Fox News wins again -- for most misinformation

FoxNews does consistently win in the ratings wars -- meaning more people watch them -- which makes the following facts even more unfortunate and puzzling.

In every survey (and this is at least the third one) Fox News has also come out ahead -- way ahead -- in the percentage of its viewers who are misinformed about the news compared to people who get their news from other sources.    Fox viewers had the highest wrong score on 8 of 9 questions and were second highest on the 9th.   MSNBC viewers were the best informed.

World Public Opinion, a survey conducted by the Program on International Policy Attitudes from the University of Maryland, corroborates a previous survey by the same group as well as one by NBC/Wall Street Journal.

This second PIPA suvery not only shows the overall negative effect of watching Fox News, it also shows that the greater exposure to Fox News, the greater the misinformation.

Here are some of the results for Fox News viewers who believe what isn't true:

• 91% believe that the stimulus legislation lost jobs.
• 72% believe that the health reform law will increase the deficit.
• 72% believe that the economy is getting worse.
• 60% believe that climate change is not occurring.
• 49% believe that income taxes have gone up.
• 63% believe that the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts.
• 56% believe that Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout.
• 38% believe that most Republicans opposed TARP.
• 63% believe that Obama was not born in the US (or that it is unclear).

While we chortle and feel justified in our scorn for the network, there is the very serious question:    Why would people voluntarily choose to watch news that misinforms them?   That's the study I would like to see done.

On the other hand, there seems little question why Fox News deliberately does this.  Here is the conclusion reached by a blogger reporting the story on Daily Kos: 

"That's a pretty high batting average for journalistic fraud. . . .  The conclusion is inescapable. Fox News is deliberately misinforming their viewers and they are doing it for a reason. Every issue above is one in which the Republican Party had a vested interest. They benefited from the ignorance that Fox News helped to proliferate. The results were apparent in the election last month as voters based their decisions on demonstrably false information fed to them by Fox News.. . .

"This is not an isolated review of Fox's performance. It has been corroborated time and time again. The fact that Fox News is so blatantly dishonest, and the effects of that dishonesty have become ingrained in an electorate that has been been purposefully deceived, needs to be made known to every American. Our democracy cannot function if voters are making choices based on lies. We have the evidence that Fox is tilting the scales and we must now make certain that they do not get away with it."

How would this be for a campaign issue from a forceful, progressive Democratic candidate in 2016.   "Telling the truth to the American People."   Sounds like Elizabeth Warren is already way down the track on that strategy.

Ralph