Bozell Column: Fox News Makes You Stupid?
There is nothing the Left believes in more robotically than the stupidity of conservatives. Otherwise, they would not be conservatives. When liberals get routed in an election, they do not question themselves. The first, and for most, only verdict is that the American people were disastrously flooded by a tsunami of stupidity and misinformation.
So it’s not surprising that left-wing bloggers would rejoice when they can write the headline “New Study Proves That Fox News Makes You Stupid.” That’s the Daily Kos headline. According to them, Fox News is “deliberately misinforming their viewers” to help Republicans, who “benefited from the ignorance Fox News helped to proliferate,” as voters “based their decisions on demonstrably false information.”
The liberal pranksters masquerading as pollsters at the University of Maryland’s Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) are at it again. In a new survey, they claim that those who watched Fox News Channel on a daily basis were significantly more likely to believe in “misinformation.” But how is that word defined? Look at the details and you will be floored by the misinformation – coming from the pollsters themselves.
Here’s Exhibit A: Fox viewers were more likely to believe “Among economists who have estimated the effect of the health reform law on the federal budget deficit over the next ten years, more think it will increase the deficit.”
That is misinformation? This question is not about facts at all. It’s about the opinions of economists looking into a crystal ball, and PIPA’s “economists” estimate that herding 35 million uninsured Americans into a new federal entitlement program is going to reduce the deficit. This assertion by liberals that ObamaCare would cut deficits isn’t technically a “lie” -- yet. It is merely a patently ridiculous claim that doesn’t acknowledge the real world.. But somehow, Fox News viewers are tagged as the “misinformed” dummies, because their opinions are grounded in logic.
Here’s Exhibit B: Fox viewers were more likely to believe “Most economists who have studied it estimate that the stimulus legislation saved or created a few jobs or caused job losses.” Once again, this isn’t about facts, but about economists and their estimation. The idea that there is “misinformation” afoot, and it’s not about the incredibly nebulous and politicized notion of “saving or creating” jobs – something so nebulous it can never be factually verified – shows you the bias of the PIPA pollsters.
Let’s go all the way back to the drawing board on this poll. Is it fair – whether the pollsters are liberals or conservatives – to expect the American people to identify correctly the estimates made by a panel of economists organized by news editors of The Wall Street Journal? In a random polling sample, how many memorizing Journal subscribers are you going to find?
There is a more serious polling problem here for PIPA. The poll was done from November 6 to 15, 2010 with a sample size of 848 respondents, for a margin of error of 3.4 percent. Given that an average primetime audience of Fox News is 2.2 million out of a nation of more than 300 million people, that's 0.7 percent. Out of 848 poll respondents, 0.7 percent would give us total of about six Fox viewers. In their own polling breakdown, PIPA says 17 percent said they were almost-daily Fox viewers, or about 145 people. Even that is simply not high enough to test in a serious poll.
That is why this survey wasn’t food for the national media, but scraps left for craven bloggers who know nothing about facts and care less about the truth.
Almost every piece of “misinformation” the PIPA people floated to measure how conservatives misunderstood Obama involved blatant spinning about Obama’s role in the auto bailout, or the TARP program, or how the “stimulus” included tax cuts, or even Obama’s birth certificate.
They’re not alone in trying to nail Fox. In August of 2009, an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll reported 72 percent of self-identified Fox News viewers believed the health-care plan will give coverage to illegal immigrants, 79 percent believed it will lead to a government takeover, 69 percent thought it would use taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions, and 75 percent believed that it will allow the government to make decisions about when to stop providing care for the elderly.
Sadly for NBC, this “misinformation” is already coming true: on Christmas, the New York Times reported “death panels” are back in the ObamaCare regulations, and we knew by mid-summer that states were funding abortions through ObamaCare.
These polls identify the real liberal fear: that someone will trust Fox News to tell them things the liberal media try to crush and bury.
- Brent Bozell's blog
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Comments
One good thing that the
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 12/28/2010 - 11:19pm.
One good thing that the obnoxious in-your-face liberals at MSNBC and Kos have done is to disprove the hoax that liberals are "sophisticated", "subtle", and "nuanced" - able to see the pale shades of grey where "knuckle-dragging" conservatives only see black and white. Boy, these liberals are about as subtle, sophisticated, and nuanced as a train wreck off a bridge.
