Research has connected viewing Fox News with taking the pandemic less seriously, getting sick, and dying.
Professor Don Moynihan of Georgetown tweeted some of his findings:
Conservatives are more resistant to public health measures in general. We can see this in other countries. But the left-right gap is two-to-four times as large in the US as it is in other countries according to this Pew survey. 2/https://t.co/TnQHBPCv0x pic.twitter.com/6pgWOoUnrQ
— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) December 7, 2021
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Social scientists spend much time trying to determine causality: i.e., whether Fox is driving the beliefs of its audience or merely catering to them. This is hard to sort out. A standard technique to do so is to look at channel position as a source of exogenous variation. 6/ pic.twitter.com/Uf25yxMRuF
— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) December 7, 2021
It's bad that a lot of Americans are dying because they trust the bad public health messaging of Fox and other elites.
Even if you don't care about Fox viewers, the nature of the pandemic means we are all in the same boat. Its just that some people are trying to sink it. 7/ pic.twitter.com/nFmCfi5KnW
— Don Moynihan (@donmoyn) December 7, 2021
While one’s first reaction might be that Fox News viewers are getting what they deserve for believing a news network over public health officials, the reality is that COVID doesn’t care which cable news network a person watches.
Fox News viewers share the same community space that we all do. They work in our buildings. They shop at the same stores. Their kids go to school with vaccinated kids. If you go to church, the person next to you could be an unvaccinated Fox News viewer.
Republicans are the vast majority of those who are dying from COVID, but Fox News viewers who are being told not to take the pandemic seriously are driving the community spread and making a lot of people sick.
Fox News is not only lying to its viewers. They are also killing them./
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association