Fox News leaves viewers knowing less, new survey shows

Nov 23, 2011   //   by admin   //   Media blog  //  No Comments

by Lynn Herrmann (Guest contributor/Digital Journalist)

The latest results from a new Fairleigh Dickinson University survey show some news sources, such as Fox News, leave their viewers less informed than those who watch no news at all.

The latest PublicMind Poll reveals some news sources leave us less likely to stay on top of current events than people who watch no news at all. According to the study, some news outlets, especially Fox News, lead people to be even less informed than those who say they don’t watch any news at all.

Dan Cassino, political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson and an analyst for the PublicMind Poll, said: “Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News,” in a news release. “Rather, 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,” he added.

Fox News is the most popular 24-hour cable news network in the U.S., but its viewers are 18-points less likely to know that demonstrators in Egypt overthrew their government than those watching no news at all, according to the survey. Those same viewers are also six points less likely to know Syrians have yet to overthrow their government than those who do not watch news.

The poll concerns how New Jersey residents conduct new viewing habits and found 53 percent know about the successfully overthrown government in Egypt. However, 21 percent said the uprisings were unsuccessful while 26 percent admitted they don’t know.

The PublicMind poll went on to note viewers of any “ideological media” didn’t fare as well as NPR listeners, New York Times or USA Today readers, or Sunday morning news show viewers did. Even those obtaining their news from Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show fared better than Fox News viewers.

This article originally appeared on Digital Journal [Link]

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