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bolverk

bolverk 29683

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Older People Are Worse Than Young People at Telling Fact From Opinion

Americans over 50 are worse than younger people at telling facts from opinions, according to a new study by Pew Research Center.

Given 10 statements, five each of fact and opinion, younger Americans correctly identified both the facts and the opinions at higher rates than older Americans did. Forty-four percent of younger people identified all five opinions as opinions, while only 26 percent of older people did. And 18-to-29-year-olds performed more than twice as well as the 65+ set. Of the latter group, only 17 percent classified all five facts as factual statements.

On the individual questions, the identification gap was particularly large regarding the nature of the American government and questions about immigration, but there was no statement that younger Americans did not identify with equal or higher accuracy than their elders.

An earlier study by the American Press Institute also found that older Americans were more confident than younger ones in their ability to discern fact from opinion.

The research tacks against the idea that younger people who are extremely online (or “digitally savvy,” in Pew’s terms) might be more exposed and/or more susceptible to misinformation. But the real correlation with poor performance is exposure to television news, which has fallen off among young people but remains very high among older people. This shouldn’t be surprising if we consider the evolution of American media over the past 60 years. Someone born in 1958, now 60, witnessed two revolutions in media before the internet: talk radio and 24-hour cable news. Both blended facts and opinions in new and unprecedented ways, and they matured with the cohort of Americans who are now over the age of 50.

In 1987, the Reagan administration repealed the FCC’s Fairness Doctrine. That paved the way for the rise of right-wing talk radio, brilliantly chronicled by David Foster Wallace for this magazine. Describing a talk-radio host, John Ziegler, Wallace noted that it was not his job “to be responsible, or nuanced, or to think about whether his on-air comments are productive or dangerous, or cogent, or even defensible.” He has only to be “stimulating.”

Earnest critiques of the facts and opinions that Ziegler put into the world as if he were a journalist made no sense. “Maybe it’s better to say that he is part of a peculiar, modern, and very popular type of news industry, one that manages to enjoy the authority and influence of journalism without the stodgy constraints of fairness, objectivity, and responsibility that make trying to tell the truth such a drag for everyone involved,” Wallace concluded.

Sound familiar to anyone? While talk radio caters to all tastes, the medium developed to serve an audience Pew described in 2004 as “a distinct group; it is mostly male, middle-aged, well-educated and conservative.” That cohort is now over 50, and its members spent decades listening to radio hosts stimulate by mixing facts and opinions in whatever proportion was necessary to keep listeners from turning the dial.

At the same time, as James Fallows wrote in his blistering 1996 critique, Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy, television talk shows became shoutier and nastier—“Squabbling replaces dialogue”—through the ’80s and ’90s, eroding the commitment to facts that is at the center of journalism. On television, reporters offered opinions, and opinion writers proffered facts; both took the Washington game more seriously than the actual state of affairs. Fallows argued that the real world and its facts became narrowed into a set of partisan consequences. In this context, facts are true only insofar as they lead to the right political team scoring points.  

These trends deepened with the mid-’90s launch of the 24-hour cable channels Fox News and MSNBC. They had to be entertaining and capture a niche, which turned out to be a partisan worldview. Fox News has experienced tremendous success by blending partisanship with a mélange of fact and opinion.

The internet, of course, became like the previous iterations of the media, but more so. While the bulk of coverage is close to the political center, the far-right media grew to serve ever-larger numbers of older Americans, mostly with the same undifferentiated mix of fact and opinion that talk radio pioneered. “Our own study of over 1.25 million stories published online between April 1, 2015 and Election Day [2016] shows that a right-wing media network anchored around Breitbart developed as a distinct and insulated media system,” wrote a team of Harvard scholars, “using social media as a backbone to transmit a hyper-partisan perspective to the world.”

In short, for decades now, older people, especially conservatives, have experienced an erosion of the line between fact and opinion in every media form. The only surprising thing about the new research’s results is that every group’s performance was not worse.

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28783

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21 minutes ago, Js1 said:

The migrants are going to infect us with leprosy; it'll be a bigger public health debacle than the ISIS members invading and giving everyone Ebola a few years back! We still haven't recovered.

Good scare tactic for the evangelicals whose only understanding of the disease comes from the bible. They don't know that it's not that common, isn't that contagious, and is now curable.

