fox news

[kandrathe]

I'm so glad you could respond to the post while skirting and ignoring the results of the study, claiming something about "both" sides and "universal" - people who watch Fox News are dumber than people who don't watch news at all.

Well, I didn't want to get into a pissing contest analyzing the validity of the study. MSNBC is the same pablum for a different audience.

Off the top of my head... There are reasons any measure like this could be biased. Which way do most academics, and highly educated people lean? Then, you have the urban/rural problem. What is the demographic Fox news is targeting? 612 individuals may not be a statistically significant sample. How random was the sample? What was the standard error ("margin of error of +/-3.5 percentage points."? How was the survey developed? It was conducted by telephone which incurs a bias. Was there coverage bias (including all the topics covered on NPR, but little of what was covered on Fox). Also, the sample was only New Jersey. Does that tell us anything about Florida, or California?

Then, the news article reporting the FDU study is in itself biased, drawing the conclusion that Fox viewers are more ignorant. Did you see this statement by FDU about the study?

"New Jerseyans are not necessarily more likely to be knowledgeable about domestic politics than international events. Just 47% are able to identify the Occupy Wall Street protesters as predominantly Democratic: 11 % think they are Republicans. Viewers of cable news on MSNBC are the most likely to think the protestors are Republicans.
Watching the left-leaning MSNBC news channel is associated with a 10-point increase in the likelihood of misidentifying the protesters."

So, I'll end with the same opinion I started. Ignorance is universal. For those that seek to be informed, they will get themselves informed. For everyone else, there is the entertainment of Fox or MSNBC, or football, or whatever.