Quote :

" NEW YORK A new survey of 1,502 adults released Sunday by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that despite the mass appeal of the Internet and cable news since a previous poll in 1989, Americans' knowledge of national affairs has slipped a little. For example, only 69% know that Dick Cheney is vice president, while 74% could identify Dan Quayle in that post in 1989. Other details are equally eye-opening. Pew judged the levels of knowledgeability (correct answers) among those surveyed and found that those who scored the highest were regular watchers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Colbert Report. They tied with regular readers of major newspapers in the top spot -- with 54% of them getting 2 out of 3 questions correct. Watchers of the Lehrer News Hour on PBS followed just behind. Virtually bringing up the rear were regular watchers of Fox News. Only 1 in 3 could answer 2 out of 3 questions correctly. Fox topped only network morning show viewers. Told that Shia was one group of Muslims struggling in Iraq, only 32% of the total sample could name "Sunni" as the other key group. The percentage of those who knew their state's governor dropped to 2 in 3. Almost half know that Rep. Nancy Pelosi is Speaker of the House and 2 in 3 know that Condi Rice is secretary of state. But just 29% can identify Scooter Libby, 21% know Robert Gates and 15% can name Sen. Harry Reid. But nearly 9 in 10 knew about President Bush's troop escalation in Iraq. Men scored higher than women, and older Americans did better than younger, on average. Democrats and Republicans were about equally represented in the most knowledgeable group but there were more Republicans in the least aware group. "

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003571876

Maybe they think all the media is liberal because they only watch Fox News and don't learn anything else? And the women are too busy cleaning?

4/16/2007 1:29:53 PM

and by watching the republican channels only completely answers why they can't answer who the republican vice president is...



fool proof logic here folks.

4/16/2007 1:31:26 PM

Actually, when I'm at home with the rents they watch Fox and I don't think they mention Cheney very much. None of them do really, except for the daily show which always shows his 'evil' quotes haha.

4/16/2007 1:33:33 PM

maybe they should do this poll for the people that watch american idol and follow pop culture so closely

4/16/2007 1:39:03 PM

Quote :

"SkankinMonky: And the women are too busy cleaning?"

The cleaning thing is a possibility. Women still do the lion's share of the domestic work. Add in a full-time job, and yeah, you do have less time than your male peers to stay informed. Furthermore, there are still plenty of women operating under the assumption that politics/current events is "man's stuff." In some instances, it's not even, "Oh, I'm just a woman. I need to know my place." It's more, "Silly boys and their games. Whether or not we go to war, I'm the one who holds things together around here."

[Edited on April 16, 2007 at 2:00 PM. Reason : sss]

4/16/2007 1:58:46 PM

Quote :

"15% can name Sen. Harry Reid."

wtf does that mean. What was the question..... "Can you name Sen. Harry Reid?" "uhhh, no?"

4/16/2007 1:59:31 PM

^

Quote :

"The percentage of those who knew their state's governor dropped to 2 in 3"

Quote :

"and 15% can name Sen. Harry Reid."

4/16/2007 2:01:21 PM

Quote :

"wtf does that mean. What was the question..... "Can you name Sen. Harry Reid?" "uhhh, no?""

thats just bad writing. obviously they were asking who the senate majority leader is.

4/16/2007 2:07:50 PM

Quote :

"Actually, when I'm at home with the rents they watch Fox and I don't think they mention Cheney very much. None of them do really, except for the daily show which always shows his 'evil' quotes haha."

Even if the news channels don't mention Cheney, shouldn't people know he's the veep?

4/16/2007 2:19:14 PM

so the people who scored teh highest were regular watchers of The Daily Show and The Colbert Report

sounds like a credible poll!

4/16/2007 2:25:30 PM

AFAIK Pew has been around for a while and is considered fairly reliable as far as pollsters go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEW_research

4/16/2007 2:40:08 PM

^^ are you denying that TDS and TCR watchers are more informed as to who people in the government are than regular news show viewers?
Whether you like the shows or not, or if you think they have whatever biases, you can't deny that after watching and paying attention to those shows for a week that you wouldn't be able to name most of the important people in the federal government, or at least the ones mentioned in the study.

