Pew Survey Reveals Sadly Uninformed Readers/Viewers

[Newsjock]

Source: Editor & Publisher

The in-depth new Pew News Consumption Survey ... among many other things, gave respondents a three-question current events test. The results showed, for example, that viewers of certain "fake news" shows (Stewart, Colbert) performed better than those who favor many "real news" programs (such as Dobbs, O'Reilly). But what about the overall test scores for all viewers/readers?

Only 53% correctly identified the Democrats as being in control of Congress, with 15% picking the GOP-- and 32% not even able to venture a guess.

They did even worse when asked to name our current, longtime (and quite famous) Secretary of State. Only 43% named Condi Rice, 3% IDed someone else -- and an amazing 55% could not even take a shot at it.

And how many could name the new British prime minister? Merely 28% named Gordon Brown -- and guess who finished second with 5%? Rupert Murdoch. Another 4% were sure it was Robert Gates.

Read more: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_di...

[Mika]

1. But we sure can consume.

Well trained.

[davidnc76]

2. Dobbs and Bill-O

are "real news" programs!?!? Ha!

Maybe the Pew Researchers are the uninformed ones!

[liberal1973]

6. No kidding! Bill O'liely is not news.

[MasonJar]

3. Americans are so puffed with their own provinciality. No small wonder

that we have suffered through 8 long and miserable years of a total buffoon.

[nbcouch]

7. Selfish, ignorant and provincial, you bet!

And that is exactly how the ruling elites (primarily GOP, but some Dems too - all the Corporatists) want it. That type of person is far easier to manipulate and control than someone who is educated, thoughtful, and broad-minded. That is precisely why Barack Obama represents such a threat to the elites - because that is the kind of person HE is, the fear is that he will give rise to millions more just like him once he gains the position of great leadership potential he is seeking.

[Hugin]

31. You said it!

I'm hoping what you describe is exactly what happens, too.

[Supersedeas]

4. that might explain Congress' poor approval -- but gawd, this country is in trouble

[jtrockville]

5. I wonder how many can name their Rep and Senators.

[Mika]

8. UBS, BofA, Exxon/Mobil

See? I know mine.

[jtrockville]

9. Ah yes, but you're very well informed =)

[bigworld]

10. Complete report is here

http://people-press.org/reports/pdf/444.pdf

[Faygo Kid]

11. This is why the Muslim stuff works. This is how we ended up with George W. Bush for two terms.

And the Rovian lowlifes know it. They aren't interested in issues - they don't give a damn about gay marriage, or terrorism, or energy independence (God forbid). They are about one thing and one thing only: Power. And so they and their well-compensated surrogates (hello, Rush) give what Mencken called the "booboisie" their fill of crapola, and it works.

If it works this time, I'm done with national politics, will retire early, and find my quiet paradise in northern lower Michigan, where I can do good stuff in the local community and live out my life as the U.S. fades from the scene. Certainly working in DC is no place to be under a McCain presidency. Sounds like a prescription for an early demise, in fact.

[Karenina]

22. It's also how the Russian stuff works.

The morph to propaganda is quite instructional.

[kirby]

12. It is odd that C-SPAN listeners did so poorly...

I know the call in shows are a bunch of crackpots most of the time, but it used to be the C-SPAN demographic was likely to know much more about current events and politics than viewers of the MSM.

[Doctor_J]

16. I don't find C-SPAN any more informative than the rest

The hosts and guests are overwhelmingly right-wing, just like the others, and you can tell that a vast majority of callers are Limbeciles.

[AndyTiedye]

13. Not Being Able to Tell Which Party Controls Congress is Perfectly Understandable

[AlphaCentauri]

18. Some times I can't distinguish between walt-mart and congress

[bean fidhleir]

30. Absolutely. If I were asked the question, I'd say the GOP because, effectively, they do

Who cares about purely nominal control.

[Juan_de_la_Dem]

14. Should I laugh or cry

[Fovea]

19. Hard to say

I think I am just going to clean and re-load.

