Interesting on Fear/Polarization

[Serenity Now]

I don't disagree but I think it is exceptionally silly to claim one side is worse about it than the other especially when the assertion is that the side that DOESN"T worship at the altar of political correctness is somehow worse about disliking those they disagee with than those who do bow down to the PC gods.

I don't know where I claimed that one side voted against the other more rabidly. I could certainly agree that the left votes against those that have been demonized in their circles.

[SoonerProphet]

FoxNews endeavors to be as accurate and thorough as possible, as does Limbaugh. Much of the stuff the MSM puts out is intentionally wrong, and/or misleading.

Interesting, if not biased, response. Bruce Bartlett has done a study on corporate media and the role Fox is playing on politics.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfmabstract_id=2604679

Some interesting thoughts for the study.

- People who watch Fox News, the most popular of the 24-hour cable news networks, are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government than those who watch no news at all

- “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.”

- Another problem is that Republican voters get so much of their news from Fox, which cheerleads whatever their candidates are doing or saying, that they suffer from wishful thinking and fail to see that they may not be doing as well as they imagine, or that their ideas are not connecting outside the narrow party base.

[dwarthog]

Interesting, if not biased, response. Bruce Bartlett has done a study on corporate media and the role Fox is playing on politics.

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfmabstract_id=2604679

Some interesting thoughts for the study.

- People who watch Fox News, the most popular of the 24-hour cable news networks, are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government than those who watch no news at all

- “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.”

- Another problem is that Republican voters get so much of their news from Fox, which cheerleads whatever their candidates are doing or saying, that they suffer from wishful thinking and fail to see that they may not be doing as well as they imagine, or that their ideas are not connecting outside the narrow party base.

Couple of things. That study was limited to people from New Jersey. How representative this is of the Fox News demographic would interesting to know.

This part of the study was quite interesting as well.

A followup poll in 2012 asked New Jersey residents 4 questions about domestic and foreign
policy issues in the news. Again, Fox viewers were more likely to answer incorrectly. Said the
report:

The study concludes that media sources have a significant impact on the number
of questions that people were able to answer correctly. The largest effect is that of Fox News: all else being equal, someone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer just 1.04 domestic questions correctly a figure which is significantly worse than if they had reported watching no media at all. On the other hand, if they listened only to NPR, they would be expected to answer 1.51
questions correctly; viewers of Sunday morning talk shows fare similarly well. And people watching only “The Daily Show with Jon
Stewart” could answer about 1.42 questions correctly.

Even the "smart people" watching/listening to NPR weren't getting on average 2 out of the 4 questions correct.

[Serenity Now]

Couple of things. That study was limited to people from New Jersey. How representative this is of the Fox News demographic would interesting to know.

This part of the study was quite interesting as well.



Even the "smart people" watching/listening to NPR weren't getting on average 2 out of the 4 questions correct.

I'd infer the "smart people" to be the ones watching Comedy Central for their news.....JOKE.

Actually, I think the most informed watch the Sunday morning shows and 60 minutes. That may not be where they gather their information but I think that's an indicator of "interest" or "intellectual curiosity".

Interesting story. New Jersey is probably a decent population mix - urban and suburban.

[Turd_Ferguson]

Interesting story. New Jersey is probably a decent population mix - urban and suburban.

LMAO..."is probably"...

[SoonerProphet]

[QUOTE=dwarthog;4967912]Couple of things. That study was limited to people from New Jersey. How representative this is of the Fox News demographic would interesting to know.[\QUOTE]

I usually think the same about a lot of studies, left, right, or otherwise. Twain's quote on lies, damnable lies, and statistics is often sound words.

This part of the study was quite interesting as well.



Even the "smart people" watching/listening to NPR weren't getting on average 2 out of the 4 questions correct.

If you limit yourself to only one set of opinions and live in an echo chamber I'd possibly call into question the idea that they are "smart people". That cuts both ways btw.

[BoulderSooner79]

If you limit yourself to only one set of opinions and live in an echo chamber I'd possibly call into question the idea that they are "smart people". That cuts both ways btw.

My best friend in Colorado holds very conservative views. He told me that he agrees with many of the opinions espoused by Fox News, but he can no longer stand watching it. He said he found the constant pandering to be intellectually insulting.