4/16/2007 2:46:45 PM

^ Easy killa, you are almost using logic with TrollTwista, you know you can't do that, right?

4/16/2007 2:48:11 PM

Quote :

"thats just bad writing. obviously they were asking who the senate majority leader is. "

Probably, or they may have shown a picture of him, and asked who he was.

4/16/2007 2:49:11 PM

^^^well if the only criteria is knowing who someone is, then ok i'll concede that

but the amount of overt skew and bias on those programs compared to any real / non-comedy news program would make me skeptical of the poll questions

Are they saying "the most informed" people just are more familiar with what people are in current positions?

^^sup bald bitch...did your incessant whining and crying ever disclose to you who the big bad mod who suspended your bitchass was?

4/16/2007 2:50:52 PM

^^^^Well, polls are biased after all.

[Edited on April 16, 2007 at 2:52 PM. Reason : ]

4/16/2007 2:51:16 PM

just because someone is biased, doesn't mean they aren't informed.

4/16/2007 2:51:49 PM

just because someone knows who the vice president is, doesnt mean they're informed about anything else

4/16/2007 2:52:26 PM

A poll like this means absolutely nothing. There are way too many things that can influence any of these people. Just asking them which news they watch is not nearly enough to make this a reliable study.

4/16/2007 2:53:15 PM

Yea, but that isn't what the poll was about. Nice strawman!

You know, we should relabel strawman, treeman.

[Edited on April 16, 2007 at 2:53 PM. Reason : asd]

4/16/2007 2:53:20 PM

lets rename "steroids" and call them "state409c / typea troll food for bald men"

4/16/2007 2:53:58 PM

Feel free to do that. I dunno why you attempt to troll me about steroids, it's stupid. I don't even lift weights regularly anymore.

4/16/2007 2:56:19 PM

Quote :

"are you denying that TDS and TCR watchers are more informed as to who people in the government are than regular news show viewers? Whether you like the shows or not, or if you think they have whatever biases, you can't deny that after watching and paying attention to those shows for a week that you wouldn't be able to name most of the important people in the federal government, or at least the ones mentioned in the study."

I think this is more a case of correlation instead of causation. Perhaps people who watch TDS and TCR tend to be those who are more informed in part because it would take a good bit of knowledge to fully appreciate their humor.

4/16/2007 3:03:25 PM

Quote :

"it would take a good bit of knowledge to fully appreciate their humor."

a lot of TDS humor only takes someone with the ability to be like "hey looka here, he made a funny voice about bush, haha, oh man that jon stewart is the greatest"

4/16/2007 3:10:32 PM

^ That is what is called comedy/satire.

Next week we will introduce you to hyperbole.

4/16/2007 3:16:04 PM

maybe eventually you can introduce me to how laughing at jokes about how the president has an IQ of 40 makes the show's audience "the most informed"

I always thought it was just a bunch of college aged stoners

4/16/2007 3:16:52 PM

^maybe you can tell me how you can't laugh at a joke that points out our president only has an IQ of 40?

4/16/2007 3:26:55 PM

i laugh at them...course they were funnier the first few years...now they're pretty played out...you know, like "i'm rick james, bitch" threads got played out after just a few days/weeks?

but what does that have to do with "being informed"?

4/16/2007 3:30:54 PM

Quote :

"maybe eventually you can introduce me to how laughing at jokes about how the president has an IQ of 40 makes the show's audience "the most informed""

That doesn't make them the most informed. Them statistically answering the most questions correctly about basic political stuff makes them the most informed. I don't understand why you can't accept that people who enjoy political comedy/satire/humor (liberal or not) are going to be more informed about general politics than others.

4/16/2007 3:31:28 PM

I thought the article was interesting which is why I posted it. It reminded me of the Daily Show vs. O'reilly poll in which Daily Show viewers were shown to be wealthier and more competent than O'reilly's.

4/16/2007 3:32:01 PM

Quote :

"For example, only 69% know that Dick Cheney is vice president"

This is the only statistic that really caught my eye. I mean, good freakin lord, how do you not know the name of the vice president?

