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.
The report divided these questions into three groups--those in which Republicans were most misinformed, those in which Democrats were most misinformed, and those where misinformation was relatively balanced--although the third group all showed more GOP voters were misinformed, in one case up to 18% more. As can readily be seen, the overall tendency is for misinformaiton to be more heavily slanted in the GOP direction.
Relative Balance to Misinformation
Republican Slant to Misinformation
Democrative Slant to Misinformation
Pollster's Analysis
Fox News viewers were the most misinformed on the largest number of questions:
In the great majority of cases, those with higher levels of exposure to news sources had lower levels of misinformation.
There were however a number of cases where greater exposure to a news source increased misinformation on a specific issue.
Those who watched Fox News almost daily were significantly more likely than those who never watched it to believe that:
most economists estimate the stimulus caused job losses (12 points more likely)
most economists have estimated the health care law will worsen the deficit (31 points)
the economy is getting worse (26 points)
most scientists do not agree that climate change is occurring (30 points)
the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts (14 points)
their own income taxes have gone up (14 points)
the auto bailout only occurred under Obama (13 points)
when TARP came up for a vote most Republicans opposed it (12 points)
and that it is not clear that Obama was born in the United States (31 points)
These effects increased incrementally with increasing levels of exposure and all were statistically significant. The effect was also not simply a function of partisan bias, as people who voted Democratic and watched Fox News were also more likely to have such misinformation than those who did not watch it--though by a lesser margin than those who voted Republican.
Other sources of misinformation were not comparable to Fox, as there were only two items that were statistically significant:
There were cases with some other news sources as well.
Daily consumers of MSNBC and public broadcasting (NPR and PBS) were higher (34 points and 25 points respectively) in believing that it was proven that the US Chamber of Commerce was spending money raised from foreign sources to support Republican candidates.
Daily watchers of network TV news broadcasts were 12 points higher in believing that TARP was signed into law by President Obama, and 11 points higher in believing that most Republicans oppose TARP.
Sources that were lower in misinformed viewers didn't exactly produce viewers with no misinformation, but of course they can't be specifically held accountable for views that might come from elsewhere, and which viewers might not have seen covered by them. Still, it's something if regular viewers are less misinformed than others:
For each topic, the news source with the lowest level of misinformation among its daily consumers was as follows:
most economists who have studied it estimate that the stimulus legislation saved or created only a few jobs or caused job losses: MSNBC, 65% misinformed
among economists who have estimated the effect of the health reform law, more think it will increase the deficit: Public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), 38%
the bank bailout legislation (TARP) was passed and signed into law under Pres. Obama: MSNBC, 38%
the US economy is getting worse: Public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), 34%
the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts: MSNBC, 34%
the bailout of GM and Chrysler occurred under President Obama only: MSNBC, 32%
since January 2009 the respondent's federal income taxes have actually gone up: MSNBC, 27%
it is unclear whether Obama was born in the US-or, Obama was not born in the US: Public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), 24%
when TARP came up for a vote, Democrats were opposed or divided: Fox News, 21%
when TARP came up for a vote, most Republicans opposed it: CNN, 28%
it was proven that the US Chamber of Commerce was spending foreign money to back Republicans: Fox News, 23%
most scientists think climate change is not occurring or views are divided evenly: MSNBC and public broadcasting (NPR or PBS), both 20%
The Ubiquity of Misinformaiton
While misinformation is highest among regular audiences of some outlets for particular pieces of misinformation, the background levels of disinformation are disturbingly high. The following table is extremely conservative in measuring this, by taking the least misinformed audience as its baseline, rather than the average of all voters. This is a measure of the strength of such misinformation even in the face of the best information available at the aggregate media outlet level.
