[seacapt]

With the multiple posts about Fox news making people dumber and the prevailing aire of liberal intellectual elitism around here , I thought I'd post this simple interactive test from Pew Research.
I was not surprised by my results but I did find the high percentage of really uninformed people quite disturbing.

Test Your News IQ Q1 - Pew Research Center

I don't believe that Fox news makes people stupid but media spin and advertising in general as well as people's inabillity to diferenciate between factual news reporting and blog certainly have had an effect.
Or maybe it's just ignorance , appathy , and lazy useless people ...

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Last edited by seacapt; 11-23-2011 at 07:27 AM.

[redrockcoulee]

Are you assuming that only FOX news is right of centre or even centre? Just wondering on your definition of where your media stands.

Or are conservatives lazy useless people (your words not mine ) ? "I couldn't possibly comment on that" Francis ? House of Cards

[seacapt]

Are you assuming that only FOX news is right of centre or even centre? Just wondering on your definition of where your media stands.

Or are conservatives lazy useless people (your words not mine ) ? "I couldn't possibly comment on that" Francis ? House of Cards

No assumptions here I look to multiple news outlets and realize they all sensationalize and spin. About the only thing I take at face value is Smithsonian magazize.
So did you bother to take the quiz?

[stevewig]

I got 2 wrong (Bernanke and Total killed in Afghanistan):

If it is true (what you say about FOX news), common sense tells me that it is more likely the other way around ("dumber" people like FOX news as their main news source) and NOT that FOX news makes you dumber.

[mikemike]

I got 12 correct, the only one I got wrong was the one about the supreme court justice. I think what this shows is that, if we want to use knowledge of current events as a proxy for intelligence, men are much smarter than women. also that going for more education as well as getting older all make you smarter.

[seacapt]

I got 2 wrong (Bernanke and Total killed in Afghanistan):

If it is true (what you say about FOX news), common sense tells me that it is more likely the other way around ("dumber" people like FOX news as their main news source) and NOT that FOX news makes you dumber.

I didn't say anything about Fox other than that there are multiple posts on this forum which make statements based on polls which may or may not be valid random samplings. I also said that I do not believe the assertations of these posts.
I did say that todays typically biased media , Madisson Ave. , the internet and society's lack of motivation to seek the truth have contributed to a high percentage of uninformed citizens.

BTW I got 11 out of 13 also

[jeffkrol]

No assumptions here I look to multiple news outlets and realize they all sensationalize and spin. About the only thing I take at face value is Smithsonian magazize.
So did you bother to take the quiz?

12 out of 13
Only missed Sotomayors mug shot..........


Test Your News IQ Q1 - Pew Research Center

[Ratmagiclady]

I got 2 wrong (Bernanke and Total killed in Afghanistan):

If it is true (what you say about FOX news), common sense tells me that it is more likely the other way around ("dumber" people like FOX news as their main news source) and NOT that FOX news makes you dumber.

The only thing is, Fox actually is well known for just plain not giving true information: especially via 'experts' they interview, ...not to mention tone and spin, where they harp on taxes and Obama so much that people have the impression their taxes have gone *up* in this administration rather than the same, or for most, actually *down,* that's not just a matter of the audience, that's the actual content.

It might *attract* people who don't like to think so much, or repel those who care about the facts, but there really *is* a lot of actual bad information there.

The rest of the corporate news has the problem of having to make a profit, and please corporate sponsors, which has had the effect of less actual news-reporting, less investigative journalism, and more covering of 'horse races' in elections, controversy, and sensationalism, ....sending people around in vans to cover every street shooting while not having foreign desks in Japan or anything like that. PBS has had to cut back on a lot of that, themselves, just cause of the rest of the economics and the constant attacks on the portion of their funding that used to come from the people via government.

ABC seems to be getting there, but Fox in particular is just over righty/GOP propaganda, and they're famous for making 'mistakes' on the facts when it suits them.


Still, Fox has been a whole thing unto itself: this isn't the first such study: for instance, there was one that showed a lot of that crowd were actually voting the wrong way on the issues from what they said they would have wanted, if they didn't believe incorrect *facts* about the issues, or even what a bill actually says: for instance, Fox successfully made people hate 'Obamacare' even if when polled people actually were very positive on everything *in* it.

[crewl1]

This post is titled with reference to a line from a beer company advertisement.
What does that say about me that I can make the connection? Or the op since they thought to use it in the first place?

[Ratmagiclady]

This post is titled with reference to a line from a beer company advertisement.
What does that say about me that I can make the connection? Or the op since they thought to use it in the first place?

Some of those were actually pretty funny. Not sure what brand of beer it was supposed to sell, but hey.

[les3547]

With the multiple posts about Fox news making people dumber and the prevailing aire of liberal intellectual elitism around here , I thought I'd post this simple interactive test from Pew Research.
I was not surprised by my results but I did find the high percentage of really uninformed people quite disturbing.

Test Your News IQ Q1 - Pew Research Center

I don't believe that Fox news makes people stupid but media spin and advertising in general as well as people's inabillity to diferenciate between factual news reporting and blog certainly have had an effect.
Or maybe it's just ignorance , appathy , and lazy useless people ...

The conclusion of the study you refer to is that people who watch Fox news are less informed, not that it makes one dumber. Fox daily it seems misstates the facts and illogically argues, and the only ones who know it are those educated sufficiently to recognize that, and/or who know enough to research reports and analyses that sound off the mark.

So I don't see how anyone who relies on Fox for news and analysis can be excused from the "uninformed" charge or, if they are informed, to escape the conclusion they are so partisan they will accept misinformation and fallacious logic even when they know it is wrong.

[boriscleto]

I am of the 8%. 13 of 13. Woohoo?

[redrockcoulee]

No assumptions here I look to multiple news outlets and realize they all sensationalize and spin. About the only thing I take at face value is Smithsonian magazize.
So did you bother to take the quiz?

Had to wait to take a break. I am part of the 8% that got 13 out of 13. Almost got the speaker wrong for some reason.

Of course all media has biases, the good ones have reporters etc from both sides or at least use credible guests to counter that. One does expect truths even if they are spun. The National Post (if it is still around) is much more right than the Globe and Mail but one can check the facts and they might be spun but they are not made up. Same as the Sun and any real newspaper in the same city, both have bias, the Sun more so but both have to have some basis. FOX seems exempt as they do make statements that are proven false or have no backing and keep repeating them.

MSNBC have Michael Steele on lots of time and let him speak his mind, does FOX have Dean from the Dems and let him make his point? David Frum is more of a conservative who spins but is more or less honest. FOX `nobody knows where the tides come from`type of statements never seem challenged by others on the right.

[reeftool]

I got 12 of 13. I missed the Prime Minister of Britain question. I guess I'm well informed. I don't watch TV at all. I knew that answer too, just a little foggy still as I haven't had my second coffee yet. I get my news online and on the radio while commuting to work. My TV watching is Netflix streams and DVD's. I refuse to spend $75 a month for cable for a few minutes of TV a day that I watched. I do have the Fox news app on my phone as well as the CNN and NPR. They all have a bit of editorial slant.

[stevewig]

I am of the 8%. 13 of 13. Woohoo?

OK - now then, you'll make an excellent test case!

Watch FOX for one month solid and then take the test again.

Lets see what happens to your IQ.