SOURCE

Fox News viewers are less informed than people who don't watch any news, according to a new poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
The poll surveyed New Jersey residents about the uprisings in Egypt and the Middle East, and where they get their news sources. The study, which controlled for demographic factors like education and partisanship, found that "people who watch Fox News are 18-points less likely to know that Egyptians overthrew their government" and "6-points less likely to know that Syrians have not yet overthrown their government" compared to those who watch no news.

Overall, 53% of all respondents knew that Egyptians successfully overthrew Hosni Mubarak and 48% knew that Syrians have yet to overthrow their government.

Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson, explained in a statement, "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. 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."
This isn't the first study that has found that Fox News viewers more misinformed in comparison to others. Last year, a study from the University of Maryland found that Fox News viewers were more likely to believe false information about politics.
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I've said for years now that Fox is a horrible news network because they consistently put out false information, intentionally and unintentionally because they never seem to fact check. Yet every time I mention it on this site, I get told I only say that because of partisan bias... well, here is one study and a mention of another study that show that it's not partisanship but fact. I realize that many of you feel that "Fox is the only conservative news source" but honestly it isn't true... most local news shows are very conservative in their focus, and then there is CNN, the Associated Press, NPR, and other much more reputable news sources that strive for a unbiased perspective (they may not succeed 100% but they try, and they don't just lean to the left when they do).

So what are your thoughts on these findings? How sad is it that people that don't watch any news seem to know more about what is going on in the world?

I'm not that surprised. It seems like people who watch Fox news watch only Fox news, whereas other people seem to go to any source available. It seems like Fox fans care more about hearing what Fox has to say, than actually hearing about current events. That said, I'm kinda surprised that they would lose out to people who don't watch the news at all.

I seem to recall them trying to convice people salt was actualy good for you.
I sometimes watch american news cus its funny,blatant agendas in each news group and ridiculous storys,should be moved to the comedy channels.

Doesn't surprise me either. As much as a lot of people try to argue that Fox News is unbiased and well diversified in content. But in reality, it is about the most conservative and strongly religiously biased news programs I have ever seen. They pretty much only show things that show positives in their way of thinking, and exclude anything else. Fox News would actually be a focus for someone researching Cognitive Dissonance. Anything they show outside of their comfort zone is severely twisted by the reporters. They pretty much worship Anne Coulter, who is just a seriously intolerant woman. 

Well, like the article says, it wasn't even about the whole liberal vs conservative thing...  but yeah, I have to agree with the Cognitive Dissonance part. I know that MSNBC does it too, but I take that into account when I watch their shows... I fact check. Most views of Fox take what they hear as 100% true, and I think that is horrible because they are being lied to and don't even know it.

Personally I think this is another attempt to diss Fox News. I watched Fox throughout these crises and they delivered the same info that any other news agency has. So overall I just think this is just more attacking Fox News.

So because you don't want to believe it, you just dismiss the evidence? You realize that proves the point that they are making.

Oh wow, I never see or heard anythin like that.

Wow, seriously!? I remember readinghearing something about a reporters job is to print the whole truth, that really isn't the case here, is it?

Who needs a study to realize that you don't turn to media for truth, you turn into media for propaganda. All it is is just a bunch of propaganda. All they shove down your throats is who Cain had sex with as a pizza boy and who they favor in elections. The local fox stations are not as bad when it comes to news because they really only have 1 hour then the rest is garbage tv shows like American idol but the main branch of fox is just a complete mess.

Its wrong as a journalist to post lies and opinions they should only report on truths, nothing else. Only problem is, how do people know its true? Well their audience believes it and I guess that is all that matters.

FOX is bad but so is AP / Yahoo... here is a picture I just took off their main page is this stuff really news? They pump this garbage at you hardcore Every article AP posts on Yahoo there is always editor mistakes. If you browse the comments you can tell a lot of people are waking up to reality with bad journalism. That is why internet is great, with TV you got no opinion your just stuck watching a monitor and cannot see other peoples perspective on stuff.







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I'm not that surprised FOX makes a lot of Biased reports and I don't even watch FOX news I know this because I was watching a bit of it with my mother and I really figured it was biased.

Elara : I'm saying I think the fact is the statistics don't stand up because the examples don't back them up. I watch Fox and read their articles all the time and compare it to the to the same topics I see the other mainstream news outlets report on. The only difference between Fox and other news agencies is that Fox has a conservative lineup in the evening. I think if people want to know something about Fox News, they need to watch it for themselves.

Not surprised even slightly, Fox News blows.

I really wish I could find the clip of Celo Green singing f*** You but replacing the words "f*** you" with "Fox News". It was hilarious. However, only one source on the web seems to have it and they're eternally down... :-(

Maybe all american news is biased then because when i watched fox it was blatantly obvious they were not impartial and selective in what they reported.

See, you guys are focusing on bias when the study was not. It was just straight points of information.

"Have the Egyptians overthrown their government?"
No
"What is your source for news?"
Fox

Where is the bias?

Why was there a study? I thought this was already well known. But honestly, not surprising at all. Anyone who gets information from bias sources is bound to be much less informed, even more than people  who has no sources at all.

Everyone has bias.

Just look at people's opinions of Fox News itself. To many people Fox News = All Republican opinions.

Most cable news stations are bad. They are fighting for ratings. The more sensational the story the better. They don't care so much about getting it right as they care about getting it first. I don't watch the news anymore.

However, I'm not surprised by this study.... although I am curious about those people who say they watch "no news at all" yet know about world events. They must be getting their news from somewhere....

geeogree : I assume those are the people that see the front pages of newspapers as they walk down the street, but do not buy them and read them. Or the people that see the titles of articles online in various places but don't click the links, or just overhear conversation.

Elara : fair enough. Or catch little bits on the radio.

I just find I seek out news on a regular basis from multiple sources that only going to one place seems.... hypocritical. But I guess seeing things from only one point of view is typical of some people on both sides of any argument.

Well, yes, I also seek out news from everywhere. And I agree that multiple sources leads to a broader paradigm when looking at an issue... but once against this study had absolutely nothing to do with bias, spin, or point of view... just simple yes/no fact questions.