A new poll by Brookings and PRRI sheds light on the state of Fox News Channel and its impact on conservatism - at least some light - and the New Republic story linked below reinforces what many have long believed: Fox News does not serve its audience well, giving it the red meat to inflame existing viewer bias but sorely lacking in accuracy.
The poll showed 53 percent of Republicans trust Fox for their news, with 47 percent trusting other sources. The "Fox News Republicans" in the survey showed themselves more conservative than the "Non-Fox Republicans," and they also were less informed on issues than their Non-Fox counterparts, particularly on immigration (in fact, the Non-Fox Republicans surveyed more in line with independents and Democrats).
Inaccurate information disseminated by Fox (many say deliberately so) has caused a perception problem among their viewers in particular and Republicans in general - witness election night 2012 when Fox viewers and many Republican regulars fully expected a Romney victory (the Karl Rove meltdown when Ohio went for Obama is now the stuff of legends).
But does Fox cause conservatives to be, well, ignorant? Or do uninformed conservatives gravitate to Fox as a home of kindred souls? From the survey: “It is not possible from this data to offer a precise solution to the chicken-and-egg question — whether the more important fact is that those with very conservative views are already attracted to Fox or whether Fox turns its viewers into conservatives. What is clear is that conservative are drawn to Fox, and that Fox may, in turn, reinforce and perhaps harden conservative views.”
If the question of cause or effect is not answered by the survey, the observable impact is not only a viewership that is convinced of Fox's alternate reality but a Republican party. Quoting the New Republic, viewers and GOP Congress members "may not consider Fox News an extreme news source. They may think it represents the center of the GOP." But the extreme conservatism of Fox and its viewers is called "a hazard for the party. It creates extreme candidates under the guise that they are electable, builds up a false narrative that they are in fact electable and then acts surprised when that narrative doesn’t play itself out. In 2012, this storyline was on full display."
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118066/brookings-survey-fox-news-home-most-conservative-republicans
The poll showed 53 percent of Republicans trust Fox for their news, with 47 percent trusting other sources. The "Fox News Republicans" in the survey showed themselves more conservative than the "Non-Fox Republicans," and they also were less informed on issues than their Non-Fox counterparts, particularly on immigration (in fact, the Non-Fox Republicans surveyed more in line with independents and Democrats).
Inaccurate information disseminated by Fox (many say deliberately so) has caused a perception problem among their viewers in particular and Republicans in general - witness election night 2012 when Fox viewers and many Republican regulars fully expected a Romney victory (the Karl Rove meltdown when Ohio went for Obama is now the stuff of legends).
But does Fox cause conservatives to be, well, ignorant? Or do uninformed conservatives gravitate to Fox as a home of kindred souls? From the survey: “It is not possible from this data to offer a precise solution to the chicken-and-egg question — whether the more important fact is that those with very conservative views are already attracted to Fox or whether Fox turns its viewers into conservatives. What is clear is that conservative are drawn to Fox, and that Fox may, in turn, reinforce and perhaps harden conservative views.”
If the question of cause or effect is not answered by the survey, the observable impact is not only a viewership that is convinced of Fox's alternate reality but a Republican party. Quoting the New Republic, viewers and GOP Congress members "may not consider Fox News an extreme news source. They may think it represents the center of the GOP." But the extreme conservatism of Fox and its viewers is called "a hazard for the party. It creates extreme candidates under the guise that they are electable, builds up a false narrative that they are in fact electable and then acts surprised when that narrative doesn’t play itself out. In 2012, this storyline was on full display."
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/118066/brookings-survey-fox-news-home-most-conservative-republicans
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