Fox News

[jasonxctf]

Wow. Did you see this? Pretty interesting, behind-the-scenes, stuff.

 

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1210/46186.html

[Balta1701]

I feel like I stopped being surprised by these sort of content-lecture memos from them about 5-6 years ago.

[Controlled Chaos]

BFD.

[NorthSideSox72]

Sort of nowhere to go with this. If people are watching Fox News thinking they are getting anything other than commentary, then they are a lost cause. If they already know what Fox News is, then this isn't news to them.

 

[Y2HH]

The Fox news thing is old already.

 

Same goes for NBC.

 

We get it. And I don't know why people are surprised by it. Rich media outlets get to control which news you get, and how you get it. Acting surprised when they slant -- either way -- is the only "fake" thing I still see these days.

[Texsox]

BFD.

 

 

Bush Family Dynasty?

[HuskyCaucasian]

Fox boss ordered staff to cast doubt on climate science

In the midst of global climate change talks last December, a top Fox News official sent an email questioning the "veracity of climate change data" and ordering the network's journalists to "refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question."

 

The directive, sent by Fox News Washington managing editor Bill Sammon, was issued less than 15 minutes after Fox correspondent Wendell Goler accurately reported on-air that the United Nations' World Meteorological Organization announced that 2000-2009 was "on track to be the warmest [decade] on record."

...

Sources familiar with the situation in Fox's Washington bureau have expressed concern about Sammon using his position to "slant" Fox's supposedly neutral news coverage to the right.

 

Sammon's orders for Fox journalists to cast doubt on climate science came amid the network's relentless promotion of the fabricated "Climategate" scandal, which revolved around misrepresentations of emails sent to and from climate scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit.

 

At the time of Sammon's directive, it was clear the "scandal" did not undermine the scientific basis for global warming and that the emails were being grossly distorted by conservative media and politicians. Scientists, independent fact-checkers, and several investigations have since confirmed that the CRU emails do not undermine the overwhelming scientific consensus that human activity is warming the planet.

 

Contrary to Sammon's email, the increase in global temperatures over the last half-century is an established fact. As the National Climatic Data Center explains, the warming trend "is apparent in all of the independent methods of calculating global temperature change" and "is also confirmed by other independent observations."

[Balta1701]

Again, you're surprised?

[Rex Kickass]

Fox News has a website aimed at a hispanic audience called "Fox News Latino." They ran a story about Penelope Cruz's pregnancy calling it "Penelope Cruz is Having an Anchor Baby"

 

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/entertain...-united-states/

[jasonxctf]

Fox News viewers are much more likely than others to believe false information about American politics, a new study concludes.

 

The study, conducted by the University of Maryland, judged how likely consumers of various news outlets and publications were to believe misinformation about a wide range of political issues. Overall, 90% of respondents said they felt they had heard false information being given to them during the 2010 election campaign. However, while consumers of just about every news outlet believed some information that was false, the study found that Fox News viewers, regardless of political information, were "significantly more likely" 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)

 

 

In addition, the study said, increased viewership of Fox News led to increased belief in these false stories.

 

 

[Balta1701]

Again...that's the 47th survey to show those same results since 2003.

[NorthSideSox72]

Fox News viewers are much more likely than others to believe false information about American politics, a new study concludes.

 

The study, conducted by the University of Maryland, judged how likely consumers of various news outlets and publications were to believe misinformation about a wide range of political issues. Overall, 90% of respondents said they felt they had heard false information being given to them during the 2010 election campaign. However, while consumers of just about every news outlet believed some information that was false, the study found that Fox News viewers, regardless of political information, were "significantly more likely" 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)

 

 

In addition, the study said, increased viewership of Fox News led to increased belief in these false stories.

While some of those things are indeed outright false (income taxes have gone up, auto bailout under Obama, TARP support, Obama's birth, scientists about climate change), the three top items about the economy and health care reform are NOT black and white, so I don't consider those falsehoods or truths in any absolute way.

