by Flemming Funch
According to this press release a series of polls carried out between January and September in the U.S. shows the correspondence between the prevalence of certain key misunderstandings about the Iraq war and the news source people primarily used. People were asked if they believed that evidence of links between Iraq and Al Qaeda has been found, whether weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq, and whether world public opinion favored the US going to war with Iraq. The correct answer to all three is NO. But here's the result of the polls:One or more misconceptions:
FOX – 80%
CBS - 71%
ABC - 61%
NBC - 55%
CNN – 55%
Print Sources – 47%
NPR/PBS – 23%
None of the three misconceptions:
NPR/PBS – 77%
Print Sources – 53%
CNN – 45%
NBC – 45%
ABC – 39%
CBS – 30%
FOX – 20% It shouldn't be any great news to thinking people who've watched Fox News that they're leading the pack in mis-information. But it is great to have it measured. And it paints a rather dismal picture. Government propaganda is 80% effective in the leading network. I'd bet that's much better percentages than any communist or fascist country has ever achieved.
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