ANS -- Fox News viewers experienced 'changes in attitudes' after watching CNN for 30 days: study

Here is a short article about a scientific study of how which news we watch affects us.  and how fast it can change if we change news sources.  

One of the reasons I am sending this on to you is because I recently posted this quote on FB:

"Be careful whom you associate with.  It is human to imitate the habits of those with whom we interact.  We inadvertently adopt their interests, their opinions, their values, and their habit of interpreting events." Epictetus, Greek Philosopher

After I posted that quote, a FB friend objected, saying she did not do that. She and her friends did not adopt opinions from each other. I answered by saying "Well, you may not, but many people do..." giving some examples of well-known incidents where people pick up the ideas of those around them (think teen age fashion choices).  This FB friend was so offended that I replied to her denial that she unfriended me. So, here is scientific proof that what we hear from others matters in our own opinions.  

find it here:https://www.alternet.org/2022/04/tucker-carlson/?utm_campaign=RebelMouse&socialux=facebook&share_id=6987434&utm_medium=social&utm_content=AlterNet&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR0usEokaQE2RzJGUpX3qq_PAOZfHj3dopHYpF2loQrJQ2doUDsgdG4aPJU 

--Kim

Fox News viewers experienced 'changes in attitudes' after watching CNN for 30 days: study

Fox News' Tucker Carlson speaking at the 2020 Student Action Summit, hosted by Turning Point USA at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, Gage Skidmore

 Alex Henderson 

April 04, 2022

   

One of the things that makes Fox News and Fox Business effective indoctrination tools for the MAGA far right is the fact that so many of their gullible viewers don't consume non-MAGA media outlets and live in a far-right bubble. So, when Fox News' Tucker Carlson says something ridiculous — such as claiming that that COVID-19 vaccines make one more likely to get COVID-19 or praising Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the January 6 insurrectionists — they don't question what they're hearing.

But according to researchers David E. Brockman and Joshua L. Kalla, Fox News viewers developed better critical thinking skills when exposed to CNN.

Brockman and Kalla, journalist Sravasti Dasgupta reports in The Independent, conducted an experiment in September 2020 and published the results in late March. The researchers explained, "Of 763 qualifying participants, we then randomized 40% to treatment group. To change the slant of their media diet, we offered treatment group participants $15 per hour to watch 7 hours of CNN per week, during September 2020, prioritizing the hours at which participants indicated they typically watched Fox News…. Despite regular Fox viewers being largely strong partisans, we found manifold effects of changing the slant of their media diets on their factual beliefs, attitudes, perceptions of issues' importance, and overall political views."

According to Dasgupta, the experiment, "found changes in attitudes and policy preferences about COVID-19, evaluations of then-President Donald Trump and Republican candidates as well as elected officials." The researchers also "found that participants became more likely to agree that if Donald Trump made a mistake, Fox News would not cover it."

The COVID-19 pandemic, according to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, has killed more than 6.1 million people worldwide — including over 982,000 people in the United States. Hopkins data shows how deadly the pandemic has been. Yet Fox News and Fox Business, compared to CNN and MSNBC, repeatedly downplayed the pandemic's severity in 2020.

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The Brockman/Kalla experiment, Dasgupta notes, "found that Fox News gave viewers information about why the disease is not a serious threat, while CNN provided a lot more information about the disease itself."

Brockman and Kalla said of their project, "We found large effects of watching CNN instead of Fox News on participants' factual perceptions of current events — i.e., beliefs — and knowledge about the 2020 presidential candidates' positions. They discovered changes in attitudes about Donald Trump and Republicans as well as a large effect on their opinions about COVID."