Posted on 11/30/2003 2:44:24 PM PST by ppaul
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/next/2001803151_nextmisinformed30.html
Pacific
Misinformed America: What we don't know could hurt us all
NEXT guest
We take pride in being a democracy. But a democracy is only as good as the choices of its voters.
A recent study by the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) revealed some disturbing facts about how misinformed many Americans are, and how that affects our country.
The PIPA group looked at how accurately Americans responded on key questions about Iraq involving terrorist links, weapons of mass destruction and global support for invasion. It then compared where the respondents got their news, and their level of support for both the war and President Bush.
The research showed that the more misperceptions a person held, the greater was their likelihood to support the war or the president's choices.
For example, only 23 percent of the people who were accurately informed about Iraq supported a unilateral war, compared with 86 percent of those with misperceptions on all key facts.
Even a couple of common misperceptions can alter major national policies that affect our economy, our freedoms and more.
The study then looked at where the respondents got their news. NPR/PBS had the best record with only 23 percent of their audiences having one or more wrong perceptions.
At the other end of the spectrum was Fox News, with 80 percent of its audience having at least one misperception. Tragically, the most common one was that Saddam Hussein was linked to al-Qaida and 9-11.
In between NPR/PBS and Fox came (in order from best to worse results) print media, then CNN, then the network channels.
My point is not that Fox or the other news media are necessarily "bad." And certainly there are other influences here, including the pre-existing biases of the different audiences.
But I do think this suggests that truth tends to get beat up in the free market. Time becomes too valuable to waste on in-depth news or fact checking and instead becomes filled with advertising, provocative talk shows posing as news debate, and a race to be first with a juicy, ratings-winning story.
This is only made worse by the fact that more of our news is being controlled by a shrinking club of media corporations driven by profit or political goals.
The result is rapid-fire headlines with flashy graphics in between personality-based "debate" shows and the latest 411 on celebrities.
Newspapers and public broadcasting, on the other hand, tend to offer in-depth reporting and analysis that help reduce audience confusion.
Clearly, we must be accurately informed in order to make the best choices on the policies and representatives that affect us.
While newspapers and public broadcasting appear to be among the best sources for that information, we must both use them and protect them if they are to continue being so.
Newspapers must continue to be the watchdogs of our institutions. This will require among other things that we fight against the corporate-friendly FCC allowing any one corporation to control more of the news outlets in a single market.
As for privatizing public broadcasting (oxymoron aside), this would be a shortsighted choice. Undoubtedly, "American Idol" has more commercial appeal than "Talk of the Nation."
But there's what mainstream America wants our media to provide, and then there's what America needs in order for our democracy to survive.
Considering all the things my taxes pay for, if a few measly pennies of it help to ensure public broadcasting remains largely protected against the demands of maximizing commercial appeal and shareholder profits, it seems a small price to pay — especially compared with the tremendous costs of poorly informed voters.
E-mail Randy Henderson at: NEXT@seattletimes.com
Yeah.
Here at FR, we're all just a bunch of uninformed dufuses, eh?
This kind of stuff makes me gag.
I guess if you're "informed", you believe America is the bad guy.
That we deserved what happened on 9/11.
Why don't we just run up the white flags now?!!
For more on the Program on Internation Policy Attitudes, click here for their website. Interestingly enough, that website doesn't tell one jack about who they are, either. Go figure...
This genius appears to not be accurately informed of meaning of "unilateral".
But I do think this suggests that truth tends to get beat up in the free market.
As opposed to the good old days of Pravda, for example.
But there's what mainstream America wants our media to provide, and then there's what America needs in order for our democracy to survive.
"You people are too stupid to decide what to watch". Yeah, I'm feeling the respect for democracy there.
PIPA's Foundation Sponsors
Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Tides Foundation
Ford Foundation
German Marshall Fund of the United States
Compton Foundation
Carnegie Corporation
Benton Foundation
Ben and Jerry's Foundation
Americans Talk Issues Foundation
Circle Foundation
Looks like the typical litany of leftist funding agencies to me.
Whose to say what is the "wrong perception"? So he's saying only the liberals have the "right perceptions"?
He's not the only one saying it.
That is the swill coming from all corners of the elitist left: academia, the public schools, unions, the media, et al.
The Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) is a joint program of the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland and the Center for the Study of Policy Attitudes. PIPA undertakes research on American attitudes in both the public and in the policymaking community toward a variety of international and foreign policy issues. It seeks to disseminate its findings to members of government, the press, and the public, as well as academia.
The Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM), at the University of Maryland's School of Public Affairs, pursues policy-oriented scholarship on major issues facing the United States in the global arena. Using its research, forums, and publications, CISSM links the University and the policy community to improve communication between scholars and practitioners.
The Center for the Study of Policy Attitudes (CSPA) is an independent nonprofit organization of social science researchers devoted to increasing understanding of public and elite attitudes shaping contemporary public policy. Using innovative research methods, CSPA seeks not only to examine overt policy opinions or positions, but to reveal the underlying values, assumptions, and feelings that sustain such opinions.
Gloria Duffy
Visiting Scholar
Stanford University
Alexander George
Professor of International Relations
Stanford University
Alan Kay
Director
Americans Talk Issues Foundation
Catherine M. Kelleher
(on leave)
Daniel Yankelovich
Chairman, DYG Inc.
President
Public Agenda Foundation
Oh yes they do. All you really need to know is who gives them money. And the list is right on the About Us page:
PIPA's Foundation Sponsors
Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
Tides Foundation
Ford Foundation
German Marshall Fund of the United States
Compton Foundation
Carnegie Corporation
Benton Foundation
Ben and Jerry's Foundation
Americans Talk Issues Foundation
Circle Foundation
We're talking enviros, peaceniks, appeasers, communists, and UN worshippers here.
Unfortunately, the government, the press, and the gullible public swallows their propaganda hook, line, and sinker. And, taxpayers pay for it!
I can't wait until that one is proven. I'm going to laugh for a month.
That's all I needed to know right there to prove that this story is nothing more than a pile of horse manure.
Personally, I think HE has the "wrong perception", but that's just the way I perceive it.
He WAS linked to Al Qaida, which had training camps in Iraq, and received funding from Hussein. It is not known whether or not there was a link to 9/11. Maybe the Seattle Times is the one that's mis-informed (or lying).
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