Nov 23rd 2011, 17:49:31
One thing to keep in mind is the difference between less knowledgeable and actual misinformation. I wouldn't expect a news source to get who the president and vice-president are wrong. As the studies suggest, it's hard to ascribe pure knowledge to the news stations themselves as different viewerships may have different backgrounds (ie does one show have more informed viewers because it informs them or is it because those with knowledge choose to watch that show).
Thus making useful statements about this really depends on what questions are asked; specifically, when I think of misinformed in relation to a news station, it's not that they get the facts totally wrong (though that can happen) but rather that they "slant" or bias the news, typically in the form of opinions. As in Fox News where they say "Some people are saying..." followed by statements of dubious quality (especially in regards to what "the people" want and almost anything about "job creators").
As I said before, no source would lie about who the president is, however it's very easy to misrepresent what policies will do for the benefit (or detriment) of the people. That's why I think that the last two studies in the politifact article (llaar's link) are the most relevant, even though they are more politically charged. Unfortunately, politifact practically disregards these two, and doesn't even mention any results of the last. Some of the questions had ambiguous answers as they asked for opinion themselves, but it is still enlightening. For example, here's a list of answers given with the percentages of Fox News viewers who believe them (all of which are deemed incorrect by the Congressional Budget Office and similar government agencies):
91% believe that the stimulus legislation lost jobs.
72% believe that the health reform law will increase the deficit.
72% believe that the economy is getting worse.
60% believe that climate change is not occurring.
49% believe that income taxes have gone up.
63% believe that the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts.
56% believe that Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout.
38% believe that most Republicans opposed TARP.
63% believe that Obama was not born in the US (or that it is unclear).
Fox News was not alone in this type of misinformation, but they had the highest percentages out of every other news group in the poll on every question above except for the TARP one, in which case they were second worst. This is the type of misinformation that people take with them to the polls which then directly affects the United States (in a negative way I would argue).
tl;dr
Making blanket statements are bad (I like the irony in this blanket statement): we should take the polls within their context. However, for me, misinformation is not being less knowledgeable about general facts but having a news agency purposefully misrepresent their opinions as "fact". These polls do not show any purpose or intent (that part is my opinion) but they do show that of the questions listed above, Fox News is the worst (except on one in which it is the second worst). I consider this to be misinformation and find it unsurprising but also very sad for the American people and the democratic process.
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