{"id":21307,"date":"2014-10-22T12:15:54","date_gmt":"2014-10-22T19:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=21307"},"modified":"2015-03-05T20:47:25","modified_gmt":"2015-03-06T04:47:25","slug":"the-cult-of-fox-news-new-study-affirms-blind-devotion-to-cables-church-of-disinformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=21307","title":{"rendered":"The Cult Of Fox News: New Study Affirms Blind Devotion To Cable’s Church Of Disinformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the fundamental methods employed by cults to assure unwavering loyalty is to demand that devotees believe only in the doctrine bestowed by the cult. All others are presumed to be deceivers and unworthy of trust.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, consider the results of the new Pew Research study on “Political Polarization & Media Habits.”<\/a> The year-long research surveyed American news consumers and categorized their relationships to thirty-six sources for news and information about government and politics by political ideology. The differences in the levels of trust exhibited by consistent conservatives and liberals are profound.<\/p>\n

The study reveals that conservatives have drastically constrained their access to news to a very few, hard-right outlets. They behave as if any exposure to a conflicting viewpoint would be tantamount to fraternizing with Satan. Consequently, they rely almost solely on Fox News for their information intake. That is how Fox maintains their ratings position, by herding all of the conservative cattle into one corral.<\/p>\n

\"Pray<\/p>\n

Be Sure To \u201cLIKE\u201d News Corpse On Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Nearly half (47%) of conservatives identify Fox News as their “main source”<\/em> for news. Nothing else even comes close. Compare that to liberals who cite CNN as a main source only 15% of the time with a half dozen other sources closely competing for their attention. What’s more, conservatives obediently trust Fox News by a larger margin (88%) than any other group of viewers. And the only other sources they trust more than 50% of the time are similarly far-right partisans: Sean Hannity (62%), Rush Limbaugh (58%), and Glenn Beck (51%). Of course, none of those sources are objective news providers, or even journalists.<\/p>\n

While Conservatives have only four sources that they trust more than 50% of the time, liberals express trust for nine different sources at that rate: NPR (72%), PBS (71%), BBC (69%), New York Times (62%), CNN (56%), NBC (56%), MSNBC (52%), ABC (52%), and CBS (51%). Note that they are all (with the exception of MSNBC) generally regarded as legitimate journalistic enterprises. Except, that is, by conservatives who trust none of them. In fact, conservatives only have greater trust than distrust for twelve of the thirty-six sources in the study. So consistent with the cult maxim, conservatives actively distrust twenty-four (two-thirds) of the sources. Liberals flip that stat, having greater trust for twenty-eight of the sources and distrust for only eight.<\/p>\n

The mission of Fox News from the beginning was to divide the nation by ideology. It is why they came up with their “fair and balanced”<\/em> slogan with the implicit accusation that the other news providers were neither. They deliberately sectioned off their audience and told them that everyone else was lying to them. Subsequently, when they lied to their viewers (which they do constantly<\/a>), there is no place for them to turn for the actual truth. The Fox version of events becomes the unqualified gospel for their audience\/disciples despite being riddled with falsehoods and rancid partisanship. And additional proof of that is seen in the studies that show that Fox viewers are less informed than those who watch other media, or even those who watch nothing at all. And the more you watch Fox, the less you know<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

