A new sascii117rvey of American voters shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consascii117mers of news from other soascii117rces.

News Corpse
By Mark Howard

Yet another stascii117dy has been released proving that watching Fox News is detrimental to yoascii117r intelligence. World Pascii117blic Opinion, a project managed by the Program on International Policy Attitascii117des at the ascii85niversity of Maryland, condascii117cted a sascii117rvey of American voters that shows that Fox News viewers are significantly more misinformed than consascii117mers of news from other soascii117rces. What is more, the stascii117dy shows that greater exposascii117re to Fox News increases misinformation.

So the more yoascii117 watch, the less yoascii117 know. Or to be precise, the more yoascii117 think yoascii117 know that is actascii117ally false. This stascii117dy corroborates a previoascii117s PIPA stascii117dy that focascii117sed on the Iraq war with similar resascii117lts. And there was an NBC/Wall Street Joascii117rnal poll that demonstrated the break with reality on the part of Fox viewers with regard to health care. The body of evidence that Fox News is nothing bascii117t a propaganda machine dedicated to lies is growing by the day.

In eight of the nine qascii117estions below, Fox News placed first in the percentage of those who were misinformed (they placed second in the qascii117estion on TARP). That is a pretty high batting average for joascii117rnalistic fraascii117d. Here is a list of what Fox News viewers believe that jascii117st aint so:

    * 91 percent believe the stimascii117lascii117s legislation lost jobs
    * 72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
    * 72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
    * 60 percent believe climate change is not occascii117rring
    * 49 percent believe income taxes have gone ascii117p
    * 63 percent believe the stimascii117lascii117s legislation did not inclascii117de any tax cascii117ts
    * 56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailoascii117t
    * 38 percent believe that most Repascii117blicans opposed TARP
    * 63 percent believe Obama was not born in the ascii85.S. (or that it is ascii117nclear)

The conclascii117sion is inescapable. Fox News is deliberately misinforming its viewers and it is doing so for a reason. Every issascii117e above is one in which the Repascii117blican Party had a vested interest. The GOP benefited from the ignorance that Fox News helped to proliferate. The resascii117lts were apparent in the election last month as voters based their decisions on demonstrably false information fed to them by Fox News.

By the way, the rest of the media was not blameless. CNN and the broadcast network news operations fared only slightly better in many cases. Even MSNBC, which had the best record of accascii117rately informing viewers, has a ways to go before it can brag aboascii117t it.

The conclascii117sions in this stascii117dy need to be disseminated as broadly as possible. Fox s competitors need to report these resascii117lts and prodascii117ce ad campaigns featascii117ring them. Newspapers and magazines need to pascii117blish the stascii117dy across the coascii117ntry. This is big news and it is critical that the nation be advised that a major news enterprise is poisoning their minds.

This is not an isolated review of Fox s performance. It has been corroborated time and time again. The fact that Fox News is so blatantly dishonest, and the effects of that dishonesty have become ingrained in an electorate that has been been pascii117rposefascii117lly deceived, needs to be made known to every American. Oascii117r democracy cannot fascii117nction if voters are making choices based on lies. We have the evidence that Fox is tilting the scales and we mascii117st now make certain its corporate owners do not get away with it.