Survey Says: Fox Viewers Dumber!

maineman

VIP Member
Dec 29, 2006
13,003
574
83
guess
http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?ReportID=319

Pew Research Center is a pretty highly regarded organization.....

the poll linked above is very enlightening regarding the impact of cable news on the knowledge level of the citizenry.

"Since the late 1980s, the emergence of 24-hour cable news as a dominant news source and the explosive growth of the internet have led to major changes in the American public's news habits. But a new nationwide survey finds that the coaxial and digital revolutions and attendant changes in news audience behaviors have had little impact on how much Americans know about national and international affairs."



and, from further in the text of the article:

"By contrast, the regular audiences for many other sources scored no higher than the sample average. The audiences for morning news (34% high knowledge), local TV news (35%), Fox News Channel (35%), blogs (37%), and the network evening news (38%) were not significantly different from the norm for the whole sample (35%). The audiences for CNN, internet news sites such as Google and Yahoo, local newspapers, and TV news organization websites scored slightly higher (41%-44% high knowledge)."

fair...balanced...and dumbed down. who'd a thunk it? :eusa_dance:
 
Red States Rules must lead the pack as the viewer with the lowest IQ.


Sheeple%20Watch%20Fox%20News.jpg
 
"When it comes to Fox News Channel, conservatives don't feel the need to "work the ref." The ref is already on their side. Since its 1996 launch, Fox has become a central hub of the conservative movement's well-oiled media machine. Together with the GOP organization and its satellite think tanks and advocacy groups, this network of fiercely partisan outlets--such as the Washington Times, the Wall Street Journal editorial page and conservative talk-radio shows like Rush Limbaugh's--forms a highly effective right-wing echo chamber where GOP-friendly news stories can be promoted, repeated and amplified. Fox knows how to play this game better than anyone."

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1067
 
The numbers show an overwhelming slant on Fox towards both Republicans and conservatives.

Of the 56 partisan guests on Special Report between January and May, 50 were Republicans and six were Democrats -- a greater than 8 to 1 imbalance. In other words, 89 percent of guests with a party affiliation were Republicans.

On Special Report, 65 of the 92 guests (71 percent) were avowed conservatives--that is, conservatives outnumbered representatives of all other points of view, including non-political guests, by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

While FAIR did not break down the non-conservative guests by ideology, there were few avowed liberals or progressives among the small non-conservative minority; instead, there was a heavy emphasis on centrist and center-right pundits (David Gergen, Norman Ornstein, Lou Dobbs) and politicians (Sen. John Breaux, Sen. Bob Graham, Rep. Christopher Shays).

As a comparison, FAIR also studied the one-on-one newsmaker interviews on CNN's Wolf Blitzer Reports over the same time period, and found a modest but significant tilt towards Republicans, and a disproportionate minority of guests who were conservatives--but in both cases, there was far more balance than was found on Special Report.

Of Blitzer's 67 partisan guests, 38 were Republicans and 29 were Democrats -- a 57 percent to 43 percent split in favor of Republicans. Thirty-five out of 109 guests (32 percent) were avowed conservatives, with the remaining 68 percent divided up among the rest of the political spectrum, from center-right to left.

Only eight of Special Report's 92 guests during the study period were women, and only six were people of color -- making for a guest list that was 91 percent male and 93 percent white. Wolf Blitzer Reports was hardly a model of diversity either; its guests were 86 percent male and 93 percent white.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1072
 
There are two major reasons why O'Reilly denies holding conservative views. First, admitting his point of view would destroy the show's premise of being TV's "no-spin zone," an oasis of straight-talk where slick ideologues are held to account.

And it would make it much harder for Fox to maintain that the network's lineup has no particular ideology, since O'Reilly is regularly presented as an equal-opportunity gadfly, a populist who rails indiscriminately at the left and the right. When Fox News chief Roger Ailes told the Washington Post (2/5/01) that "our prime time is just down the middle," he cited the fact that O'Reilly "hammers everyone."



"No Spin Zone"



Discussing Iraq during the January 24 edition of his radio show, O'Reilly claimed that "the Sunni and Shia want to kill each other. ... They have fun. This is -- they like this. This is what Allah tells them to do, and that's what they do." O'Reilly then asserted that the "essential mistake of the war" was failing to anticipate that "these people would act like savages, and they are." Later, O'Reilly said that he had not predicted that the Iraqis "were going to act like savages in the aftermath of Saddam [Hussein]," and added: "[N]ow, Iran, we know they're savages."

On the December 13, 2006, edition of The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly dismissed scientific research on same-sex parenting to assert, "Nature dictates that a dad and a mom is the optimum" form of child-rearing. O'Reilly asked "why," if children suffer no psychosocial deficit from being raised by same-sex parents, "wouldn't nature then make it that anybody could get pregnant by eating a cupcake?" O'Reilly declared that by arguing in favor of same-sex couples' right to raise children, "you're taking Mother Nature and you're throwing it right out the window, and I just think it's crazy." In fact, studies have consistently found that children raised by gay or lesbian parents suffer no adverse effects in their psychosocial development.

