IRAQ WAR INTENTIONAL MISINFORMATION

Report of an empirical study (Oct. 2003) by two research centers at University of Maryland on public views of three misperceptions during the first part of the Iraq War (seven surveys conducted Jan.-Mar. 2003) that showed that, e.g., those who primarily watched Fox News were much more likely to be misinformed about the three misperceptions (that Iraq and al-Qaeda had close links, that WMDs had been found, and that world opinion supported the war).

For example, a graph (p. 13) shows that the study found that 20% of the respondents who primarily watched Fox News had none of the misperceptions, whereas 77% of those who got most of their news from NPR/PBS had none of the misperceptions. Eighty percent of those who got most of their news from Fox had one or more of the misperceptions, whereas 23% of those who got most of their news from NPR/PBS had one or more of the misperceptions.

The scholars who carried out the research offered no causes for these findings, i.e., why are Fox viewers more misinformed? But I will; there is no other conclusion that I can think of other than it is intentional purveyance of misinformation. The motives of the intentionality, I'm not so sure about. Perhaps profits mixed with ideology?

http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/IraqMedia_Oct03/IraqMedia_Oct03_rpt.pdfSee More