[BrklynLiberal]

15. Uninformed is a kind way to put it. They are willfully ignorant, and proud of it.

All they care about is what is happening to them at the given moment...and particularly if it affects their pocketbook.
They are prone to accept the most improbable and downright insane lies fed to them by BushCo and their minions.
Not even 50% even them even bother to vote, although they just love to complain and bitch about the way the country is run.
If this is what the future of this nation depends upon, we are surely doomed.

[Tigress DEM]

17. Well, PEW already knows it stinks, so why would anyone take them seriously?

OK... I don't know the British Prime Minister. I should I really should.

But I'll never forget John Galloway and the way he gave Norm Coleman the thrashing he deserved or the fact Tony Blair did *ush's dirty work by recycling phony intel to support a phony reason to go to war with Iraq.

[Tracer]

23. 'Twas GEORGE Galloway.

NT

[jeff30997]

20. Gee,I'm Canadian and I knew the answers without hesitation.

Now I understand why the "Intelligent Design" fantasy is so popular in the US. Sad.

[Tutonic]

21. How much educatation do we need to work for the Chinese?

[Bandit]

24. USA USA USA ~ We're # 1 We're # 1 ~ We Don't Care We Don't Care

[Solly Mack]

25. Gives ya hope dunnit?

snicker

[Divernan]

26. But they know who got kicked off of what survival show, right?

Dumbed down, untraveled, thick as a brick and proud of it.

Here in Pennsylvania, the majority of the state's residents (they don't deserve the title of citizen) have not visited both of the state's major cities (Phillie and Pittsburgh), let alone neighboring states, either coast or our neighboring countries of Canada and Mexico. I don't brag about my travels, but if someone asks me where I'm going on/have gone on for a vacation and I tell them Berlin, or Dublin or Istanbul, I receive painful, puzzled stares and "But why would anyone want to go there?" They are mentally incapable of understanding the thrill of watching Playboy of the Western World performed at the Abbey Theater, or hearing a call to prayer from a minaret in Istanbul, or just walking down Unter Der Linden in Berlin and visualizing the history which occurred there.

Similarly, most Americans have never attended a ballet, an opera, a live play, an art exhibit, a museum of any kind, a symphony, or even a feel good musical.

The US educational system has carefully killed any sense of intellectual curiosity or knowledge of world history and culture in its students. Don't ever ask "why?"; just shut your mouths (we'll medicate you if necessary), memorize the answers and vomit them back on your test papers.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

28. It's more than the educational bureaucrats--it's American culture and media

carefully shaped by the MSM over the years.

In the 1950s, the mainstream Big Three networks used to show cultural and informational programming on Sunday mornings and afternoons. Even the children's programs had an educational bent, but I recall seeing opera, ballet, Shakespeare, Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts, science all on Big Three TV. Meet the Press and CBS Sunday Morning are among the last survivors of this era. There was a weekly program of opera excerpts (The Voice of Firestone) in the 1950s, and The Bell Telephone Hour, a program of classical music and jazz, appeared weekly through most of the 1960s. Talk show hosts like Dick Cavett and Jack Paar had in-depth discussions with often (not always) thought-provoking guests. CBS Reports and NBC White Paper produced the kinds of documentaries that you now see only on Frontline or Wide Angle. Variety shows, such as Ed Sullivan, featured everything from puppet acts to rock stars, standup comedians, excerpts from current Broadway shows, and renowned violinists, all in the same program. Sure, there was a lot of garbage on the Tube, but a lot of bright spots as well.

When PBS came on the scene, the networks had an excuse to dump educational and cultural programming. It was great to have PBS, but an unintended (or intended?) consequence of this move was that educational and cultural programming became easy to avoid.

When I was teaching in the 1980s and early 1990s, I already had students who had somehow decided that PBS was "boring" (the lazy and/or stupid person's blanket condemnation of any media that don't provide an immediate sensory rush) and actively avoided it.

The days when a teenager could tune in Ed Sullivan to see the Rolling Stones and be exposed to a scene from Man of La Mancha, a comedy routine by Mike Nichols and Elaine May, and a classical piano performance along the way are gone.

Now, what do we have on TV on Sunday afternoons instead of science documentaries and serious travelogues? Pro sports.

