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Posted

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16892

 

The Hazards of Watching Fox News

 

By Jim Lobe, Inter Press Service

October 3, 2003

 

The more commercial television news you watch, the more wrong you are likely to be about key elements of the Iraq War and its aftermath, according to a major new study released in Washington this week.

 

 

And the more you watch the Rupert Murdoch-owned Fox News channel, in particular, the more likely it is that your perceptions about the war are wrong, adds the report by the University of Maryland's Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA).

 

 

Based on several nationwide surveys it conducted with California-based Knowledge Networks since June, as well as the results of other polls, PIPA found that 48 percent of the public believe US troops found evidence of close pre-war links between Iraq and the al-Qaeda terrorist group; 22 percent thought troops found weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq; and 25 percent believed that world public opinion favored Washington's going to war with Iraq. All three are misperceptions.

 

 

The report, "Misperceptions, the Media and the Iraq War," also found that the more misperceptions held by the respondent, the more likely it was that s/he both supported the war and depended on commercial television for news about it.

 

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Posted

J_B, your study results don't surprise me, but there could be an alternate explanation other than "media bias." It could be true that people who get all their news from commercial TV stations really aren't paying all that much attention to the news anyway and, particularly in the case of those who mainly watch FOX news, they may only be looking for affirmation of what they already think is true -- that the US is the only good nation in the world (though maybe Britain or Isael occasionally do something right) and Mr. Bush is doing great things for us.

Posted
mattp said:

there could be an alternate explanation other than "media bias." It could be true that people who get all their news from commercial TV stations really aren't paying all that much attention to the news anyway and, particularly in the case of those who mainly watch FOX news, they may only be looking for affirmation of what they already think is true -- that the US is the only good nation in the world (though maybe Britain or Isael occasionally do something right) and Mr. Bush is doing great things for us.

 

the two don't seem mutually exclusive (a hopelessly pro-administration spin in tv news and a fraction of the public wanting confirmation of what they believe is true). would they believe the same things if tv media actually presented the facts and all the facts (bias being often reflected in what is not said)?

Posted
mattp said:

J_B, your study results don't surprise me, but there could be an alternate explanation other than "media bias." It could be true that people who get all their news from commercial TV stations really aren't paying all that much attention to the news anyway and, particularly in the case of those who mainly watch FOX news, they may only be looking for affirmation of what they already think is true -- that the US is the only good nation in the world (though maybe Britain or Isael occasionally do something right) and Mr. Bush is doing great things for us.

 

Come on, Matt, your reply was too nice and serious. How is this thread going to stay alive with a good atitude such as yours? Huh? Huh?! hellno3d.gif

Posted

Not only was everything I said taken with the utmost seriousness, everyone was asking where they could get their own Fox News LogoWear, and mattp kept asking me to score him a Fox News sticker for his helmet all weekend. Uncle Tricky also wanted one for his van. The cc.comers who are into yoga were also peppering me with questions about getting their own Fox News Zen/Yoga mats so that they might incorporate the balance that Fox brings to its reporting into their ruminations about life’s big questions during their Zen sessions. Seriously.

 

I also got quite a few compliments on the Kermit avatar.

Posted
JayB said:

Not only was everything I said taken with the utmost seriousness, everyone was asking where they could get their own Fox News LogoWear, and mattp kept asking me to score him a Fox News sticker for his helmet all weekend. Uncle Tricky also wanted one for his van. The cc.comers who are into yoga were also peppering me with questions about getting their own Fox News Zen/Yoga mats so that they might incorporate the balance that Fox brings to its reporting into their ruminations about life’s big questions during their Zen sessions. Seriously.

 

I also got quite a few compliments on the Kermit avatar.

 

With each edit you are sounding more and more delusional, a perfect FoxNews sponge. wave.gif

 

Your avatar is charming.

Posted

I pretty much hung up on one of my closest friends the other day. He is a conservative, bless his poor heart, but the clincher is that he insists that what they do on Fox news is, as they say, "fair and balanced" and represents an unbiased view on the news. He then chastised for me for listening to NPR, as "you cannot get the news without seeing the pictures" and gave me a hard time for not being a responsible citizen in getting all of the news sources available--and the key thing he feels I am missing is the news that is on cable television. rolleyes.gif

Posted
marylou said:

I pretty much hung up on one of my closest friends the other day. He is a conservative, bless his poor heart, but the clincher is that he insists that what they do on Fox news is, as they say, "fair and balanced" and represents an unbiased view on the news. He then chastised for me for listening to NPR, as "you cannot get the news without seeing the pictures" and gave me a hard time for not being a responsible citizen in getting all of the news sources available--and the key thing he feels I am missing is the news that is on cable television. rolleyes.gif

i am shocked and awed. rolleyes.gif

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