On the November 29, 2006, broadcast of his radio show, O'Reilly denied that Iraq is in a "civil war as NBC News wants you to think" and asserted that "they're all Muslims, and they're doing what they do. They're killing each other. And they're killing Americans."

On the September 13, 2005, broadcast of The Radio Factor, O'Reilly claimed that "many of the poor in New Orleans" did not evacuate the city before Hurricane Katrina because "[t]hey were drug-addicted" and "weren't going to get turned off from their source." O'Reilly added, "They were thugs."


In practice, however, it's almost always "liberals" and their friends who get hammered:

"Now for the top story tonight: Is Al Gore running for president on a quasi-socialistic platform--in this case, socialism being defined as work and production being supervised by the government?" (6/7/00)


"Nobody should begrudge any American the right to an opinion, but, hey, Rosie [O'Donnell], come on, let's think out your flaky liberal agenda a little. Are you making sense, or are you spouting propaganda? I mean, a guy named Joseph Goebbels did the same thing on the far right during World War II." (book, p. 184)


"That's my advice to all homosexuals, whether they're in the Boy Scouts, or in the Army or in high school: Shut up, don't tell anybody what you do, your life will be a lot easier." (7/7/00)


"I don't understand why in the year 2000, with all of the media that we have, that a certain segment of the African-American community does not understand that they must aggressively pursue their child's welfare. That is they have to stop drinking, they have to stop taking drugs and boozing, and--and whites do it, too! Whites do it, too!" (1/17/00)

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1070
 
Misperceptions, the Media and the Iraq War

October 02, 2003

A new study based on a series of seven US polls conducted from January through September of this year reveals that before and after the Iraq war, a majority of Americans have had significant misperceptions and these are highly related to support for the war in Iraq.

The polling, conducted by the Program on International Policy (PIPA) at the University of Maryland and Knowledge Networks, also reveals that the frequency of these misperceptions varies significantly according to individuals’ primary source of news.

Those who primarily watch Fox News are significantly more likely to have misperceptions, while those who primarily listen to NPR or watch PBS are significantly less likely.

An in-depth analysis of a series of polls conducted June through September found 48% incorrectly believed that evidence of links between Iraq and al Qaeda have been found, 22% that weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, and 25% that world public opinion favored the US going to war with Iraq. Overall 60% had at least one of these three misperceptions.

Such misperceptions are highly related to support for the war. Among those with none of the misperceptions listed above,
only 23% support the war.
Among those with one of these misperceptions,
53% support the war, rising to 78% for those who have two of the misperceptions, and to 86% for those with all 3 misperceptions.

Steven Kull, director of PIPA, comments, “While we cannot assert that these misperceptions created the support for going to war with Iraq, it does appear likely that support for the war would be substantially lower if fewer members of the public had these misperceptions.”

http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/international_security_bt/102.php?nid=&id=&pnt=102
 
I read somewhere that Fox News has tried to have more Democrats on the show, but they refuse to debate or show up on Fox News.
 
Why would anyone want to go on a show where the hosts are encouraged to be more aggressive and hostile toward Liberal guests??

O'Reilly is rude , he interrupts, cuts off mics and tells guests to shut up. He's supposed to be a journalsit and a respected news anchor.
 
Why would anyone want to go on a show where the hosts are encouraged to be more aggressive and hostile toward Liberal guests??

O'Reilly is rude , he interrupts, cuts off mics and tells guests to shut up. He's supposed to be a journalsit and a respected news anchor.

Yeah, but he does it to everybody. I saw him do the same thing to a conservative he didn't agree with. And I usually go looking for something else when he does it.

Shouting down doesn't work with me. It means you won't even listen to the message. Doesn't mean you have agree, but let the message be presented, then shoot it down if you can.

I used to post on a predominantly liberal message board, and I had no problem debating with the liberals. When it tilted further left and it just turned into piling on the insults to win, I left.
 
Why would anyone want to go on a show where the hosts are encouraged to be more aggressive and hostile toward Liberal guests??

O'Reilly is rude , he interrupts, cuts off mics and tells guests to shut up. He's supposed to be a journalsit and a respected news anchor.

When was he a news anchor? I thought he was part of the editorial entertainment?
 
When was he a news anchor? I thought he was part of the editorial entertainment?

Bill O'Reilly joined FOX News Channel (FNC) as the anchor/host of The O'Reilly Factor in 1996. The O'Reilly Factor (8-9:00PM ET/PT Mondays through Fridays), the most-watched program on cable news, has caused the powerful in America to duck for cover as the rigidly enforced "No Spin Zone" deals with the nation's most important issues in a straightforward and provocative manner.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155,00.html


February 10, 2004

WASHINGTON – Conservative television news anchor Bill O'Reilly said Tuesday he was now skeptical about the Bush administration and apologized to viewers for supporting prewar claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.


