Pew Finds Fox News Viewers Have Questionable Knowledge About COVID-19


In a New York Times op-edTuesday, columnist Kara Swisher makes the case that Fox News spread not just disinformation in the early days of the U.S. COVID-19 pandemic, but the actual disease, by misinforming viewers about the actual threat of the disease, its rate of contagion, and potential mortality. While Fox News has backed away from its early denier position, the disinformation effect appears to persist, according to research released today by the Pew Research Center.

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The study, part of Pew's "Election News Pathways Project," asked American adults who identified each of the Big 3 cable news networks as their main source for political and election news what their knowledge was about two aspects of COVID-19: how ready a vaccine would be available, and whether the disease evolved naturally.

Fox News viewers were much less inclined to believe a vaccine would be available in a year or more or to believe that COVID-19 came about naturally.

2 comments about "Pew Finds Fox News Viewers Have Questionable Knowledge About COVID-19".
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  1. Tom Gray from WCMH, April 2, 2020 at 2:05 p.m.

    No news organizations took this threat seriously, everyone was too busy following the impeachment which was a big waste of time.  NYT, Washpo, CNN and MSNBC all ran stories suggesting that the threat was minimal at best...nice try tho.  The damn mayor of NY was telling people to go about your normal lives the same day NBA suspended their season and that the threat was still minimal. It's disgusting to keep throwing stones when we should be coming together.

  2. PJ Lehrer from NYU, April 3, 2020 at 11:22 a.m.

    Sorry.  Not true. As soon as Wuhan was locked down - 1/23 - Wall Street Journal, New York Times and CNN began intensive daily coverage. 

    More Fox viewers died from the flu and more will die from COVID-19, because fake news is deadly.
    http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/2020/03/if-you-live-in-moment-you-dont.html

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