Those Stupid Fox Viewers (And The Stupider HuffPo Writers)

Once again we see some catnip for the left - a Fairleigh Dickinson research group has published a fairly ridiculous poll, and the HuffPo got so excited after the first few paragraphs that they stopped reading.

Here is the HuffPo headline and lead:

Fox News Viewers Know Less Than People Who Don't Watch Any News: Study

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.

That is accurate but woefully incomplete.  Had the Huffers pressed on, they would have found this tidbit about their own friends on the left:

New Jerseyans are not necessarily more likely to be knowledgeable about domestic politics than international events. Just 47% are able to identify the Occupy Wall Street protesters as predominantly Democratic: 11 % think they are Republicans. Viewers of cable news on MSNBC are the most likely to think the protestors are Republicans.  Watching the left-leaning MSNBC news channel is associated with a 10-point increase
in the likelihood of misidentifying the protesters.

Har de har!  Those daffy lefties have got Cairo covered but can't even figure what side OWS is on! C'mon, Lean Forward and smell the coffee!

Or maybe, this whole poll has a deeply dubious methodology.  Let's flash back to the question on Egypt - here we go, from the poll:

To the best of your knowledge, have the opposition groups protesting in Egypt been successful in bringing down the regime there?

Hmm.  As a more-than-casual observer of the international scene, I infer that current events in Egypt suggest that the protestors are asking themselves that very question. Massive demonstrations certainly suggest some local angst about whether the military replacement of Mubarak really represented regime change they can believe in.

The poll was conducted from October 17 through Oct 23, 2011.  I lack the character and commitment to essay the Fox archives, but let's check some NY Times headlines from October:

Oct 9: Church Protests in Cairo Turn Deadly

Oct 11: A Top Egyptian Minister Quits in Protest Over Killings

A NY Times editorial from Oct 13:

Egypt's Failing Army

... The army is increasingly at odds with the people and contributing to instability. Many Egyptians now understandably fear that the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took over when Mr. Mubarak was pushed out, will do anything to retain power and keep ordinary citizens from exercising their political rights.

Oct 15: Egypt’s Military Expands Power, Raising Alarms

Meet the new boss.  So as of Oct 17, those silly bunnys watching Fox weren't sure that protestors had "been successful in bringing down the regime there".  And we still aren't sure, even if the Huffers and the Fairleigh Dickinson people are.  Too bad the question didn't specifically cite Mubarak so we could have learned something.

As to methodology, I am deeply suspicious of this result:

By contrast, some media sources have a positive effect on political knowledge. For example, people who report reading a national newspaper like The New York Times or USA Today are 12-points more likely to know that Egyptians have overthrown their  government than those who have not looked at any news source. And those who listen to the non-profit NPR radio network are 11-points more likely to know the outcome of the revolt against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. However, the best informed respondents are those that watched Sunday morning news programs: leading to a 16-
point increase in the likelihood of knowing what happened in Egypt and an 8-point increase in the likelihood of knowing what happened in Syria.

"Sunday morning news shows tend to spend a lot more time on a single issue than  other news broadcasts, and they are less likely to degenerate into people shouting at each other," said Cassino. "Viewers pick up more information from this sort of calm discussion than from other formats. Unfortunately, these shows have a much smaller audience than the shouters."

In a total sample of 612 respondents did they really find a statistically meaningful number of people who watch the Sunday talkies but are not news junkies devouring newspapers and the internet?  That defies my credulity, but if they didn't, they have a huge covariance problem.  My alternative hypothesis is that answering yes to "Watch Sunday shows" serves as a marker for high overall news consumption, not as evidence that the Sunday shows are uniquely informative.

Here is the question on news sources:

I’m going to read you a list of news sources. As I read the list, just say “yes” if you got news from that source any time in the past week.

Nothing about frequency or intensity of consumption.  The gal who reads the Times and the WSJ on the train into work each day and religiously dials into the Sunday talkies is lumped in with the guy who picks up the NY Post for the football line and inadvertently caught a few minutes of the Sunday Fox show while getting ready for the football.  Whatever.