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RPM

RPM 26321

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2 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Good scare tactic for the evangelicals whose only understanding of the disease comes from the bible. They don't know that it's not that common, isn't that contagious, and is now curable.

Shut up before it starts raining frogs.

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Dnaguy

Dnaguy 11968

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8 minutes ago, WhatTheBuck said:

Good scare tactic for the evangelicals whose only understanding of the disease comes from the bible. They don't know that it's not that common, isn't that contagious, and is now curable.

Are any... ex-leopers

 

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atomheartbevo

atomheartbevo 89675

Posted
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3 hours ago, RPM said:

And that is why the average FOX News viewer hates Shep. That and he's gay.

 

3 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

How does he still have a job there?

Friend thinks that Shep may know who else is gay at FNC (among management), and so job security.  

I think they keep him because he has an audience. His car chase commentaries get ratings, they can pretend he provides fairness and balance and diversity (we aren’t homophobes!), and he’s probably cheap in a time slot that isn’t high profile. 

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happyfunball

happyfunball 481

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48 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

 

Friend thinks that Shep may know who else is gay at FNC (among management), and so job security.  

I think they keep him because he has an audience. His car chase commentaries get ratings, they can pretend he provides fairness and balance and diversity (we aren’t homophobes!), and he’s probably cheap in a time slot that isn’t high profile. 

Next they will have token bleks 

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Underdog

Underdog 28662

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On 10/29/2018 at 5:06 PM, Js1 said:

The migrants are going to infect us with leprosy; it'll be a bigger public health debacle than the ISIS members invading and giving everyone Ebola a few years back! We still haven't recovered.

Shit.  I remember the leprosy scene from Papillion, hits close to home. 

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Stilicho

Stilicho 1397

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, Fozzz said:

Not directly related to FNC, but this is a nice essay on how Facebook is driving the olds insane.

https://thebaffler.com/latest/twilight-of-the-racist-uncles-burmila

Not saying that this article is wrong (it's dead on), but this has been pretty obvious for a while.  Anyone that even casually checks their Facebook account has been inundated by their Boomer family and/or friends incessant and virulent right wing political ramblings.

It really has become the new, shittier version of that goddamn 1990s Rush Limbaugh AM station.  But instead of trying to sell you on precious metal investment plans and male pattern baldness pills, they just take your personal data and sell it to Chinese tech firms.  Who also try to sell you on precious metal investment plans and male pattern baldness pills, albeit with pop-up ads that feature hot women and shitty verb conjugation.

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12271

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, MidTexHorn said:

Dismisses the Fox News element way too readily, and rather hyperbolic, but a lot of truth in that article. 

Yep. I agree with that but its too readily dismissal of Fox is inaccurate in my opinion. You only have to tune in for 30 minutes or so to get the propaganda,. 

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Hugo Stiglitz

Hugo Stiglitz 23367

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6 minutes ago, JimmyJames said:

Yep. I agree with that but its too readily dismissal of Fox is inaccurate in my opinion. You only have to tune in for 30 minutes or so to get the propaganda,. 

The big miss is how Fox News reinforces the Facebook propaganda and creates an almost impenetrable feedback loop. 

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JimmyJames

JimmyJames 12271

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2 minutes ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

The big miss is how Fox News reinforces the Facebook propaganda and creates an almost impenetrable feedback loop. 

Probabaly true.

All I know is its a good thing Facebook wasn’t around when the boomers came of age or the world would have blown up for sure by now. Thankfully they’re old now and the most dangerous thing they do now is vote for assholes like trump. Which is admittedly pretty bad in and of itself.

Apparently the revolution will not be televised after all.  

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horn4life

horn4life 3760

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My poor MIL finally got my wife to snap back at her on the political misinformation that is the staple of Fox news.  She was in the hospital emergency room and was worried about "small pox" and the possiblity of catching it.  From the brown kid in the ER.  Usually such misinformation at Fox uses the President's methodology, "many people are talking about" and old people infer that as reporting of fact.  

Fox News would not exist except Newt Gingrich thought foeign ownership of US braodcast airwaves was a good idea.  The thought was that ownership of broadcast stations was something that should not be controlled by foreigners without a vested interest in the United States.  I guess it did get Newt a job, and the ability to lie on such a grand scale simply has never occurred before in American history as is currently the case of the Trump/Fox lie machine.

