Fox News viewers overwhelmingly misinformed about health care reform proposals.

[steven johnson]

It is my impression from talking to people who listen predominately to Fox News that they are remarkably uninformed. Here is data that confirms it.

A 2007 Pew survey also confirmed that the Fox News audience was the stupidest audience out there. The audience of the Daily Show, on the other hand, was the most knowledgable. I think Fox News should change their slogan from "Fair and Balanced" to "Dumb and Dumber." "Stupid is as stupid does" is a close runner-up.

Public Knowledge of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions

Here’s another way to look at the misinformation: In our poll, 72% of self-identified FOX News viewers believe the health-care plan will give coverage to illegal immigrants, 79% of them say it will lead to a government takeover, 69% think that it will use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions, and 75% believe that it will allow the government to make decisions about when to stop providing care for the elderly. But it would be incorrect to suggest that this is ONLY coming from conservative viewers who tune in to FOX. In fact, 41% of CNN/MSNBC viewers believe the misinformation about illegal immigrants, 39% believe the government takeover stuff, 40% believe the abortion misperception, and 30% believe the stuff about pulling the plug on grandma. What’s more, a good chunk of folks who get their news from broadcast TV (NBC, ABC, CBS) believe these things, too. This is about credible messengers using the media to get some of this misinformation out there, not as much about the filter itself. These numbers should worry Democratic operatives, as well as the news media that have been covering this story


Fox News viewers overwhelmingly misinformed about health care reform proposals

[DesertRat]

1. I think it's safe to say

"Fox News viewers overwhelmingly misinformed." Period.

[upi402]

2. Among everything else

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you!

[HopeHoops]

3. WOW! WHO would have THUNK a thunk?

FOX Opinion Channel isn't a news source.

[sakabatou]

4. Not surprising whatsoever.

[Edweird]

5. Considering that faux manged to make 'the news' into 'not the truth'

it's not the least bit surprising.

Of course, this a 'chicken v. egg' situation. What kind of person would WATCH that crap willingly?

[Liberal Veteran]

6. In other news, people who lay out in the sun too long get sunburned.

[deep1]

10. ......................

Fox is faux journalism.







BTW, I love those cats liberal veteran. I'm a big cat lover!

[flvegan]

12. Wait! Is water still wet?

[TheCowsCameHome]

7. Fox is an acronym for stupid

It sounds prettier.

[1776Forever]

8. And "they" (FOX) have no shame about this - I am sure they laugh their asses off about it!

I can just see Rush, Hannity and Beck rolling on the floor laughing at their worshipers! This propaganda machine reeks with hatred and falsehoods that are not only misleading but very very dangerous! They have NO conscience at all! It is GREED they worship and nothing more!:argh:

[Telly Savalas]

9. You mean the death panels aren't going to be overseen by illegal immigrants?

I find that hard to believe.

More disturbing is the fact that despite all its quality reporting FOX hasn't yet pointed out that since government programs are so inefficient, there will likely be 16-20 month waiting lists for the mandatory abortions. This will result in babies being put in the gas chamber up to a year after they've been born.

They've also failed to confront HHS Secretary Sebelius about the records from Blockbuster Video showing that she's rented "Soylent Green" 58 times in the last year. With the healthcare bill now being over 30,000 pages, you've got to wonder what she's sneaking in there.

But at this point the specter of Obama's health gulags don't even bother me anymore, since we've already slipped into full-blown communism in the last seven months. Just the other day a family was in front of me in line at Walmart buying a 60 inch plasma TV with food stamps...and they weren't even speaking English!

[jberryhill]

11. Hey don't knock the Wal-Mart thing

That's the Cash For Looters program.

The idea is to get them 60 inch plasma TV's BEFORE a disaster strikes.

FEMA is running that.

[14thColony]

13. "These numbers should worry...the news media"

I'm sure those numbers do worry the news media - they're concerned that FOX is doing so much better a job at misinforming their audience than the MSM outlets.

[KharmaTrain]

14. The Plan All Along...Groupthink Works...

I laugh when I hear wingnuts claim that the healthcare "debate" is something new. The insurance companies, big pharma, the AMA and others have known their little party would get scrutiny sooner or later and have been loaded for bear with misinformation for years. All they needed was the reason.

Faux is just one part of this misinformation...a big one as it echoes all the lies put out elsewhere (hate radio, right wing websites) all created to confuse and distort. It was to make so much noise that people will say "it's not worth it"...and many are.

Even Marshall McLuan would be surprised at how easily people are led to believe big lies and the power of the media to perpetuate those lies.