The greatest statistic evar...

[General Zod]

On a quiz designed to test TV watchers' knowledge of current events, 54% of The Daily Show & The Colbert Report viewers passed by answering two thirds of the questions correctly; 35% of Fox News watchers did the same.

http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/16/daily-show-fox-knowledge/

Zod

 

[cthulufhtagn]

Despite significant technology shifts, however, Pew found that “today’s citizens are about as able to name their leaders, and are about as aware of major news events, as was the public nearly 20 years ago.”

uh does this mean everyone's getting dumber? this type of information is way more readily available today than ever before yet people aren't getting more aware...

 

[rms]

the fact that O'Reilly got 51% and Fox News only like 28% is scary how dumb the other viewers are on the other shows

 

[Dark One]

And yet from another quiz designed to test TV watchers' knowledge of current events with 3 different questions from the same site where that other report was completed (people-press.org), the following analysis was made:

"A study by The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that MSNBC viewers were the least likely to be able to correctly answer three simple "current events" questions. With just one in five viewers able to name the majority party in the Congress and identify Condeleeza Rice and Vladimir Putin, MSNBC (21%) edged out CNBC (23%) viewers as the dumbest. CNN (31%) viewers were the smartest, followed closely by Fox News (28% viewers)."

Knowledgeable News Audiences

"News audiences vary widely in age, education, and how much they know about what's going on in the nation and the world. Most regular consumers of news are better informed, better educated, and older than the average American. But the audiences for some news sources stand out in this respect.

Judged by their answers to three news knowledge questions, the most informed audiences belong to the political magazines, Rush Limbaugh's radio show, the O'Reilly Factor, news magazines, and online news sources. Close behind are the regular audiences for NPR and the Daily Show.

Audiences with the highest educational achievement, by far, are the literary magazines and online news outlets. Readers of news magazines, political magazines and business magazines, listeners of Rush Limbaugh and NPR, and viewers of the Daily Show, and C-SPAN also are much more likely than the average person to have a college degree."

So when stacked up against the other major news networks in lieu of the pundit shows, Fox actually does pretty well. The most informed audiences come from the pundit shows like The Daily Show/Colbert, O'Reilly, etc. Interestingly enough, I don't even see MSNBC on the other study you linked to.

And The Daily Show beat O'Reilly 54% to 51% in the first study you linked to, while O'Reilly beat The Daily Show 42% to 38% in the second study I linked to (both studies from the same source). Let's call it a draw and get ready to at Sweden Rock my extremely intelligent Daily Show watching metalhead of a friend. (Metalheads are of course, the smartest group, yet were left out of these studies for some reason).

Jason

 

[General Zod]

"A study by The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that MSNBC viewers were the least likely to be able to correctly answer three simple "current events" questions.

Not surprising. With the exception of Olbermann, MSNBC is crap.

CNN (31%) viewers were the smartest...

Again, not surprising.

And The Daily Show beat O'Reilly 54% to 51% in the first study you linked to, while O'Reilly beat The Daily Show 42% to 38% in the second study I linked to (both studies from the same source).

I think you may have missed the intent of my post (my fault, read on). The text in my original post, was verbatim from a Playboy article where I first read about the stat (yes, I do read the articles). And although I'm sure they worded it to be a slam against Fox, I was looking at it as more of a commentary on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and the sad state of news in this country. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are not news; they're comedy shows. They shouldn't even be in this poll, much less winning. Any "news" show/network that isn't more informative than a comedy show about the news, should be ashamed (MSNBC, CNN, Fox, etc.). If I was an executive at these networks, there would be mass firings.

What's truly sad, these were the results of people that watch the news, regardless of where they get it. What about all the folks who don't even watch the news? Holy crap! No wonder this country is going into the shitter.

Let's call it a draw and get ready to at Sweden Rock my extremely intelligent Daily Show watching metalhead of a friend.

Of course.
:hotjump:
Zod

 

[Dark One]

MSNBC is crap.

I *could* use editing tactics like Robert Greenwald and only include this portion of the sentence to quote you, instead of showing the whole quote, thereby erasing it's context and implying that you believe Olbermann is also crap but I won't.

I think you may have missed the intent of my post (my fault, read on). The text in my original post, was verbatim from a Playboy article where I first read about the stat (yes, I do read the articles).