And with the samll sample size, we have a large margin of error of +/- 3.5% for the whole group, and of course more for sub-groups.  On the Egypt question, the "winners" were NPR with only 24% getting the "wrong" answer; Fox brought up the rear with 18% "incorrectly" indicating that regime change had not occurred.  Statistically significant?  Hardly.

All in all, a good job by the Fairleigh Dickinson team of self-promoting nothing into a bit of attention.

HMMM:  Utterly uncritical recycling from Taegan Goddard; not his usual standard.

GETTING SOMEWHERE:  Frances Martel of Mediaite picks up the OWS foible and provides some helpful bashing.

ALSO TOO EXCITED:  David Taintor of TPMDC never reads as far as page 2.

QUESTIONS I HAVEN'T SEEN POLLED...  How would a typical OWS protestor do on the seemingly simple question of whether the US had regime change with the election of Obama in 2008?  Hmm, the Street-coddling Geithner moved to Treasury, Gates stayed in Defense, troops were added to Afghanistan, Gitmo is still open, the Bush tax cuts were extended... maybe the 1% simply tapped a new figurehead.  I bet a lot would get it "wrong" (but they would, being Republican).

LACKING NEITHER CHARACTER NOR COMMITMENT: Cecil Turner tells us that yes, Fox did take a dimmer view of the spring uprising.  Eerily prescient?  Time will tell!

SECRET FOX VIEWERS:  From a new report by Amnesty International:

Egypt's military rulers have completely failed to live up to their promises to Egyptians to improve human rights and have instead been responsible for a catalogue of abuses which in some cases exceeds the record of Hosni Mubarak, Amnesty International said today in a new report.

"The human rights balance sheet for SCAF [Supreme Council of Armed Forces] shows that after nine months in charge of Egypt, the aims and aspirations of the January 25 revolution have been crushed. The brutal and heavy-handed response to protests in the last few days bears all the hallmarks of the Mubarak era."

 

Comments

[Benjamin Franklin]

The fabric of society is fragile. And it's a lot more fragile than it was in 1963. We were stronger, also more naive. A successful effort will.......well, ' Sayonara'.

http://themoderatevoice.com/129623/november-22-1963-living-the-comfortable-illusion-that-it-couldnt-happen-again/

"If you are of a certain age, the events of November 22, 1963 and the following days are deeply seared in your mind, but as yet another anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy comes and goes, those memories do not automatically our minds as they did in earlier years. Part of this, of course, is the passage of time, but it also is the fact that with the exception of Ronald Reagan, there has not been a serious attempt to take the life of a president in nearly half a century and most of us live under the comfortable illusion that it could never ever happen again.

Yet the safety of Barack Obamaz has been very much on my mind and not just because of a certain president of a Republican group at a Texas university who infamously suggested a few days ago that it is “tempting” to assassinate him.

Every president has had their hardcore detractors. In fact, an ad was running in a Dallas newspaper accusing JFK of treason the day of the president’s visit. Yet Obama has been the recipient of an unusual amount of animus."

[Benjamin Franklin]

NEWT !!!!

http://patriotboy.blogspot.com/2011/11/by-their-own-bootie-straps.html

[narciso]

It's awfully hard for them to get around the
notion of Oswald whose wife was a MVD Col, being the shooter, doesn't really matter what
H.L. Hunt or Murchison thought on the matter, just like Sirhan Sirhan was a Palestinian, Cgolz was an anarchist, Guiteau a job seeking
follower of Fourier,

[Jack is Back!]

iggy,

If the weird left-anarchist-vegan-climate kings want us to go back to being scavengers and cavemen then this is their perfect opportunity. Make the liability that human life on earth as we know it fails. Just tell everyone - no mas dinero! Sorry about that but its all gone. And Jon Corzine has no idea where it went.

[Benjamin Franklin]

Occasionally, the Hecklers get it right. God, bless them, every one

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/obama-new-hampshire-speech-occupy-protesters_n_1108081.html?ref=politics

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Protesters reportedly with the Occupy Wall Street movement delayed the start of President Obama's speech in Manchester, New Hampshire Tuesday, chanting over the president as he took the podium.

"Mr. President, over 4,000 peaceful protesters have been arrested…" they started shouting, according to Mediaite.

