That was fast. Here’s my original post on the subject:
Here’s the update:
Yup. The study, news story, and press release were a hoax. Read all the details here.
In the mean time, here are a few interesting quotes from the article:
A fake study claiming conservative viewers of FOX News were significantly dumber than conservatives who didn’t watch FOX News spread through the internet like wildfire, even though the briefest of attention to the details in this glorified press release should have raised suspicion. The pr guru behind the hoax — our term, not his — said he was surprised by how quickly and broadly the item spread but not by how easily its claims went unquestioned. “Facts are obsolete,” said P. Nichols, the contact given for the press release who claimed Nichols was his last name but refused to confirm his entire name, the name of the Republican PAC he says backed the “study” or any of the people behind the actual report he insisted did truly exist. And no, he wouldn’t send us a copy of it.
Another interesting snippet:
The story — or rather the press release posted on PRWeb that was soon reposted on Yahoo News and numerous liberal political blogs as a genuine article — spread quickly, thanks to juicy quotes like this one from P. Nichols, named as the “lead researcher” on the study. “Several previous studies show that self-identified conservatives are less intelligent than self-identified moderates,” said Nichols in the press release he himself wrote. “We have never seen such a homogeneous group teetering so close to special needs levels.” Nichols also quoted himself as saying, “Fox News’ content is presented at an elementary school level and plays directly into the fears of the less educated and less intelligent.”
It’s a fascinating read, I’m glad we’ve got skeptical folks who are willing to fact check some of these dubious claims. It’s also cool the story got debunked so fast. Yay!