Sadly my MIL doesn't know she is being manipulated nor lied to.  Young American's need to vote and inform themselves or the old and horrifically misinformed Fox news watchers gleefully think their misinformation is factually correct.  Sad that misinformationa and outright lies are all Fox and the GOP have left to sell in the closing moments of this election.

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Bama Chick

Bama Chick 28596

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God, y’all don’t know how badly I want to post that essay on Facebook to my own Facebook and tag my father.

It describes him so accurately that I was half expecting a screenshot of his profile as an example.

He’s been a Fox Newser for years but once he joined Facebook was when it got unbearable.

I hate it all so much.

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MidTexHorn

MidTexHorn 822

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6 minutes ago, Bama Chick said:

God, y’all don’t know how badly I want to post that essay on Facebook to my own Facebook and tag my father.

It describes him so accurately that I was half expecting a screenshot of his profile as an example.

He’s been a Fox Newser for years but once he joined Facebook was when it got unbearable.

I hate it all so much.

Join the club. It’s taking all of my willpower not to post it. Trying to rise above. 

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troph

troph 24808

Posted
Posted
God, y’all don’t know how badly I want to post that essay on Facebook to my own Facebook and tag my father.

It describes him so accurately that I was half expecting a screenshot of his profile as an example.

He’s been a Fox Newser for years but once he joined Facebook was when it got unbearable.

I hate it all so much.

My dad and I no longer speak bc of his fb habit. He calls me a socialist and a dim and liburl. He claims I want him dead and that what matters is stoping socialism. He’s accused me of brainwashing my kids and that it’s a shame I won’t let him take them to first baptist. His Facebook feed is vile and full of lies. So we don’t talk.
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Bama Chick

Bama Chick 28596

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Oh I’m so sorry to hear that, troph.

 

I haven’t gotten there with my dad yet because it’s like we both know if we actually speak about it, one or both of us will probably say something that can’t be taken back.

 

My mom, brother, and sister and I all talk about it behind his back. We all feel the same way.

 

And in every other way he’s wonderful - he would do anything for any of us and he’s funny and kind about everything but politics.

 

Just this weekend he was asking me what two of my husband’s younger cousins were up to and when I told him one works for Doug Jones and the other’s boyfriend works for Kamala Harris in DC I could tell he was restraining himself from going on a rant.

 

Same thing as when he found out my daughter participated in A March For Our Lives.

 

So I guess I should be thankful he keeps his nonsense to Facebook and doesn’t say his awful thoughts to my face.

 

I can imagine how hurtful it was for your dad to say those things to you. I’m sorry you went through that.

 

And not that it means much, but I’ve come to really admire you. I think you’re really brave and kind and I’m glad to “know” you. Plus, you seem like a great parent and a pretty cool chick.

 

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MaybeACoordinator

MaybeACoordinator 8349

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4 hours ago, Stilicho said:

Not saying that this article is wrong (it's dead on), but this has been pretty obvious for a while.  Anyone that even casually checks their Facebook account has been inundated by their Boomer family and/or friends incessant and virulent right wing political ramblings.

It really has become the new, shittier version of that goddamn 1990s Rush Limbaugh AM station.  But instead of trying to sell you on precious metal investment plans and male pattern baldness pills, they just take your personal data and sell it to Chinese tech firms.  Who also try to sell you on precious metal investment plans and male pattern baldness pills, albeit with pop-up ads that feature hot women and shitty verb conjugation.

My dad is in his mid 70s and has held on to his leftist beliefs intact. He rarely watches TV and doesn't do Facebook very often, but I can remember him telling me years ago about how this shit started in the FW:fw:FW:fw:fw age. His fellow olds would forward him complete bullshit and he would reply all with links to Snopes debunkings over and over and over again, and yet the BS just kept coming. I think the problem started longer ago than we generally think. FB and Fox News are just slicker versions of the chain email. 

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Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand

Al Bundy's Napoleon Hand 13585

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7 hours ago, Fozzz said:

Not directly related to FNC, but this is a nice essay on how Facebook is driving the olds insane.

https://thebaffler.com/latest/twilight-of-the-racist-uncles-burmila

In another iteration of how far right American politics have swung in the Reagan Revolution Overton Window, Cap and Trade, like Obamacare/ACA, is a Republican proposal that Republicans now go full drama queen opposing.

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