ABC News reports that a paper relaying their entire intended statement was passed around to reporters:

"Over 4000 peaceful protesters have been arrested. While bankers continue to destroy the American economy. You must stop the assault on our 1st amendment rights. Your silence sends a message that police brutality is acceptable. Banks got bailed out. We got sold out."

[jimmyk]

A mere $80 trillion or so, give or take. Mostly, we give and they take.

I have a little trouble figuring out what these numbers mean "over an infinite horizon." I would have thought that extrapolating the current policies out forever would lead to infinite unfunded liabilities. Regardless, it would be preferable to pretty much dismantle both SS and Medicare, as it's hard to see they pay for themselves without increasingly massive transfers from young to old. At some point the young will say "No mas!" and the houses of cards will collapse.

[Benjamin Franklin]

Congress and China; Internet Soulmates....

http://blog.buzzflash.com/node/13171

"On the surface, the so-called "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA) looks like it has a noble end, that of protecting criminal violations of copyright by foreign (non-U.S.) actors. However, on careful inspection, the Act has the potential to spawn a virtual (cyber) witch-hunt and dismantle the free and democratic edifice of the Internet.
Giant ISPs such as Comcast have already begun to block file sharing websites; and Comcast has already gone to court and gotten the legal green light to block or slow web content. Now, as the Federal Communication Commission sits on the sidelines, it is about to receive the authority from Congress to go after content providers if, pursuant to Section 104 of SOPA, it can claim a "reasonable belief" that they are hosting at least some material that is infringing the rights of copyright owners. And it can do so with complete civil and criminal immunity.

[Cecil Turner]

Ah, this is more like it:

A stronger version of the pepper spray made infamous by the UC Davis campus police officer who casually sprayed a row of seated, protesting students is available for purchase at Amazon.com. [ . . . ]

A UC Davis spokesperson confirmed to Mashable that campus police use a First Defense product containing 0.7% major capsaicinoids, the active ingredient that makes eyes sting, noses run and faces burn.

The pepper spray on Amazon advertises 1.3% major capsaicinoids — “the most intense formula available,” according to Safariland, the company that makes First Defense products. Photos of UC Davis’ pepper-spraying officer have been added to the Amazon page by customers, and fake reviews added since Nov. 18 laud the product for, among other things, its ability to “breezily inflict discipline on unruly citizens.”

'bout time. That weak crap wasn't getting the job done.

[Porchlight]

Jim Miller,

I got all the Pew questions right. (Well, technically I got one wrong, because I clicked the wrong radio button by mistake. But I knew the answer, so as far as I'm concerned I got it right.)

I would agree that it is a useful set of questions.

[Porchlight]

Here's what the Pew report says about partisan differences wrt the current quiz (my emphasis):

Republicans generally outperformed Democrats on the current quiz. On 13 out of the 19 questions, Republicans score significantly higher than Democrats and there are no questions on which Democrats did better than Republicans. In past knowledge quizzes, partisan differences have been more muted, though Republicans often have scored somewhat higher than Democrats.

[Benjamin Franklin]

Cecil; I know you will enjoy this.......scroll all the way through for the laugh of your life.

http://peppersprayingcop.tumblr.com/

[narciso]

So the Weisman roman a clef,KBL, gives some interesting details, including the Davis incident, but also the background of the Courier, Sheikh al Ahmed, which apparently includes his visit to the same hotel in Dublin, from which he made tell tale calls,
to Abbottabad, some 6 years apart.

[Porchlight]

How embarassing is it for our country that the UC Davis protesters who got pepper sprayed are being portrayed as the equivalent of the lone student in Tiannenmen Square?

What an insult to all true dissidents and those who have experienced actual brutality and repression at the hands of government.

[Benjamin Franklin]

Yeah, the People's Army of UC Davis. lol

[narciso]

They have 'dialed all the way up to eleven'
Porch

http://www.punditpress.com/2011/11/ows-protesters-are-being-sent-to.html

[Benjamin Franklin]

The GOP---Privatizing your Public Institutions for Profit and and Tons O' Fun.

