Doc91678
Rookie
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- #1
By: Brother Bob
* Actually, there isnt one.
This is another one of those subjects I wanted to write about a few months ago but it fell on my back burner. Every so often we see some new study that proves that Fox News viewers are stupid. The latest one that came out a few weeks ago proved that your average Fox News viewer has an average IQ of 80. PJ Medias Charlie Martin proceeded to dissect this study, first by contacting its author. The author didnt give a full name, worked for some fictitious organization, used a bizarre methodology, and could not reveal who had commissioned the study nor is he going to release the studys actual results. You can read both sides arguments in the two links above.
The study that caught my interest initially was the subject of an article by Ben Adler over at The Nation last May that was an entertaining read to say the least. It starts off by saying that the people over at Fox News think they are despised by real journalists only because they are conservative and most journalists are liberal. He then states that this is nonsense and proceeds to inform us that this is accuse their viewers are uninformed, as evidenced by a study done over at Fairleigh Dickenson Univeristy. Adler follows up by sharing some of the conclusions, and out of curiosity I did something radical and extremist I looked at the study itself to see the source data behind these conclusions.
Naturally, Fox News viewers fared the worst. But then I looked closer at the breakdowns the two lowest scoring groups were Democrats Who Watch Fox News and Republicans Who watch MSNBC. That should have sent up some flags, as someone of one ideology who listens to opposing views is probably going to be better informed than his peers who dont. My guess is that these were some yahoos who were messing with the poll, and Id be curious to see what the results looked like if they were excluded (raw numbers for how many people were in each category werent included). When you look at the overall Democrat vs. Republican in general the results were unsurprising. The gap was a lot closer, with each side scoring a little bit higher in different areas. Democrats fared a little better with the foreign policy questions, as I would expect considering NPRs overseas coverage is a lot better than that of Fox News, in my opinion. And the GOP subjects did better on domestic politics, also unsurprising since two of the questions were regarding the Republican primaries. Personally I dont think the primary questions were good to use either, since they give a small advantage to Republicans who would be more likely to be following these events in the news.
And at the end of Adlers post there are six other studies that further prove the ignorance of Fox News viewers. Here is how each of them reach that conclusion:
**snip**
Continue reading: -->
Study Proves ? Watching CNN and MSNBC Makes You Stupid! * [Reader Post] | Flopping Aces
* Actually, there isnt one.
This is another one of those subjects I wanted to write about a few months ago but it fell on my back burner. Every so often we see some new study that proves that Fox News viewers are stupid. The latest one that came out a few weeks ago proved that your average Fox News viewer has an average IQ of 80. PJ Medias Charlie Martin proceeded to dissect this study, first by contacting its author. The author didnt give a full name, worked for some fictitious organization, used a bizarre methodology, and could not reveal who had commissioned the study nor is he going to release the studys actual results. You can read both sides arguments in the two links above.
The study that caught my interest initially was the subject of an article by Ben Adler over at The Nation last May that was an entertaining read to say the least. It starts off by saying that the people over at Fox News think they are despised by real journalists only because they are conservative and most journalists are liberal. He then states that this is nonsense and proceeds to inform us that this is accuse their viewers are uninformed, as evidenced by a study done over at Fairleigh Dickenson Univeristy. Adler follows up by sharing some of the conclusions, and out of curiosity I did something radical and extremist I looked at the study itself to see the source data behind these conclusions.
Naturally, Fox News viewers fared the worst. But then I looked closer at the breakdowns the two lowest scoring groups were Democrats Who Watch Fox News and Republicans Who watch MSNBC. That should have sent up some flags, as someone of one ideology who listens to opposing views is probably going to be better informed than his peers who dont. My guess is that these were some yahoos who were messing with the poll, and Id be curious to see what the results looked like if they were excluded (raw numbers for how many people were in each category werent included). When you look at the overall Democrat vs. Republican in general the results were unsurprising. The gap was a lot closer, with each side scoring a little bit higher in different areas. Democrats fared a little better with the foreign policy questions, as I would expect considering NPRs overseas coverage is a lot better than that of Fox News, in my opinion. And the GOP subjects did better on domestic politics, also unsurprising since two of the questions were regarding the Republican primaries. Personally I dont think the primary questions were good to use either, since they give a small advantage to Republicans who would be more likely to be following these events in the news.
And at the end of Adlers post there are six other studies that further prove the ignorance of Fox News viewers. Here is how each of them reach that conclusion:
**snip**
Continue reading: -->
Study Proves ? Watching CNN and MSNBC Makes You Stupid! * [Reader Post] | Flopping Aces
