A new study by the Pew Research Study shows that viewers of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report have the highest knowledge of national and international affairs, while Fox News viewers rank nearly dead last:
Despite significant technology shifts, however, Pew found that “today’s citizens are about as able to name their leaders, and are about as aware of major news events, as was the public nearly 20 years ago.”
The results about Fox News echo findings of previous surveys. In 2003, University of Maryland researchers studied the public’s belief in three false claims — that Iraq possessed WMD, that Iraq was involved in 9/11, and that there was international support for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.
The researchers stated, “The extent of Americans’ misperceptions vary significantly depending on their source of news. Those who receive most of their news from Fox News are more likely than average to have misperceptions.” Fox News viewers were “three times more likely than the next nearest network to hold all three misperceptions.”
http://www.lostremote.com/2007/06/17/daily-show-and-colbert-viewers-most-informed-about-news/
1 comment:
Oh man. I wrote an article about this in high school. It was definitely a different study though, that was about two years ago I think, before The Colbert Report was even on. But anyway you could interpret this in a number of ways. Do more educated people flock to The Daily Show? Or does The Daily Show do a better job of educating its viewers? And it's also worth nothing that while Fox News viewers are nearly last, The O'Reilly Factor (the radio show one I guess, not the TV show) is near the top, and Bill O'Reilly is widely seen as the face of Fox News.
I think basically what it comes down to is that people want to see their government held accountable, and at the root of all the funny jokes on The Daily Show there are valid points. It's definitely intelligent humor--as opposed to, say, Carlos Mencia. And despite what the show's detractors (like Ted Koppel) say, humor and sarcasm are valid ways of dealing with problems. (I do it all the time and it usually gets me in trouble with my girlfriend.) Maybe we should incorporate some element of fun and humor into whatever it is we end up doing at this point. I mean, Ben Franklin was a big fan of satire.
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