I've long said that the purpose of right-wing media is to provide cover for indefensible beliefs, rather than to provide information from which to build defensible beliefs. Many studies have borne this out, and Chris Mooney recaps them in Salon:
Fox News is both deceiver and enabler simultaneously. First, its existence creates the opportunity for conservatives to exercise their biases, by selecting into the Fox information stream, and also by imbibing Fox-style arguments and claims that can then fuel biased reasoning about politics, science, and whatever else comes up.
But at the same time, it’s also likely that conservatives, tending to be more closed-minded and more authoritarian, have a stronger emotional need for an outlet like Fox, where they can find affirmation and escape from the belief challenges constantly presented by the “liberal media.” Their psychological need for something affirmative is probably stronger than what’s encountered on the opposite side of the aisle—as is their revulsion towards allegedly liberal (but really centrist) media outlets.
2 comments:
It is par for the course for Liberals to despise Fox....just like cockroaches love to operate in the darkness...so do the leftist Democrat degenerates. Shine a light on their nocturnal misdeeds and they scamper for cover. In this case the cover the attempt to discredit Fox.
What's really par for the course: wingnuts who defend Fox despite its clear and repeated misinformation. Wingnuts prefer ignorance and lies.
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