4/16/2007 3:33:03 PM

Quote :

"I don't understand why you can't accept that people who enjoy political comedy/satire/humor (liberal or not) are going to be more informed about general politics than others"

i dont see how there is ANY correlation

4/16/2007 3:34:40 PM

most of the jokes on TDS start with a background to the situation....most of what they say is accurate, at least until the punch line anyway. I know there have been several times when TDS brought a subject that i wasn't aware of to my attention, and spurred me to research it more closely.

the best bits are when they show a clip of a politician saying x, then a more recent clip of the same politician saying the exact opposite.....no commentary even needed.

and, when stewart has a political guest, it's usually very informative and mostly serious.

most of the people that watch aren't looking for the show to be their primary news source. I think there is correlation, but the article may have misrepresented/misunderstood the relationship.

4/16/2007 3:46:12 PM

Quote :

""For example, only 69% know that Dick Cheney is vice president" This is the only statistic that really caught my eye. I mean, good freakin lord, how do you not know the name of the vice president?"

really, most of the blurbs they published are meaningless without knowing the actual question or survey.
e.g. there are a dozen ways to ask a question about Cheney.
- Who is the vice president?
- Who is Dick Cheney?
- Who is this man? (show a picture of Cheney)

any of those questions could produce significantly different responses.

4/16/2007 3:51:53 PM

Quote :

"i dont see how there is ANY correlation"

People who watch a show the makes fun of current national affairs are going to be more informed about national affairs. How does that not seem logical.

4/16/2007 3:58:39 PM

i understand that people who "get" the political humor of some of those shows apparently have some basic knowledge of who is in power and some current events

i guess its kind of what agentlion ^^ is saying...what questions did they ask? how did they determine what qualifies as being "most informed"

i mean people who have no cares at all about politics probably wouldnt watch TDS or TCR...i'd still think the MOST informed people took their news and politics more seriously than most viewers of TDS and TCR

4/16/2007 5:26:19 PM

^

its not that complicated:

Quote :

" "who's the vice president" "who's the secretary of state" "who's the speaker of the house" "who's the senate majority leader" "

...

either you fucking know this shit or you don't.

...

fact is, Fox News Channel, with their sensationalist reporting and 5th-grade comprehension level, naturally appeals to the lowest common denominator.

along with their decidedly conservative slant, they also appeal to the people who are statistically speaking less educated than their liberal counterparts.

so... its no wonder that so many of that group cant answer basic questions about the federal government. they dont know because they dont need to know.

all they need to know is that "Libruls are teh evil" and "I din' come from no damn monkey!"

that you republican tools on TWW are generally educated and informed, makes you guys the OUTLIERS. not the norm.






[Edited on April 16, 2007 at 8:24 PM. Reason : ]

4/16/2007 8:20:15 PM

Quote :

"all they need to know is that "Libruls are teh evil" and "I din' come from no damn monkey!" "

i could say all liberals who watch the daily show need to know is "Bush iz uh idiot" and "How come evil ol Cheney doesnt like muh rainforests" and I would come off sounding just as dumb as you just did

4/16/2007 9:10:05 PM

just 3 questions? that doesnt sound very accurate

4/16/2007 9:48:52 PM

^^ except that my stereotype is based in reality (and pretty much spot on), whereas you are just trying to riff on it to distract from your personal embarrassment.

After all, it's *your* viewing demographic that can't name the Vice President.

Not mine.




[Edited on April 16, 2007 at 10:05 PM. Reason : ]

4/16/2007 10:04:15 PM

Quote :

"just 3 questions? that doesnt sound very accurate"

4/16/2007 10:14:53 PM

^I had similar questions.

I'm assuming 2 out of 3 means 2 out of 3...like 18 out of 27 or 6 out of 9 or whatever.

Cause there are more than three questions listed in the first post.

[Edited on April 16, 2007 at 10:23 PM. Reason : I dunno.]

4/16/2007 10:23:19 PM

Quote :

" i could say all liberals who watch the daily show need to know is "Bush iz uh idiot" and "How come evil ol Cheney doesnt like muh rainforests" and I would come off sounding just as dumb as you just did"

There was nothing dumb about it. It was so eloquent and spot on, the best trolling you could muster was to call it dumb in hopes of getting a response. That was all you had left. Then he dominated you again and you don't have a reply. Clown.