News Corpse Presents: The ALL NEW 2nd volume of
\nFox Nation vs. Reality: The Fox News Cult of Ignorance.<\/a>
\nAvailable now at Amazon.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The correlations to cult status are unmistakable: Proselytize relentlessly (Fox is #1); repeat\/preach the cult’s doctrine (anti-Obama, anti-government, Benghazi); reinforce obedience with fear (tyranny, terrorism, Ebola); glorification of idols (Ronald Reagan, Ted Cruz, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin); demonization of competing views (Democrats, the rest of the media); and fabricating a comforting home for faithful followers by casting experienced propagandists and appealing, mostly blonde, presenters as reporters. It’s a closed loop society that succeeds by keeping the flock secluded, ignorant, and artificially happy. I just hope they don’t start serving Kool-Aide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the fundamental methods employed by cults to assure unwavering loyalty is to demand that devotees believe only in the doctrine bestowed by the cult. All others are presumed to be deceivers and unworthy of trust. With that in mind, consider the results of the new Pew Research study on “Political Polarization & Media […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Cult Of Fox News: Pew Study Affirms Blind Devotion To Cable's Church Of Disinformation","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,8],"tags":[33,44,71,129],"class_list":["post-21307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-propaganda","tag-fox-news","tag-glenn-beck","tag-rush-limbaugh","tag-sean-hannity"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/fox-news-pray-jesus1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4Ijg-5xF","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31092,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=31092","url_meta":{"origin":21307,"position":0},"title":"The Cult Of Fox News: Blind Devotion To Cable’s Church Of Disinformation Continues","author":"Mark NC","date":"3\/6\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"While researching an article on the cultish components of Donald Trump's campaign and the branding strategy behind it (stay tuned for that.) I came across an article I wrote a little over a year ago that addressed the same subject, but with respect to Fox News. Having read it again\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pray for Fox News","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/fox-news-pray-jesus1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/fox-news-pray-jesus1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/fox-news-pray-jesus1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":36811,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=36811","url_meta":{"origin":21307,"position":1},"title":"Most Republicans Are Devoted Fox News Cultists According to Study on Media Trust","author":"Mark NC","date":"1\/19\/2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Fox News was built from the bottom up to be a right wing propaganda machine. And for twenty years the network has faithfully pursued that mission. For their effort they have attracted an audience of glassy-eyed disciples who believe everything that Fox News tells them and none of what any\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Pray for Fox News","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/fox-news-pray-jesus1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/fox-news-pray-jesus1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/fox-news-pray-jesus1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":29309,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=29309","url_meta":{"origin":21307,"position":2},"title":"Even More Proof That Fox News Is Killing The Republican Party","author":"Mark NC","date":"7\/29\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Harvard University is validating the media analysis of News Corpse. Last year News Corpse published an article that affirmed that Fox News, despite the conventional wisdom, is actually a powerfully destructive force within the conservative political world. The article, \"Fox News Is STILL Killing The Republican Party.\" examined the results\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Election"","block_context":{"text":"Election","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=152"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fox News Bad For GOP","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-bad-gop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-bad-gop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/foxnews-bad-gop.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":34868,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=34868","url_meta":{"origin":21307,"position":3},"title":"Conservatives Really Do Hate Facts – Study Shows ‘Striking’ Partisan Divide On Fact-Checkers","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/10\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"The rancorous tirades thrown by Donald Trump about \"fake news\" have had a profound impact on the public's perception of the media. Prior to his entry into politics, the press was already regarded suspiciously in certain quarters. But Trump has escalated that to a visceral hostility that has even led\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Donald Trump","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-media-money.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-media-money.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/trump-media-money.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":28629,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=28629","url_meta":{"origin":21307,"position":4},"title":"Pew: Millennials Distrust Fox News More Than Any Other News Source","author":"Mark NC","date":"6\/1\/2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A new study by the Pew Research Center reveals some striking generational disparities between America's news consumers. The study's results cast the light of perspective on the marketing hype of Fox News, who brag incessantly about being the highest rated cable news network. The ratings boast has always been a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"Go Fox Yourself","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/go-fox-yourself-millennials.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/go-fox-yourself-millennials.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/..\/Pix\/Trump\/go-fox-yourself-millennials.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8621,"url":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?p=8621","url_meta":{"origin":21307,"position":5},"title":"Fake Study Gets It Right: Says Fox News Viewers Have A Lower IQ Than Average Americans","author":"Mark NC","date":"12\/9\/2012","format":false,"excerpt":"A press release was published this morning on Yahoo! News with a provocative headline declaring that an \"Intelligence Institute Study shows Fox News viewers have an IQ that is 20 points lower than the U.S. National average.\" The article went on to assert that \"Americans who watch Fox News have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21307"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21307\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26005,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21307\/revisions\/26005"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newscorpse.com\/ncWP\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}