YEP
Submitted by amyshulk on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 1:20pm.
And isn't it amusing that you can *always* tell what they say is either 180* from what they mean {exhibit a: O} or what THEY would do when they accuse others!!!
Ronald Reagan
Kos needs a
Submitted by adamsmith on Tue, 12/28/2010 - 11:31pm.
Markos Moulitsas needs a bigger butt plug to get ready for his new boyfriend. What? Well it's true.....
Maybe They're Right
Submitted by BW222 on Tue, 12/28/2010 - 11:32pm.
After listening to Krathammer, Rove, ditsy Nicole Wallace and the rest of the RINOs and neocons on FNC, I'm beginning to wonder if the Kos isn't correct. I stopped watching FNC and started listening to Mark Levin because I got tired of same old, same old every night.
Honestly, just how
Submitted by Chris Norman on Tue, 12/28/2010 - 11:43pm.
Honestly, just how conservative does someone have to be nowadays not to be considered a RINO? Is anyone conservative enough anymore?
Whatever Stevie.
Submitted by The Vet on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 12:53am.
Looks like you are making a name for yourself with your repeated whines here day after day. RINO and neocons. repeat. RINO and neocons. rinse. RINO and neocons. repeat.
Look boys and girls. It is the broken record troll.
If You Miss BORe's Tuesday Show ...
Submitted by BW222 on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 1:37pm.
simply insert your DVD of last Tuesday's show.
Trollie tries to substtute for wit.
Submitted by The Vet on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 2:06pm.
Yeah, trollie picks a poor substitute. Stupidity really don't substitute for wit now does it?
Oh, and stevie, tell us what the name of your show is so we can make idiotic names of out the acronym. OK? The anonymous moniker thinks making fun of people's names is something to be admired. What is your name? What is your show? Tell us stevie. Then we can compare the funny derivations on the shows and who comes up with the best.
Come on. What is your name. What is the name of your show?
As someone who is way right
Submitted by bassndude on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 1:07pm.
As someone who is way right of Levin, I find your defination of RINO's perplexing. While I do not always agree with Rove or Levin, Krathammer , Limbaugh or Hannity or any of the other conservitives out there today, I would not call them Rinos. That is simply ignorant.
Save a SeAL, club a liberal/troll!!
Learning Facts Makes You Ignorant.
Submitted by Avitar on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 12:08am.
This explains how the Democrats have operated the nation's schools right into the ground. They do still use techniques to suck agreement out of their followers.
WOW Dude...Far OUt......
Submitted by jdripper on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 1:01am.
I thought I was this way for sniffing glue, Cool I am normal...
Jack
Fox News and stupidity?
Submitted by merlin61 on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 1:02am.
No, Fox News watchers are well informed on all sides of an issue. It is discussed with representatives from each party. The stupidity comes from the MSM who only give the left side of all issues which is propaganda they try to force you to believe.
Correlation and causation are
Submitted by jimspice on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 2:13am.
Correlation and causation are not the same thing. Fox viewers could have very well started out stupid.
Some like me started out
Submitted by Dan The Man 2 on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 4:54am.
Some like me started out ignorant, but not stupid. Stupid is taxing the people out teh wazoo and borrowing money into oblivion and actually believing it will grow the economy. In my economy if I borrow money to pay my bills and then borrow to pay the credit cards then that is stupidity. If I dont live within my means then that is stupidity or a good con job; hmmm is that what the government is doing pulling off a con?
desperately weak poll
Submitted by TerryWest on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 2:31am.
It's an insult that these whiney threatened pollsters believe we only watch the news to build our opinions and conclusions, either that or they have a real weak pulse on reality in this age of information and denile about the ever expanding public participation in politics and the issues that effect our lives.Want to piss the Progressive
Submitted by Van Halen on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 3:03am.
Want to piss the Progressive Left off right now? Go to here:
http://www.foxnews.com/
And make this your home page. Or, just click the link and read a few articles. Try to click on an ad too, if you have time. The more hits the FoxNews site gets, the higher their ranking overall and the more that upsets Liberals.