First, your public schools and Social Security and Prisons, next your local law enforcement.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/ohio/2011/10/12/charters-schools-part-iii-cashing-in-on-education/

[Benjamin Franklin]

This guy can make twice the pay WITH NO TAXPAYER DOLLARS !

http://peppersprayingcop.tumblr.com/page/2

[pagar]

http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2011/11/22/uc-davis-pepper-spray-massacre-victims-smile-and-almost-giggle-describing-their-torture/

Pure leftist propagandists

[Jim Miller]

Porchlight - Congratulations on getting all the Pew questions right.

[Benjamin Franklin]

“Anonymous” threatens pepper-spray cops in menacing new video:"

"MENACING" Ooooooo.....those shameless propagandists!!!

[narciso]

Ditto, I was a little dissapointed with the ISI one, some weeks back.

[Jack is Back!]

narciso,

ISI nor Iran are the real threat.

[narciso]

I mean the Inter Scholastic Institute test, JiB, just like self defense with passion fruit and bananas.

[Benjamin Franklin]

Turkeys are Improvised Explosive Devices.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUcUU6NpDUw

[pagar]

Did't Obama say the ATM card was the real threat (or something like that)?

http://videos2view.net/welfare-vacations.htm

[narciso]

I'm sure the other channels are on to this.

http://reason.com/blog/2011/11/21/health-care-sticker-shock-in-california

[pagar]

Leftists losing another major Support group!

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/11/obama-signs-bill-prohibiting-cooperation-with-unindicted-co-conspirators-hamas-tied-cair-and-isna.html

[Benjamin Franklin]

Pammie and Jammies; two-source story guy

[Rocco]

That wicked evil and brutal UC Davis Police Lt., John Pike has been cited in the past.

[East Bay Jay]

Re. cable news channels all covering the same thing, I'm pretty sure you have to go to MSNBC for the President's daily schedule and soup of the day.

Maybe FD will use a WH 'soup of the day' question in the next survey.

[Benjamin Franklin]

"Pike was 5-foot-10 and weighed 245 pounds. "I hit her hard," Pike said, according to the release, which said he weighed 245 pounds. He decided against using pepper spray, a baton or a sidearm because he did not want to injure his partners, the release said. One of officers credited Pike with helping to save his life.

"You've got all these tools on your belt," Pike said, "but sometimes they're not the best tools.""

"A hero has many tools"-----Benjamin Franklin

[pagar]

Private jobs for the US economy, Not if the Obama Regime has their way.
Need a commitment to help foreign companies with ties to Iran, no problem just ask the Obama regime.

http://www.redstate.com/aglanon/2011/11/21/obama-administration-sends-weapons-contract-to-foreign-company-with-ties-to-iran/

What a sorry mess.

[narciso]

In a round about way, that isn't the only problem

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan_Airlines

[Ignatz]

--I have a little trouble figuring out what these numbers mean "over an infinite horizon." I would have thought that extrapolating the current policies out forever would lead to infinite unfunded liabilities.--

I read how that works one time long ago but can't remember what the method is they use.
What's interesting is that using a 75 year horizon gives numbers at least as bad, so no need to worry about infinity when we've got come up with $80+ Trillion in 75 years.

[Annoying Old Guy]

There is a value called the "future discount rate" which represents who much money devalues over time (usually as a percent / year). This causes even an infinite series of payments to sum to a finite amount today. Of course, picking the discount rate is the tricky part.

Obama Ex Officio

[Neo]

I guess it all depends on how you define "overthrew their government."
Bottomline, before the Egyptians "overthrew their government" Hosni Mubarak and the military ran Egypt .. now the military runs Egypt.
By this definition, Barack Obama overthrew the US government (and I guess then is a t.....).

"Wait a minute. Perhaps she's right. Perhaps I've been wrong to blindly follow the medical traditions and superstitions of past centuries. Maybe we barbers should test these assumptions analytically, through experimentation and a "scientific method". Maybe this scientific method could be extended to other fields of learning: the natural sciences, art, architecture, navigation. Perhaps I could lead the way to a new age, an age of rebirth, a Renaissance!...Naaaaaahhh!" -- Theodoric of York, Medieval Barber