The anchor of his own show on Fox News said he was sorry he gave the U.S. government the benefit of the doubt that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's weapons program poised an imminent threat, the main reason cited for going to war.

"I was wrong. I am not pleased about it at all and I think all Americans should be concerned about this," O'Reilly said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."

"What do you want me to do, go over and kiss the camera?" asked O'Reilly, who had promised rival ABC last year he would publicly apologize if weapons were not found.

O'Reilly said he was "much more skeptical about the Bush administration now" since former weapons inspector David Kay said he did not think Saddam had any weapons of mass destruction.

While critical of President Bush, O'Reilly said he did not think the president intentionally lied. Rather, O'Reilly blamed CIA Director George Tenet, who was appointed by former President Clinton.

"I don't know why Tenet still has his job."

He added: "I think every American should be very concerned for themselves that our intelligence is not as good as it should be."

O'Reilly anticipated the presidential election would be a close race, adding he thought Democratic front-runner Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts would be a formidable opponent against Bush.

"It will be a very close race. The nation is divided," he said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20040210-0550-campaign-bush-oreilly.html





I guess he is more of a "Host" than an anchor.

some people still call him an anchor.
 
The cheese has really fallen off the cracker at Fox News over the Nevada Democratic Party's decision to break its presidential debate partnership with the cable news channel because the outlet is not seen as being fair. On Saturday night, Beltway Boys co-host Morton Kondracke completely lost it while discussing the snub and compared Nevada Democrats to communist propagandists. On Monday night, Fox News talker Bill O'Reilly went one better and likened the "radical" Nevada voters to Nazis.

The bizarre outbursts were just the latest in long line of wild-eyed Fox News denunciations that always come whenever there's a high-profile, albeit logical, observation that Fox News broadcasts a conservative-friendly version of the news and that the partisan news operation does not always employ the traditional checks and balances of mainstream journalism. In fact, Kondracke's own flare-up closely followed a name-calling press release in which Fox News itself denounced Nevada Democrats for being controlled by "radical fringe" special interest groups.

Of course, a real news organization wouldn't issue a nasty statement like that, nor would it give the statement exclusively to Matt Drudge, which Fox News did. And Kondracke's wild on-air denunciation of Democratic activists simply proved the activists' point about Fox News and its purposefully slanted programming.........................

by Eric Boehlert
Tue, Mar 13, 2007
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200703130004
 
Bill O'Reilly joined FOX News Channel (FNC) as the anchor/host of The O'Reilly Factor in 1996. The O'Reilly Factor (8-9:00PM ET/PT Mondays through Fridays), the most-watched program on cable news, has caused the powerful in America to duck for cover as the rigidly enforced "No Spin Zone" deals with the nation's most important issues in a straightforward and provocative manner.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,155,00.html


February 10, 2004

WASHINGTON – Conservative television news anchor Bill O'Reilly said Tuesday he was now skeptical about the Bush administration and apologized to viewers for supporting prewar claims that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.


The anchor of his own show on Fox News said he was sorry he gave the U.S. government the benefit of the doubt that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's weapons program poised an imminent threat, the main reason cited for going to war.

"I was wrong. I am not pleased about it at all and I think all Americans should be concerned about this," O'Reilly said in an interview with ABC's "Good Morning America."

"What do you want me to do, go over and kiss the camera?" asked O'Reilly, who had promised rival ABC last year he would publicly apologize if weapons were not found.

O'Reilly said he was "much more skeptical about the Bush administration now" since former weapons inspector David Kay said he did not think Saddam had any weapons of mass destruction.

While critical of President Bush, O'Reilly said he did not think the president intentionally lied. Rather, O'Reilly blamed CIA Director George Tenet, who was appointed by former President Clinton.

"I don't know why Tenet still has his job."

He added: "I think every American should be very concerned for themselves that our intelligence is not as good as it should be."

O'Reilly anticipated the presidential election would be a close race, adding he thought Democratic front-runner Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts would be a formidable opponent against Bush.

"It will be a very close race. The nation is divided," he said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20040210-0550-campaign-bush-oreilly.html





I guess he is more of a "Host" than an anchor.

some people still call him an anchor.
Well I don't consider 'the factor' to be 'news.' It may be news based, much like the current events section here, but not 'unbiased', not by a long shot.

Fox news however, seems less biased than other media outlets, cable or networks.
 
Which other media outlets, cable or networks are less biased?

I used to like the PBS News Hour, but that went the way of the Dodo. Our ABC affiliate is ok, but the network news sucks, same with the rest of the networks. CNN is a mix of 'news' and opinion, during the news, much like the Chicago Tribune. They do not confine the editorial opinion to that page, but sprinkle it into the 'news.'
 

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