Breaking? Fox News Viewers Are Misinformed

Another study suggests that Fox News viewers know less than people who watch no news at all.

November 23, 2011

With "fair and balanced" reporting like this, how could viewers be misinformed? (Photo: Fox News)

If you're a regular viewer of Fox News, it might be time to reconsider.

A poll released by Fairleigh Dickinson University on Monday found that people who get their news from Fox News know significantly less about what's going on in the world than people who watch no news at all.

That's right. Even if you turn your TV off, you'll know more than diehard fans of Hannity, Kelly, and O'Reilly.

The study, which surveyed 612 New Jersey natives, found that fans of the supposedly "fair and balanced" news network fared worse than others on questions about the popular uprisings in Egypt and Syria.

Asked whether Egyptians had successfully toppled Hosni Mubarak's regime, just 49 percent of Fox viewers answered in the affirmative. In comparison, 68 percent of NPR listeners answered correctly, the highest on the scale.

The study also found that Fox News viewers were less likely than MSNBC viewers to be able to identify Mitt Romney as the GOP's leading presidential candidate (although to be fair this might be the fault of this year's underwhelming Republican talent pool).

"Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News," said Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson, in a statement.

"Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all."

We've seen studies like this before, so whether it will actually guide the population away from the misinformation superhighway remains to be seen. In the meantime, it's best to stick to the sources that are most reliable: according to the study, the well-informed get their news from the Sunday-morning news shows as well as outlets like The New York Times, USA Today and NPR.

Or you could just watch the The Daily Show. Fans of the Jon Stewart-hosted news satire came in second only to NPR listeners when it came to their knowledge of the world. Which makes sense, since its audience is about three times more likely to have graduated from college than their Fox News counterparts. Guess you have to know the truth to get the joke.

Comments 7

Submitted by Mike Dar on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 5:23am
Fox news is owned by Murdock.. more need to understand? Fox news sets the bar for Media profit, profits today are balanced, as always, against cost. Cost for Media is journalism..and journalists. The Media is a circus of entertainers with little spent on investigative research. MSM is paid by advertisers, not truth seekers. 6 companies own the lions share of news media, there is no competative reason to 'investigate', no reason to rock the boat on the multinational corporations that own the media outlets-many subchapter commercial interests.. thus we get stuck with stupid stories instead of main issues dealing with American problems or world problems. Essentially the MSM is nothing more than an advertising platform, not an information platform.

Submitted by Sandra Lee Curr... on Sat, 01/21/2012 - 7:14am
uh l e t ' s s e e . 6 1 2 i n o v e r 3 0 0 , 0 0 0 , 0 0 0 of course 612 NJ natives surveyed. How fair and balanced can you get. Let's see I think I will do a poll of who likes ice cream at the grade school, or pizza, or cake, candy or video games, my God(and I do have one) the list is endless I could be queen of the grade school polls.

Submitted by kellirc on Wed, 01/11/2012 - 2:22am
I will bet that everyone who says negative things about Fox News has never actually watched it. This article is absolutely ridiculous! There is no such thing anymore as news, probably with the exception of Fox News. Now, it is a bunch of left wing advocates giving their opinion. You are correct that Fox news is different, but you don't take into account that not everyone has the same opinion as you(liberals). The questions that were asked were intended to have only one right answer, when in fact others have different opinions about what constitutes something being either successful of unsuccessful. Such as, asking whether Mubarak was successfully removed from office. That is a very subjective question and does not just require a yes/no answer. What does successful mean? To some the way he was removed from office did not seem successful. And also, who will be taking over Egypt? Do people believe that having a militant muslim government, such as Iran, is a good thing? Many do not. So a lot of your questions were completely subjective and you are basing whether they were right or wrong on yes/no answers.

Submitted by mpz on Mon, 01/09/2012 - 11:06pm
I can guarantee this poll will not guide anyone away from Fox News. The only reason to watch it is to see your own ignorance reflected back at you. Ailes knows what he's doing and so do his viewers and they all get what they want.

Submitted by Riot5000 on Fri, 12/30/2011 - 11:26pm
LOL IS THIS NEWS? The WHOLE WORLD knows that only IMBECILES believe what they see on Fox. How Sad!

Submitted by Shovelbum18 on Mon, 12/12/2011 - 5:28am
@Smarg: This article isn't on CNN. It's on Takepart.com. It was linked from CNN. The Internet; yet another thing Fox viewers are ignorant about! Also, maybe explain how it's biased. Fox viewers are consistently less infomred than any other major news source. That's not a bias statement. That's what we call a "fact". I know you, as a Fox viewer, are not used to being exposed to these, but maybe you should give it a try sometime! They help make you not look like a moron when you talk!

Submitted by Smarg on Wed, 12/07/2011 - 4:33am
This article is both absurd and biased. CNN is a member of the mainstream media outlets with ABC, NBC, and CBS in tow that had exclusive liberal control over the airwaves until 1996. The leftist social engineering was sickening...who among our age group can forget Walter Cronkite's anti-war jags during Vietnam going completely unopposed?? I say THANK GOD for Fox News. This article just cements the liberal tag on CNN even more.