http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/10/23/1338538/--The-Science-Of-Fox-News-Why-Its-Viewers-Are-The-Most-Misinformed?detail=email
The author explores the findings of seven surveys. These are public opinion surveys that ask citizens about their beliefs on factual but contested issues, and also about their media habits. Inevitably, some significant percentage of citizens are found to be misinformed about the facts, and in a politicized way—but not only that. The surveys also find that those who watch Fox are more likely to be misinformed, their views of reality skewed in a right-wing direction. In some cases, the studies even show that watching more Fox makes the misinformation problem worse.
The issues were the Iraq War, Global Warming, Health Care, Ground Zero Mosque, 2010 Elections. The author goes on to explore the evidence that supports his key tenet: Fox viewers are misinformed. Of note, this means, in his study, that Fox viewers are both misinformed in term of what they know, and that they have been misinformed by Fox as a source of what they know.
Looking at a variety of studies, the author comes to the conclusion that
Fox is imparting misinformation even as politically conservative viewers are also seeking the station out—highly open to it and already convinced about many falsehoods that dovetail with their beliefs, certainty is driven by a kind of feedback loop. Those seeking to have their beliefs reinforced only look to those who will reinforce it. This is referred to as selective exposure and it is the clearest way to look at how people create their own realities, based upon their views of the world.
People overall are nearly twice as likely to consume ideologically congenial information as to consume ideologically inconvenient information.
Add to this a certain predisposition to close mindedness. Political conservatives tend to have a higher need for closure. Conservatives who are authoritarian/absolute in style maintain their beliefs against challenges by limiting their experiences, and surrounding themselves with sources of information that will tell them they are right.
The author then goes on to explain how Fox takes advantage of this mindset to program stories that feed into it. References are made to the "nine separate political misperceptions" identified by the PIPA study which Fox viewers widely embrace.
In summary, then, the “science” of Fox News clearly shows that its viewers are more misinformed than the viewers of other stations, and are indeed this way for ideological reasons. But these are not necessarily the reasons that liberals may assume. Instead, the Fox “effect” probably occurs both because the station churns out falsehoods that conservatives readily accept—falsehoods that may even seem convincing to some liberals on occasion—but also because conservatives are overwhelmingly inclined to choose to watch Fox to begin with.
At the same time, it’s important to note that they’re also disinclined to watch anything else. Fox keeps constantly in their minds the idea that the rest of the media are “biased” against them, and conservatives duly respond by saying other media aren’t worth watching—it’s just a pack of lies. According to Public Policy Polling’s annual TV News Trust Poll (the 2011 run), 72 percent of conservatives say they trust Fox News, but they also say they strongly distrust NBC, ABC, CBS and CNN. Liberals and moderates, in contrast, trust all of these outlets more than they distrust them (though they distrust Fox). This, too, suggests conservative selective exposure.
there also has to be a mention of the cultivation of this Fox or nothing viewing affliction it can be trailed back to the 70's Roger Ailes of Fox and Pres. Nixon of the republican propaganda machine. will te viewers ever acknowledge their addiction to Fox's type of home grown news not likely no one want's to believe they were taken for the fool, and Fox won't confirm the plan as it works and they will milk it till it's dry then sprinkle some water on it and go for another run.
our politics are broken Obama nor any one person can fix nor the politicians that tool lies exclusively in our hands "WE THE PEOPLE/VOTERS", and the GOP TROLLS say???