 

[Balta1701]

While some of those things are indeed outright false (income taxes have gone up, auto bailout under Obama, TARP support, Obama's birth, scientists about climate change), the three top items about the economy and health care reform are NOT black and white, so I don't consider those falsehoods or truths in any absolute way.

The phrase "Most economists believe..." is actually quite black and white. "The ACA will lower the deficit" and "Most economists say the ACA will lower the deficit" are 2 different questions. The latter is how it was phrased.

[NorthSideSox72]

The phrase "Most economists believe..." is actually quite black and white. "The ACA will lower the deficit" and "Most economists say the ACA will lower the deficit" are 2 different questions. The latter is how it was phrased.

Ah, I see what you are getting at. In that case, 2 of those 3 are indeed quantifiable.

 

But the question of whether or not the economy is getting better is very much subjective at this point. So I guess its really just one line item I take issue with.

 

And is anyone really shocked that the chosen-ignorance crowd is more likely to be Fox News followers than other news?

 

[StrangeSox]

Fox News viewers were more misinformed, but misinformation was widespread.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/12...ion.php?ref=fpi

[Y2HH]

Ah, I see what you are getting at. In that case, 2 of those 3 are indeed quantifiable.

 

But the question of whether or not the economy is getting better is very much subjective at this point. So I guess its really just one line item I take issue with.

 

And is anyone really shocked that the chosen-ignorance crowd is more likely to be Fox News followers than other news?

 

I don't find the last sentence true at all.

 

Chosen-ignorance crowds have nothing to do with Fox news, NBC news, or any other news, and data showing they watch more of X channel could be cheery picked and/or manipulated -- easily. The ONLY true statement about such people is they would still choose to be ignorant even if neither channel existed.

Edited December 20, 2010 by Y2HH

[mreye]

I don't get involved in these pissing matches anymore, but thought this was interesting.

 

[mr_genius]

The phrase "Most economists believe..." is actually quite black and white.

 

it's abstract. who gets counted as an economist? Also, what 'economists believe' is not finite - most like to leave an out (just in case their prediction is wrong).

 

Example:

 

Economist "Well, health care costs are going to go up... unless blah blah blah... then of course they go down." Then a week later the same guy will make a statement that totally contracts his entire argument the week before.

[Balta1701]

it's abstract. who gets counted as an economist? Also, what 'economists believe' is not finite - most like to leave an out (just in case their prediction is wrong).

 

Example:

 

Economist "Well, health care costs are going to go up... unless blah blah blah... then of course they go down." Then a week later the same guy will make a statement that totally contracts his entire argument the week before.

The remarkable thing though, there's actually an easy answer to who counts...the NBER...National Bureau of Economic Research. There might be another professional organization or two that I don't knwo about, but when there's a nice easy professional organization covering pretty much everyone who directly works in that field, y ou can go to it. Polling economists thorugh this method has become a pretty standard method that is done all the time on general economic issues.

[mr_genius]

The remarkable thing though, there's actually an easy answer to who counts...the NBER...National Bureau of Economic Research. There might be another professional organization or two that I don't knwo about, but when there's a nice easy professional organization covering pretty much everyone who directly works in that field, y ou can go to it. Polling economists thorugh this method has become a pretty standard method that is done all the time on general economic issues.

 

So you need to stipulate NBER recognized economists - if that is even a legitimate designation. I don't know, I'm not going to search for such a list on their site. Feel free to do so for me . Also, 18 of the 33 American Nobel Prize winners in Economics have done research for them; what about foreign economists and the other 15? Are they 'official' economists? I think you see where this is going. What about a talking head 'economist' on TV? Which poll do you go by? If you go by 'NBER economists' then you are asking a poll question that barely anyone is going to have a clue what you are talking about.

 

Just the nature of opinion and qualification of opinion. So the question of 'what do economists think' is fairly ambiguous.

Edited December 31, 2010 by mr_genius

[FlaSoxxJim]