4/16/2007 10:34:58 PM

Quote :

"...i'd still think the MOST informed people took their news and politics more seriously than most viewers of TDS and TCR "

That might be true... but those stations the "most informed" people watched also had tons of "Libruls are teh evil" dipshits watching Fox and tons of "Bush iz uh idiot" idiots watching (insert steriotypical liberal media outlet here). I doubt TDS/TCR appeals to as many of these tards as the show makes fun of them alot and they wouldn't get the humor nor are interested in the topics.

4/16/2007 10:35:45 PM

Quote :

"...i'd still think the MOST informed people took their news and politics more seriously than most viewers of TDS and TCR"

And this whole time I had no idea I am not allowed to take serious news seriously AND laugh when it gets made fun of by a satire show.

4/16/2007 10:46:53 PM

if you were fox news, why would you mention cheney?

the guy makes nixon in 72 look popular.

4/16/2007 11:24:27 PM

Quote :

"Americans' knowledge of national affairs has slipped a little. For example, only 69% know that Dick Cheney is vice president, while 74% could identify Dan Quayle in that post in 1989."

In other news, columnists still don't know that a 5% difference in 2 polls can be explained by the margin of error alone.

Quote :

"A poll like this means absolutely nothing. There are way too many things that can influence any of these people. Just asking them which news they watch is not nearly enough to make this a reliable study."

The hell are you talking about? People are asked what politicians they know and what news programs they watch. What's so hard about that? The only point of contention I have is that knowing a few key people doesn't imply a lot of knowledge about political happenings as a whole.

4/16/2007 11:24:54 PM

actually in this poll the margin of error is 3.5%, so it does show a slight dip.

However, if you think about how often Dan Quayle was laughed at, versus how much time Dick Cheney spends hidden in a secret bunker even the 2% drop could be considered a non drop

4/16/2007 11:35:25 PM

Quote :

"except that my stereotype is based in reality (and pretty much spot on)"

wow you sure do think highly of yourself dont you...do you think lots of other stereotypes are "pretty much spot on" as well? they're STEREOTYPES

Quote :

", whereas you are just trying to riff on it to distract from your personal embarrassment. "

personal embarrassment for what? apparently the only way you can attempt to retort anything i say is to attack my character considering i shot your personal opinionated points to shit

Quote :

"After all, it's *your* viewing demographic that can't name the Vice President Not mine. "

how do you figure that? you dont, you just make shit up

its too bad you have nothing to say other than again using nothing but your own *opinion*to try and validate your previous own *opinion*\

Quote :

"And this whole time I had no idea I am not allowed to take serious news seriously AND laugh when it gets made fun of by a satire show."

your constant trolling in TSB threads sure does show that you take politics seriously

the fact im even having to try and convince you that people who watch fake news shows on a comedy network are not necessarily as informed about politics as people who watch REAL news shows is laughable

Some people like to take *opinion polls* as fact when they suit their own preferences.

I could care less about any particular cable driveby news station. I'll flip through any of them if there is a big story going on. I also watch TDS and TCR. I also think many of my fellow viewers of TDS and TCR are just kids who aren't nearly as informed as they think they are. I also think not all people who watch Fox News are ignorant hillbillies, just like I don't think everyone who watches MSNBC or CNN is some kind of treehugging hippie. Its just comical that the idea that people who watch the news for news couldnt possibly be as well informed as people who watch the news for comedy

4/16/2007 11:40:02 PM

Twista, you are such a troll. It's ridiculous, dude.

All you do is attack liberals/liberal ideas, and you also post ridiculous "points" that no thoughtful person would ever consider--actually, I take that back...we all have stupid moments. But you have them continuously; there's no possible way you could be genuine with the bullshit you spew.

And another thing. You make a ton of assumptions about other people, and people are exhausted and exasperated and don't feel like correcting your childish assumptions so they argue within your assumptions. And the second they attempt to glean something about you, you are so goddamn quick to jump back and claim you're neutral or independent. It's like you won't call yourself a conservative, but you exclusively criticize everything liberal--there's a lot of users like this.

Rarely, you make these eloquent, incisive remarks...almost like there's another person using your account. Why can't you try for that more often?

4/17/2007 12:19:28 AM