This just proves anyone
Submitted by Barack_must_go..... on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 5:12am.
This just proves anyone afflicted with the democrat/liberal/progressive/socialist wannabe gene is more than likely also afflicted with the gay gene.
Why else would they all be so comfortable speaking & acting out in such a childlike manner, even in public.
They are all frustrated little sissies that blame others for their myriad shortcomings and subsequent unfulfilled lives.
You can spot them a mile away even if they haven't come out yet, as they spend an inordinate amount of time in the closet pretending they're just figuring out what to wear........but we know better.
Barack_Must_Go.....
Yes. Democrats suck. We know.
Submitted by The Vet on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 6:11am.
And it did not take me six paragraphs to say it. From now on just post this ----
++++++
#13 Democrats suckSubmitted by Barack_must_go..... on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 4:12am.
They suck bad.
++++++
It is all you have ever said anyway. It will make it much easier for all to just pass by your posts.
Stupidity
Submitted by truckinmann on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 7:51am.
The problem with the left is they never learned HOW to think when they were in school. They only learned WHAT to think. When they repeated what their teacher taught them to think they were given a piece of paper that told them they were now smart, and anyone who didn't think the way they were taught to think was stupid. What's so damn funny is they go on believing this same crap year in and year out, even when they are shown to be wrong, just because it's not what they were taught in class at their school. The people on the left never learn lessons about life from experience. They try to change life into what they were taught, but life is what it is, and no amount of effort to change a dog into a cat will work. You may cut ones hair to make it resemble the other, but you can't actually change what it is. This means a liberals idea of what must be correct, even though in reality it's not, makes it the "Smart" choice, though it proves to not be so time and time again. Failure of the lefts beliefs just means to them that their "Message" isn't getting out properly and they must say it again and again until it becomes "True", when in the end we all know that truth is truth. Wishful thinking may sometimes become true, but more often than not it remains just that.... someones fantasy about how they want their "dog" to really be a "cat"
The Secret
Submitted by amyshulk on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 1:26pm.
Is their Bible - too bad they didn't bother to learn how to be critical thinkers.
And we are the sheep???
Ronald Reagan
You missed the most obvious flaws
Submitted by Plumb Bob on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 10:52am.
Brent is correct in calling these questions invalid, but he missed some of the most damning errors in the methodology of this study.
(1) The study defines "truth" as "agreement with the public statements of a particular government agency." For example, if you disagree with the Congressional Budget Office in their assessment of the effect of the stimulus (which, btw, was performed by running a model, not by examining actual results,) then you are misinformed.
This is hilarious. Liberals claim to be the reservoir of intellectual resistance to the government in America. As of today, liberals claim that if you disagree with the government, you are wrong, by simple definition. Who knew they'd changed sides?
(2) Several questions asked people to opine about what "most economists" think. The study defines "most economists" as "the economists who happen to work for the government agency we chose." No polling of economists was performed, nor were any such polls consulted.
(3) The study purports to examine whether a news agency misinforms its viewers -- without examining a single news report. How does that work? The questions about what news source respondents viewed don't sum to 100%, because most people view multiple sources of news -- Fox, newspapers, various Internet sites, etc. The study makes no attempt to identify which of the various sources was the source of the "misinformation." Using this method it's not possible to discern which, or whether any, news organization misinformed anybody.
Nobody who knows the first thing about social science research can take this "study" seriously. It's not a study, it's a paid, partisan hit piece. The fact that so many liberals accept it uncritically and repeat it as fact, constitutes proof that they're either not capable of critical thinking, or not willing to engage it when the target is conservative. The fact that PIPA and other Soros-funded outlets continue to produce such transparently nonsensical "research", constitutes proof that the manipulators of the liberal herd know how to move the cows.
fortunately....................
Submitted by Patriot II on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 11:04am.
we know the truth......................liberals are INSANE!!!
Room 101 for Dummies
Submitted by ZuccoZoid on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 1:53pm.
By birth or training, liberals/leftists practice DoubleThink: they can believe 2 or more contradictory ideas at the same time. Yet they are motivated as victimizers under the pretenses of 'fairness' and compassion'.
