Americans may have more news outlets today than two decades ago, but they still don’t know much more about current events than they did then, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
But here’s one big difference: the survey respondents who seemed to know the most about what’s going on — who were able to identify major public figures, for example — were likely to be viewers of fake news programs like Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report”; those who knew the least watched network morning news programs, Fox News or local television news. ...
The six news sources cited most often by people who knew the most about current events were: “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” (counted as one), tied with Web sites of major newspapers; next came “News Hour With Jim Lehrer”; then “The O’Reilly Factor,” which was tied with National Public Radio; and Rush Limbaugh’s radio program. The six news sources cited most often by people who knew the most about current events were: “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” (counted as one), tied with Web sites of major newspapers; next came “News Hour With Jim Lehrer”; then “The O’Reilly Factor,” which was tied with National Public Radio; and Rush Limbaugh’s radio program.
Here's the actual Pew Centre survey. If you look at the numbers, the scary thing is that not even the Daily/Colbert audience are current affairs brainiacs.
In what could be seen as good news for newspaper websites, their readers appear to be slightly better informed than the fake news consumers -- which is as it should be. :)
As for me, I got seven out of nine correct, which puts me at the 77-percentile, compared to a national U.S. average of 50 per cent.
I only erred on one about the U.S. minimum wage and, by default, a follow-up. Not bad for a non-American. :)
If you want, take the Pew News IQ test yourself.