostly a Republican protest."
 
Occupy Wall Street leaders are not in support of any political party.
 
On international news, Fox viewers were by far the least likely to know that the Egyptian protests led to the resignation of Hosni Mubarek, followed by MSNBC in a distant second for least informed.
 
See: Some News Leaves People Knowing Less--Farleigh Dickinson University, poll results and methodology
http://publicmind.fdu.edu/2011/knowless/

==============================

Well, I do know that back when I was on the road in 2001 and 2002, about the only news and commentary I could get was on NPR, and from that I came to the (correct) conclusion that there were no WMD in Iraq, no Iraqi ties to Al Qaeda, and that the American public was being lied to about the situation there to gull them into supporting the invasion of Iraq. Meanwhile, several folks whom I found relied on Fox News and derided all other sources thought there were WMD, etc. Seems things haven't changed much.

[BT]

Interesting

Those who listen to talk radio are the most likely to answer the question correctly.
People who tune in to that generally conservative format are 17-points more likely to say
that Herman Cain is at the top, and 15-points more likely to be able to name either of the
leaders.
"The amount of time spent on an issue, and the depth to which it's discussed, makes a
difference," said Cassino. "Whatever its flaws may be, talk radio has spent a lot of time
talking about the nomination, and the basic facts seem to have gotten through."

Same link

[Christians4LessGvt]

what a crock!

thats like saying people that study Beethoven are "less informed" about
music because "people that study Beethoven" include school children.
No surprise a small narrow market like NPR could have a statistically
"better informed" audience. With such an ass-kicking huge audience
of course FOX is going to have more sheer numbers of newcomers
to news and people that casually watch news.

[kimba1]

I don`t think I ever watched fox news. NPR is way easier to hear

[BT]

There are people who choose not to have cable which eliminates Fox News Channel for a lot of them. NPR is available over the air, available to people in cars or on their phones with the right app.

I think if you want to compare who is better informed, perhaps a comparison between listeners of talk radio vs NPR listeners might be a more apple to apples comparison.

[Amianthus]

What I find most interesting is that "MSNBC [viewers] didn't do all that much better" yet the headline targets Fox viewers. This is indicative of a bias in the reporting - most people read only the headline and the first one or two paragraphs, where MSNBC is not mentioned at all.

[Plane]

I must be an Orange .

I listen to Hours of NPR and watch lots of Fox.

One of the hilarious things that you constantly hear is the self praise for being fair.



   Reminds me of Mr. Asops tale of the contest of the animals.

      The Dolphin , the Lion and the Eagle decided that they would test each other for the right to be the king of all animals.

      The Eagles teat was for speed and height of flying.
       The Dolphin set a test for depth of diving.
         The Lions test was a test of strength , wrestling.

     Well, each of these animals passed one test and failed two.

      But each one felt that he had passed the test of greatest importance , so they were all three satisfied that they had won.

[BT]

Jon Stewart says those who watch Fox News are the "most consistently misinformed media viewers"


EDITOR'S NOTE: On the June 21, 2011, edition of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart accepted our False verdict and apologized, saying, "I defer to (PolitiFact's) judgment and apologize for my mistake. To not do so would be irresponsible."

On the June 19, 2011, edition of Fox News Sunday, comedian Jon Stewart -- host of The Daily Show on Comedy Central -- sat down for an interview with Chris Wallace. Many readers asked us to review one of his claims.

"Who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers?" Stewart asked Wallace. "The most consistently misinformed? Fox, Fox viewers, consistently, every poll."

Wallace didn’t challenge Stewart’s assertion that Fox -- widely perceived as a conservative-leaning network -- produced more misinformed viewers. But we thought it was an assessment worth checking.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/jun/20/jon-stewart/jon-stewart-says-those-who-watch-fox-news-are-most/

[Christians4LessGvt]

What I find most interesting is that "MSNBC [viewers] didn't do all that much better" yet the headline targets Fox viewers.

I noticed that too Ami.

[Plane]

  So what would you do to know which news outlet was the most informative?

  I think what is being measured by these polls is which news shows are attracting the already well informed.

     Which viewers could be called the most improved by the viewing?

[BT]

I think this is an opinion piece masquerading as a scientific poll.

Exposure to Sunday morning news shows helps respondents on this question: seeing
these programs leads to an 11-point increase in the likelihood of getting the answer
right. Listening to NPR also helps, but the biggest aid to answering correctly is The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart, which leads to a 6-point decrease in identifying the protestors
as Republicans, and a 12-point increase in the likelihood of giving the correct answer.
"Jon Stewart has not spent a lot of time on some of these issues," said Cassino. "But
the results show that when he does talk about something, his viewers pick up a lot more
information than they would from other news sources."

So the Daily Show is more informative than NPR?

[sirs]

We best not go down that lying about WMD hole again, then

[Plane]

Not to me , but it is possibly true.

There is more to News than just stateing a lot of facts.

   Stewart might be starting with a viewer that knows little and making each fact or factoid interesting with humor so that more of it sticks.

     Imagine someone who reads National Geographic and Science and Discover and Brain Floss. He would flunk these tests , but would he really be poorly informed?

[BT]

Seems to be all part of the meme that Republicans are dumb.

Republicans watch Fox, Fox viewers are less informed than people who don't watch news at all.

Ergo Republicans are dumb.

rinse

repeat

[Plane]

  Oh that is silly, everyone knows that it is Democrats that are dumb .

    Independants even moreso.