On Countdown Friday, Chris Hayes reported on a new study from the Program on International Policy Attitudes and WorldPublicOpinion.org at the University of Maryland, dealing with media misinformation and the 2010 elections. The poll found that "9 in 10 voters said that in the 2010 election they encountered information they believed was misleading or false, with 56% saying this occurred frequently." It also found that voters were widely misinformed on a number of commonly-discussed issues. There was a clear pattern of increased misinformation with Fox viewers--the more they watched, the less they knew. But misinformation was so widespread that it simply has to be regarded as a feature of our current media system, not a bug. On six of the eleven questions asked, a majority of respondents gave incorrect answers--in some cases up to 80 and 90%--even higher. And as such--although MSNBC viewers are actually less misinformed than most overall--this segment on Countdown unfortunately misses the mark, even though what it reports is substantially true:
It should be further pointed out that although it wasn't proven that the Chamber of Commerce had used massive foreign donations to support GOP candidates, (1) it gave that impression in some of its overseas pitches, (2) under Citizens United its books were sealed, so proof was impossible, so (3) either it lied to overseas donors or it lied when it denied using their money in US elections. Either way, it can't be considered a credible source. In short, this one of those ironically rare situations where the people giving the factually false response may have been closer to the truth.
On the flip: First a series of charts from the report showing how misinformed voters were. Then a bit of discussion about where the worst misinformation comes from. Then a broader look at how all-pervasive it is.
Just two weeks before Election Day, a potentially detrimental (and ultimately unlawful) voter registration procedure was uncovered in San Diego, Calif. that could affect the turnout of thousands of voters. San Diego CityBeat was on the story and contacted Project Vote in hopes of clearing the confusion before November 2.
Until this week, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters wrongfully denied the federal voter registration form that thousands of San Diegans completed after downloading it from the California Secretary of State Web site, including CityBeat reporter and voter hopeful, Dave Maass, who contacted Project Vote director of advocacy, Estelle Rogers, after his voter application was rejected, twice.
We are coming down to the home stretch on healthcare, and we have seen the results of the first couple of rounds of crazy that have been sent forth in an effort to stop the process.
In addition to the Town Halls, opponents are flooding the email inboxes of America's "low information" voters with no end of lies. Those emails are getting passed around and around and around, and by now some of them have probably appeared in your inbox.
But it's summer...and who has time to respond to this stuff?
Well, guess what, Gentle Reader: I've already done the hard work for you.
Today's story is an email response that you can send right back to your "inbox friends". It's a reminder of some of the frustrations that we all share in this country and some explanations of what's being proposed...and a few words about socialism, to boot.
So get out there and copy and paste and forward and reply, and let's see if we can't fight the madness, one email at a time.
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