TMP link.
Link to PDF of the study.
The only issue Fox leasts misrepresents is the one misunderstanding most politically damaging to the GOP.Page 19 of the study wrote:Looking at the frequency of misinformation among the consumers of various news sources, one striking feature is that substantial levels of misinformation were present in the daily consumers of all news sources. Even the daily consumers of news sources with the lowest levels of misinformation still included substantial numbers with misinformation. For each topic, the news source with the lowest level of misinformation among its daily consumers was as follows:
• most economists who have studied it estimate that the stimulus legislation saved or created only a few jobs or caused job losses: MSNBC, 65% misinformed
• among economists who have estimated the effect of the health reform law, more think it will increase the deficit: Public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), 38%
• the bank bailout legislation (TARP) was passed and signed into law under Pres. Obama: MSNBC, 38%
• the US economy is getting worse: Public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), 34%
• the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts: MSNBC, 34%
• the bailout of GM and Chrysler occurred under President Obama only: MSNBC, 32%
• since January 2009 the respondent’s federal income taxes have actually gone up: MSNBC, 27%
• it is unclear whether Obama was born in the US—or, Obama was not born in the US: Public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), 24%
• when TARP came up for a vote, Democrats were opposed or divided: Fox News, 21%
• when TARP came up for a vote, most Republicans opposed it: CNN, 28%
• it was proven that the US Chamber of Commerce was spending foreign money to back Republicans: Fox News, 23%
• most scientists think climate change is not occurring or views are divided evenly: MSNBC and public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), both 20%
This suggests that misinformation cannot simply be attributed to news sources, but are part of the
larger information environment that includes statements by candidates, political ads and so on.
Ostensibly this looks pretty damning to Fox News, but then again we know from internal emails that they are devoted to inventing a misleading narrative so I suppose they are successful in that.Page 20 of the study wrote:There were however a number of cases where greater exposure to a news source increased misinformation on a specific issue.
Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe that:
-
- most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely)
- most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points)
- the economy is getting worse (26 points)
- most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points)
- the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points)
- their own income taxes have gone up (14 points)
- the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points)
- when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points)
- and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points)
These effects increased incrementally with increasing levels of exposure and all were statistically significant. The effect was also not simply a function of partisan bias, as people who voted Democratic and watched Fox News were also more likely to have such misinformation than those who did not watch it--though by a lesser margin than those who voted Republican. There were cases with some other news sources as well.All of these effects were statistically significant.
- Daily consumers of MSNBC and public broadcasting (NPR and PBS) were higher (34 points and 25 points respectively) in believing that it was proven that the US Chamber of Commerce was spending money raised from foreign sources to support Republican candidates.
- Daily watchers of network TV news broadcasts were 12 points higher in believing that TARP was signed into law by President Obama, and 11 points higher in believing that most Republicans oppose TARP.
