Fox viewers were measurably less well informed than people watching no news.

Evidence

A 2013 study found that 69 percent of Fox News guests were skeptical of climate change, compared to 29 percent in the Los Angeles Times and 17 percent in the Washington Post. Another study found that 68 percent of Fox News stories reflected personal opinions, compared to only 4 percent at CNN. As a result, with no discernible line drawn between hard news and partisan opinion, hard-core Fox News viewers can perhaps be forgiven for believing and spreading some of the misinformation they have learned. Indeed, one 2011 study found that Fox News viewers were less well informed than those who did not watch any news. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 140

The practice of Fox executives seeking to slant the day’s news toward conservative talking points was in fact well known. This cannot help but affect news content. A 2013 study found that 69 percent of Fox News guests were skeptical of climate change, compared to 29 percent in the Los Angeles Times and 17 percent in the Washington Post. Another study found that 68 percent of Fox News stories reflected personal opinions, compared to only 4 percent at CNN. As a result, with no discernible line drawn between hard news and partisan opinion, hard-core Fox News viewers can perhaps be forgiven for believing and spreading some of the misinformation they have learned. Indeed, one 2011 study found that Fox News viewers were less well informed than those who did not watch any news. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 140

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing the actual 2011 study citation (likely a measure of general knowledge vs. Fox exposure) for a fact-check essay.
• SHARE: The finding that 68% of Fox stories were personal opinion versus 4% at CNN is a precise stat to pass to anyone studying partisan media.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 140
• recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
• XREF: connects to: Believing all media are biased pushes people toward sources biased in their favor. — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 179