When cable first spread nationwide, we were told that it would provide programming for every taste, all from the private sector. At first, it was true. Channels like Bravo (foreign films), A&E (arts programming and British and Australian dramas), Discovery (science and travel documentaries), History (duh, history), BBC America (British dramas and comedies), and The Learning Channel (miscellaneous educational programming) provided a rich diet of viewing, along with dedicated sports channels.

Note that the sports channels are all still there and that there are more of them than ever. Note that there are now no cable channels devoted to cultural programming, Bravo, A&E, and TLC have turned stupid, Discovery is going in for tedious "reality" TV such as Ice Road Truckers, and History now seems to think that there is nothing to history but World War II and the occult.

No wonder people are uninformed. Our current media landscape is such that you won't be well-informed unless you make an active effort.

The ill-informed majority, who, after all, elect the local school boards that set educational policies in this country, has no concept of what it means to be educated, and they think of school merely as a means of racking up points that will impress employers.

[Hugin]

33. I hope someone is writing all of this down...

So we can place it in a time capsule or maybe start an oral tradition in the hopes one day, our successors (Probably
the cockroach-bipeds or chicken-people) Can study it and learn where not to go wrong.

Sad thing is that I'm serious about this. :/

[Celeborn Skywalker]

34. Not everyone has enough money to travel far.

I agree with you that many simply are ignorant, but there are also many, many people who don't have the means to go anywhere for an extended period of time (due to no time off, no money, etc.)

[Lydia Leftcoast]

35. Yes, but they could still READ

for free
at their public library

It's true that a lot of people can't afford to travel, but what's really appalling is the number of people who CAN afford it and don't want to. Their attitude is, "Why should I go anywhere? We have everything right here."

You haven't lived until you've tried to recruit good students for study abroad programs only to have their parents squelch the idea, not because they can't afford it but because Ryan or Ashley might lose a year's lifetime income if their graduation is delayed.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

38. Very true.

I would be so pissed at my parents if I was in that situation and they tried to interfere with that. I would like to live abroad for at least a year once I get my degree. I went to Mexico for 3 months for a Spanish immersion program and it was one of the best experiences of my life.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

27. Why am I not surprised?

Ever since I started frequenting the readers' comments sections on the website of our local newspaper, I've been seeing a lot of heavily propagandized readers, regurgitating everything they heard on Fox or our local right-wing hatefests.

The transition from real news to propaganda was so slow-moving and subtle that a lot of people never noticed.

I would venture that the Daily Show viewers are among the smarter members of the American public (note: I haven't watched since I dropped cable), since they appreciate complex humor.

[Hugin]

29. We need to drink more sports drinks.

They have electrolytes!

[MadHound]

32. I can understand this

You're working sixty to eighty hours a week in a crappy job(or jobs), get home, try to spend some quality time with your family, do what needs to be done around the house, and by the time you can sit down and think, you're too tired to read the paper, you flip on the TV instead and get fed pabulum instead, most of which you zone out because you're too damn tired, too damned stressed from this economy and your life, and you crawl into bed so that you can crawl out in the morning and do it all again.

Many, many people simply don't have the time to become informed citizens, our economy is forcing them to work long hours at little pay. A bit more than forty percent don't have access to a computer, even more don't have access to the internet. Thus for what little information these people do consume, they have to get it out of papers or TV, neither of which are very good sources.

We need to slow our society down, make it feasible for somebody to earn a decent living working thirty five hours a week, relieve the stress of capitalism in hyper mode, and then I think that we would have a more knowledgeable public. But as long as most of our people are running their lives on hyperdrive, things like citizens' knowledge and participation in government is going to be rather low.

[lonestarnot]

36. The consequence of a slave labor society.

[DebbieCDC]

37. The Roman Empire had this system down to a science

Bread and circuses (in today's terms pizza and pro sports). As long as the masses were kept fed and "entertained" they would ask no questions, cause no unrest, work for a pittance and couldn't care less who runs the "empire". Then the heros were gladiators now they are pro sports jocks. History repeating itself.

[lumpy]

39. Ironic that one of the most famous ignoramouses happens to be

presently sitting in the White House and possibly the tradition of ignominy and ignorance will continue if McCain wins the White House.