Compassion? Letting untold thousands of illegals cross our borders with no health checks for TB and other 3rd world diseases; being herded like cattle by Mexican drug and human slavery cartels; no boundaries, no rules. The compassionate answer? Post signs up to 80 miles north of the border on AZ soil, warning US citizens to stay out of US soil because of Mexican criminal domination.
Doublethink? Thousands upon thousands of leaked emails from global warming "specialists" at East Anglia, etc. freely admitting to each other about phony, doctored data and their own scheming to undermine "controversial" skeptics. Only massive new taxes and bureaucracies can save the planet (and pay no attention to the sun, solar/magnetic fields, ocean current or techtonic shifts in the earth itself). Record snowfalls, freezing temperatures (and virtually NO hurricanes) - all due to global warming! Icy conditions are perfect examples of atmospheric overheating
They've appointed themselves guardians of our planet. What better way to show it than by hammering spikes into logging forests? Or burning down car dealerships? Or granting massive polluters like China, India and Mexico "carbon credits" so they can continue business as usual, while focusing their black boots on our light bulbs and toilet flushes?
"Islamophobia" - 9/11 was a resounding success for the left. Not only have they found a new class of (well heeled) "victims" but a violently remerging fusion of state-religion that demands nothing less but forcible capitulation. Leftists want to BE our gods, put the swords to our necks
(or "boots" as their dear 0 says) with taxes and laws they themselves are exempt from.
Yet nativity scenes must be removed from public areas because they conflict with "state and religion."
Hate Speech & Intolerance: Tea Partiers and average citizens are publicly targeted for "racism" and hate speech; our own gov't is focusing on US citizens as potential enemies of the state for not bowing to them (or other hostile regimes).
Remember that ridiculous parade with Pelosi carrying that big gavel with all those minority reps in tow? People were accused in both media and gov't of spitting, hurling racial epithets and worse. Dozens of videocams were present, and not one picked up such an incident. They simply made it up and accused the rest of us about lying about it.
They know "racist" is a poisonous charge and can ruin a person's career and reputation - especially if it's untrue - guilty until proven innocent.
Plain ol' Ignance: imagine the power of just one network - Fox - to mesmerize so many people into actively questioning and challenging a power-and-money-mad Democrat congress? The 10 Commandments, like that pesky Bill of Rights, are impediments to enlightenment. As Peter Jennings quipped after the 1994 elections, the voting public simply had "a temper tantrum."
Spread the Wealth: if you're a doctor or dentist or entrepreneur with the audacity to make $250k you're unfairly rich and deserve to have it taken from you. But if you're "rich" enough to attend $5k per-plate fundraising dinners, you're exempt.
Every public schoolroom should have the same number - 101.
Fodder for the Brain Blockers
Submitted by Jerry Mack on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 2:57pm.
The Daily Kos posting is just fodder for the Brain Blockers. Most of them have Kelly Bundy brains and must be continually fed meadow muffins or they could stray to Newsbusters. The Daily Kos people know that if this happens they could lose them forever.
I do feel dumber after watching Fox News......
Submitted by gwalt on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 3:47pm.
......right after they have Colmes, Beckel, Williams and the other jack@@@ Heldman who is the Marxist professor from Occidental. The things they say are so dumb, I have to turn the channel."A lot of briefing for a 2 hr. special with Dan Rather. Saw the show & wonder why we bothered". Ronald Reagan
Newsbusters poll
Submitted by Model850 on Wed, 12/29/2010 - 5:01pm.
Since apparently the new methodology is to conduct polls that produce the results you want I suggest NB set up a poll here and then publish the results:
Q. Do the MSM slant news stories to a liberal point of view?
Q. Can MSNBC be trusted to provide unbiased information?
Q. Are CBS, NBC, and ABC merely outlets for Democrat/liberal talking points?
Q. Do you throw up when you see or read about Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz, and/or Rachael Maddow?
Q. Does Fox news provide a 'fair and balanced' approach to reporting the news?
Take that, kos.
Fox news didn't make this clown stupid......
Submitted by Patriot II on Thu, 12/30/2010 - 12:51pm.
He is a self made man!!!