I refuse to acknowledge this....

But only because I freely admit I *don't* read the articles.

And although I'm sure they worded it to be a slam against Fox, I was looking at it as more of a commentary on The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and the sad state of news in this country.

That's cool (and I certainly don't disagree about the sad state of the news in this country at all), but to be fair, The Daily Show trounced CNN, Fox, local TV news, the network morning shows, etc., yet Fox always gets singled out, just as you did, and also called it the greatest statistic evar.

The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are not news; they're comedy shows. They shouldn't even be in this poll, much less winning. Any "news" show/network that isn't more informative than a comedy show about the news, should be ashamed (MSNBC, CNN, Fox, etc.). If I was an executive at these networks, there would be mass firings.

While we agree again on the ineptitude of the major news networks, we strongly disagree on what shows like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Real Time with Bill Maher, etc. have become. The initial intent was certainly comedic in nature (much like the old SNL Weekend Update skits), but they have become so much more influential than that and people are absolutely looking to those shows for real political commentary and knowledge. They're having more and more mainstream politicians, Hollywood political activists, etc. as guests all the time on these shows along with serious discussions (as well as monologues where their jabs and political leanings are both obvious and influential).

I don't begrudge these guys their right to have those types of shows by any means (Jon Stewart is hilarious and immensely talented), but I refuse to believe that they aren't using their shows as a platform to try and get their views across (as well as trying to be both informative and funny). They definitely know what they're doing.

What's truly sad, these were the results of people that watch the news, regardless of where they get it. What about all the folks who don't even watch the news? Holy crap! No wonder this country is going into the shitter.

Amen to that - an overhaul in so many areas are needed, no question about it.

Of course. :hotjump:

 

[einride]

tv = shit
current events = boring and irrelevant

 

[General Zod]

But only because I freely admit I *don't* read the articles.

Believe me, if the pictures were worth looking at, I would look at them. However, Playboy has to be the least titillating skin mag of all time.

...yet Fox always gets singled out, just as you did, and also called it the greatest statistic evar.

I think Fox gets singled out because they were the first 24 hour news network to offer a clear agenda. And as I mentioned, my original post was taken directly from Playboy, word for word. And in hindsight, it's clear to see why it was taken as a slam on Fox (as I have no doubt, that's what Playboy intended). However, it's the "greatest stat evar" because of The Daily Show, which is my favorite show on T.V.

...we strongly disagree on what shows like The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Real Time with Bill Maher, etc. have become. The initial intent was certainly comedic in nature (much like the old SNL Weekend Update skits), but they have become so much more influential than that and people are absolutely looking to those shows for real political commentary and knowledge.

Speaking as someone whose watched these shows since their inception, and who watches them consistently, I don't believe the nature of these shows has changed. While I'll grant you that Bill Maher (who I love) has a clear agenda, he's always had that agenda. He makes no bones about the fact that he's a liberal and a Democrat. Personally, I find this refreshing. I think anyone espousing a political view, should make their biases known. This is one of the reasons I dislike O'Reilly so much. He actually has the audacity to try and pass himself off as an independent. Which, come on, is as absurd as saying Arianna Huffington is independent.

Colbert's and Stewart's primary agenda is to be funny. I suspect Stewart and Colbert come off as much more liberal than they actually are, because there's a conservative administration in power. I think everyone in the country is leaning a bit more left than they were seven years ago. And to be fair, they're lampooning the most incompetent administration in the history of the country. Which again, is going to slant how they come off. We'll get a truer sense of where they're at, if we end up with a Democrat in the White House and they treat them with kid gloves.

Zod

 

[Dark One]

Believe me, if the pictures were worth looking at, I would look at them. However, Playboy has to be the least titillating skin mag of all time.

LOL, that's probably true. As I don't have a subscription, when I generally look at the mag, I'm looking at it due to knowing a specific girl has a spread in there (like Maria from the WWE a few months back).

However, it's the "greatest stat evar" because of The Daily Show, which is my favorite show on T.V.

Fair enough - it's definitely a quality show.

This is one of the reasons I dislike O'Reilly so much. He actually has the audacity to try and pass himself off as an independent. Which, come on, is as absurd as saying Arianna Huffington is independent.

