From: "ritu" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Bryon Daly wrote:
> I notice that this survey didn't look for any misperceptions > of the type > that the > more left-leaning media might help propagate, and that far > more democrats > would > be likely to believe...
Well, the topic of the survey was 'Misperceptions, the Media and the Iraq War'. It is a 23 page report and makes for interesting reading. You can find the whole of it here:
Yes. I believe that there are misperceptions *regarding the Iraq War and surrounding events* that are propagated (or at least not debunked) by the media, in the same way that Fox News is blamed for the pro-war misconceptions. Or do you think that the anti-war side has a 100% clear-eyed lock on all the facts, so there could be no misperceptions there? From the pdf, apparently that's what the sruveyors think: They have a bar chart listing a low support percentage for the war among those with "no misperceptions". Really, none at all? The implication being, of course, that very few people who have their facts straight supported the war, and those that did support it are hapless dupes, misled by the White House and the evilly complicit Fox News.
> Again, why didn't they test for any possible misperceptions > that match > democrat > opinions and thus they would be more likely to be willing to > believe? > Surely there > must be some liberal-favored misperceptions they could look for?
I'm sure there are many liberal flavoured misperceptions but isn't it understandable that they would want to focus on the ones which have cost the US so much money and lives?
I probably would have been clearer to say anti-war misperceptions. If they're going to cover media bias regarding the Iraq war, I think they need to cover both sides. Otherwise, how can we know that the finger they point at Fox News would not be equally deserved by other media as well. I personally suspect it would be.
As it stands, the survey mainly shows that people watching pro-war news are more likely to have pro-war misperceptions. Wouldn't you expect the inverse to also follow?
> Any chance these were politically motivated responses, rather > than just > simple beliefs?
Did you find these to be politically motivated responses or politically motivated beliefs?
Some of both. And by politically motivated, I'm thinking more along the issue line rather than party line. Ie: I think people who are pro war can be more inclined to pick up pro-war misconceptions (than anti-war people would) because they boost their existing belief. And exactly the opposite for anti-war people. I also think that pro-war people might be more inclined to stretch-interpret the survey question (or maybe even lie) to answer in a positive way, and the opposite for anti-war people.
The impression I got was that these beliefs depended as much on the kind of media exposure as on the political leanings of the respondents. Do you think that if this war had been a Democrat project, the numbers of misperceptions would have been the same, albeit on the different side of the political spectrum?
The party spectrum doesn't neatly line up with the people's pro/anti stance. I know hardcore democrats that were seriously pro-war, and I know republicans that were anti-war. I suspect that the stance of some of the media itself would be different if it was a Democrat project. I also suspect that these people wouldn't be doing this survey in that case.
-bryon
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