Dr. Blackwell's BLOG

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

More Research Condemns Fox News Channel

Filed under: National and International News,Politics — Dr. Christopher Blackwell @ 01:44

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A study conducted by media researchers at Fairleigh Dickinson University has some not too surprising findings about viewers of Fox News. The researchers compared knowledge levels about current events in Egypt and the Middle East using a sample of men and women who watch Fox News and a sample of those who watch no news at all. The findings indicated statistically significant lower knowledge levels about current events in these foreign locations and the impact these events have on the USA in the Fox News viewers. For example, the Fox News Channel viewers were 18-points less likely to know that the Egyptian people actually overthrew their government and 6-points less likely to know the Syrians haven’t done the same. The study’s primary author and Political Science professor Dr. Dan Cassino stated the study indicated the knowledge deficits weren’t related to the network drawing more Republican viewers versus non-Republican viewers. “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.” This isn’t the first study to indicate viewers of Fox News as less knowledgeable than watchers of other news channels. A 2010 University of Maryland study indicated Fox News viewers were much more likely to believe false information about American politics.

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