A new study has revealed that people who
rely on television to get their news are more likely to be misinformed on the facts about Iraq, WMD's and Iraq's ties to 9/11 than those who get their news from other sources or even who don't follow the news at al.
The study polled over 3,000 people on their perceptions about
international support for the Iraq War, ties of Saddam Hussein
to the events of 9/11, and the Discovery of WMD's in Iraq. What
they found, incredibly, though not surprising, was that the more
people got their news from TV, the higher the frequency of their
misperceptions.
Out of all the news networks, of course, Fox News ranked highest
among misinformed viewers. The lowest was PBS.
Another
angle of the poll was to group by Bush supporters or Democratic
candidate supporters. Naturally, the vast majority of the misinformed
were Bush supporters. This included Democrats that supported Bush.
From the Program
on International Policy press release:
So what does this mean?
The ramifications of this study are far reaching. For one, it
confirms the long held suspicion that corporate controlled television
networks are not only failing to provide necessary information
to viewers, but are in fact providing false information.
It
also confirms that, at least among the news networks, liberal
bias is a complete fabrication which, because of this report,
is easier to believe since a significant percentage of viewers
believe liberal media bias exists because they heard it on TV news.
But a larger issue exists here. The report shows a clear link
between misinformation and support for Bush's war. Here's where
the Orwellian factor comes in. Not only did Bush & co. mislead
the public into war, but they had ready accomplices in the network
news organizations.
This forces serious questions about the motives of those who
hold the sacred trust of the public airwaves. It also demonstrates
how powerful TV news is at affecting public perceptions and consequently,
public policy.
Read
the report [PDF]
Visit the website www.pipa.org
Bush's support tied to misinformation
College Park, MD: According to a new PIPA/Knowledge Networks poll, a majority of Americans (57%) continue to believe that before the war Iraq was providing substantial support to al Qaeda, including 20% who believe that Iraq was directly involved in the September 11 attacks. Forty-five percent believe that evidence that Iraq was supporting al Qaeda has been found. Sixty percent believe that just before the war Iraq either had weapons of mass destruction (38%) or a major program for developing them (22%).
Despite statements by Richard Clarke, David Kay, Hans Blix and others, few Americans perceive most experts as saying the contrary. Only 15% said they are hearing “experts mostly agree Iraq was not providing substantial support to al Qaeda,” while 82% either said that “experts mostly agree Iraq was providing substantial support” (47%) or “experts are evenly divided on the question” (35%). Only 34% said they thought most experts believe Iraq did not have WMD, while 65% said most experts say Iraq did have them (30%) or that experts are divided on the question (35%).
Not surprisingly, perceptions of what experts are saying are highly correlated with beliefs about prewar Iraq, which in turn are highly correlated with support for the decision to go to war.
Perhaps most relevant politically, perceptions of what the experts are saying are also highly correlated with intentions to vote for the President in the upcoming election. Among those who perceived experts as saying that Iraq had WMD, 72% said they would vote for Bush and 23% said they would vote for Kerry, while among those who perceived experts as saying that Iraq did not have WMD, 23% said they would vote for Bush and 74% for Kerry.
Among those who perceived experts as saying that Iraq had supported al Qaeda, 62% said they would vote for Bush and 36% said they would vote for Kerry. Among those who perceived experts as saying that Iraq was not supporting al Qaeda, just 13% said they would vote for Bush and 85% for Kerry.
What Does This Mean
This poll clearly indicates that George Bush's electoral success depends on the American public continuing to be wrong about the facts. Wrong about WMD's. Wrong about Iraq and 9/11. Wrong about Iraq and al Queda.
As stated above in bold text, George Bush's support is directly proportional to the public's misperceptions.
This report, taken with the one below, leaves no doubt that the US press, and particularly the television media, are not only failing to inform the public of the facts, but they are actually misinforming the public in matters of the utmost importance.
It is our contention that as long as the press fails to properly inform the public, the U.S.'s prospects for responsible, qualified government remains dire. It is simply unacceptable.
Thomas Jefferson said he would rather have a press with no government than a government with no press. He certainly was not referring to CNN, Fox, MSNBC, or any of the other television news outlets.
What we have now is a press industry that is worse than no press at all; an unaccountable enterprise for whom holding accountable the most powerful is often a conflict of interest.
The internet may one day offset this imbalance, but we don't have time.
Instead of protesting the World Bank, the Wars, or George Bush's public appearances, we should be protesting the media conglomerations first. For no matter how much we try, no agenda will be met until we regain control over our press and that most powerful tool for the propaganda of power, the television.
View the PIPA Press Release
View the PIPA Report
The
polling, conducted by the Program on International Policy (PIPA)
at the University of Maryland and Knowledge Networks, also reveals
that the frequency of these misperceptions varies significantly
according to individuals’ primary source of news.