Given the information on O'Reilly you're presented with, I don't blame you one bit for having that opinion. The majority of clips and pieces of info you see are spliced apart and nit-picked to make him look as conservative and as nasty as possible (not only on the left blog sites, but it's been an ongoing tactic on Youtube for years now). If I were to make a documentary and only spliced together clips of him making nice with Democrats, being critical of Conservatives or presenting viewpoints not construed as conservative, you would come away thinking the guy's a Democrat (I know, I know, yeah right). But if that's all I presented you with and you knew nothing else about him, I believe any sound minded person would think that.

Anyway, the reality is, he's definitely not a Democrat because he's a traditionalist, but if you were to watch his show regularly, you would see that he doesn't have the agenda that those trying to disparage him accuse him of. You're not a traditionalist, so you would still disagree with him in that regard more often than not, but you would also see that he's fair in his analyses. He never says things like "if you vote for Obama, we'll go into the toilet, how dare you Obama want change", or anything of that ilk.

Colbert's and Stewart's primary agenda is to be funny.

Based on what I've watched, they certainly seem like politically motivated shows couched in quality comedy; however, you've watched it far more than I, so your opinion defintiely carries more weight.

We'll get a truer sense of where they're at, if we end up with a Democrat in the White House and they treat them with kid gloves.

I think what you'd find is that plenty of jokes would be made, but not in a mean spirited way (like jokes about his bowling score rather than jokes about his inexperience, etc.). But we'll see for sure.

 

[Reign in Acai]

How anybody believes these statistics from liberal publications is beyond me. The Los Angeles Times recently posted an article that boldly read, " In Poll, Californians Oppose Gay Marriage—Barely", if you read through the article the stats read (54% oppose, 36% for, 10% undecided.) A difference of 18% is Barely? Fucking pickle sniffers!

 

[General Zod]

How anybody believes these statistics from liberal publications is beyond me.

How is The Pew Research Center a liberal publication? They are described as...

The Pew Research Center is a "fact tank" based in Washington, D.C., that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the USA and the world. The Center and its projects receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The Pew Research Center is a strictly non-advocacy organization, while the Pew Charitable Trusts supports advocacy and non-advocacy projects.

Zod

 

[Reign in Acai]

Well my point has less to do with the statistics, and more to do with the spin these sites put on the research. Listeners of Limbaugh and O'Reilly (both of whom have syndicated talk radio shows underneath the FOX banner) showed almost the same knowledge as listeners of Colbert/Stewart. Frankly, I use BBC as my news source. All American news channels have some hidden agenda behind their reporting. But at the end of the day, (see post #7)

 

[General Zod]

But at the end of the day, (see post #7)

Given how little there is we can do to change this fucked up world, I half agree with you.

Zod

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

Frankly, I use BBC as my news source. All American news channels have some hidden agenda behind their reporting. But at the end of the day, (see post #7)

Yep. I use the BBC and 2 of the german news channels, which in effect, are just as good. Just harder to understand!

 

[swizzlenuts]

BLOGS ftw!

 

[dorian gray]

I avoid news and current events by maintaining a strict video game and movie regimen.

 

[Conspicuously Absent]

I avoid news and current events by maintaining a strict video game and movie regimen.

you forgot porn right? or is that what you meant with movies? :Spam:

 

[dorian gray]

Alas, no porn. But I did forget sports.

 

[Reign in Acai]

Given how little there is we can do to change this fucked up world, I half agree with you.

Zod

You have a good job, drive a slick car, are married to a nice wife, in perfectly good health, travel, along with many other upsides. Think positive my good man, the grass is green, the birds are singing, and the air is as fresh as ever. I feel like dancing my self.

 

[General Zod]

You have a good job, drive a slick car, are married to a nice wife, in perfectly good health, travel, along with many other upsides. Think positive my good man, the grass is green, the birds are singing, and the air is as fresh as ever.

LOL. While all true, it's still difficult to ignore concepts like "peek oil" and global warming tipping points. It's also tough to ignore the weak dollar, the collapsing housing market, the fact that we decided rather than fix New Orleans to just ignore it, and that we seem to be interested in remaining in a perpetual state of war. It amazes me that we can be so technologically advanced as a species, yet still be so fucked up as a country and as a global community.

Ehhh... fuck it. Who wants pie?

Zod