Ed Schultz Hammers Rush Limbaugh With Study: 'Fox News Viewers Are The Most Uninformed' (VIDEO)

Ed Schultz broke out a new weapon to counter Rush Limbaugh's charges against Democratic voters: a recent study from Fairleigh Dickinson University that found people who watch Fox News are less informed than people who don't watch any news at all.

On Monday, Limbaugh alleged that "ignorant and uninformed voters" put President Obama into office, and that Democrats were trying to dumb down students in school.

In his Psychotalk segment on Monday, Schultz hammered Limbaugh with the study. He appeared to relish the results, which showed that Fox News viewers did worse on questions about world events than people who don't watch news.

"Misinformation is the cornerstone of the Republican election strategy," Schultz alleged. He replayed clips of Megyn Kelly calling pepper spray "a food product," Sean Hannity referring to "death panels" as part of health care reform, and Gretchen Carlson discussing a theory that aliens could attack the earth to stop global warming.

"So Fox News viewers are the most uninformed and most Fox News viewers are Republicans," Schultz concluded, citing another poll. Watch the segment in the clip above.

View a slideshow more Limbaugh feuds below:

• Limbaugh vs. Michelle Obama

• Limbaugh vs. Michael J. Fox

• Limbaugh vs. Chevy Volt, Motor Trend

• Limbaugh vs. Cenk Uygur

• Limbaugh vs. Barney Frank

• Limbaugh vs. Joe Scarborough

• Limbaugh vs. Jay-Z

• Limbaugh vs. Keith Olbermann

• Limbaugh vs. Michael Steele

• Limbaugh vs. Barack and Michelle Obama

Comments

[lib2dbone]

08:10 PM on 12/30/2011

There aren't as many bigots, racists, misogynists and homophobes as you would think. They all just gather at fox and at rush. The rest of humanity is scattered around all other media. NYT, CSPAN, MSNBC, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, Al Jezeera etc.

They are patting themselves on the back but they don't understand.

[whynotspeakup]

05:20 PM on 12/28/2011

Rush is living proof that a person can make a career, and a WHOLE lot of money, by being a hate monger.

[IglooUsher]

12:48 PM on 12/28/2011

Rush Limbaugh, closet drug addict!

[JohnHopwood2]

08:45 PM on 12/25/2011

Years ago rush had to change his profession on his tax return. He is listed as a comedian because he lied so he would not get sued all the time. That's why he can say whatever he wants. Just remember he is not telling news he is telling jokes and the neocons repeat his meaningless drivel as if it was fact.

[Robert Lee Harrington]

06:55 AM on 12/25/2011

Fox viewers are the most misinformed about climate change

"Yet another study has shown that Fox News viewers are the most misinformed about important political issues -- this time, global warming. This is no surprise, of course; Fox News openly advertises its agenda on climate change, and this isn't even the first study to show that Fox viewers are less likely to accept the scientific position. But it adds to a growing body of evidence that there's nothing benign about Fox's misinformation campaign.

Feldman and her colleagues reported on their analysis of a 2008 national survey, which found that “Fox News viewing manifests a significant, negative association with global warming acceptance.” Viewers of the station were less likely to agree that “most scientists think global warming is happening” and less likely to think global warming is mostly caused by human activities, among other measures. Viewers of CNN and MSNBC were the opposite.

And no wonder: Through a content analysis of Fox coverage in 2007 and 2008, Feldman and her colleagues also demonstrated that Fox coverage is more dismissive about climate science, and features more climate skeptics...."

http://www.grist.org/list/2011-11-21-fox-viewers-are-the-most-misinformed-about-climate-change

[mechmar8]

10:00 AM on 12/24/2011

First this study from Fairly Ridiculous University is a joke. Second, Ed Shultz (Big Stup) is the lefty equivalent of Rush Limbaugh; they are both entertainers.

[wanagiakicita]

11:22 AM on 12/24/2011

With some HUGE differences....Schultz deals with facts and the druggie deals with hate rhetoric and appeals to the unintelligent and uninformed. Schultz is head and shoulders over the druggie Limbaugh in values, truth, honesty and integrity. He also fights for the Middle Class while Rush is one of the 1% and dupes his listeners into all kinds of lunatic theories and irrational spews. Truth is hard to deal with eh?

[mechmar8]

07:57 AM on 12/25/2011

You're wrong. Shultz twists the facts to suit his politics as does Limbaugh. Try to be objective if you can. Meanwhile Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

[beachinstead]

09:51 AM on 12/24/2011

ED shultz the msnbc political hack has no room to talk! So he say's that all his 57 veiwers are more informed then fox news viewers!!!---LOL!!!

[Robert Lee Harrington]

07:01 AM on 12/25/2011

Fox News Viewers are the Most Misinformed: A Seventh Study Arrives to Prove It...

Two of my most popular posts here at DeSmogBlog were a pair of items documenting 1) just how many surveys have found Fox News viewers to be more misinformed about factual reality...

In these pieces, I identified 6 separate studies showing Fox News viewers to be the most misinformed, and in a right wing direction—studies on global warming, health care, health care a second time, the Ground Zero mosque, the Iraq war, and the 2010 election.

I also asked if anyone was aware of any counterevidence, and none was forthcoming. There might very well be a survey out there showing that Fox viewers aren't the most misinformed cable news consumers on some topic (presumably it would be a topic where Democrats have some sort of ideological blind spot), but I haven’t seen it. And I have looked.

There really does seem to be a “Fox News effect," then, and one that is playing a central role in driving our political divide over reality in the U.S. And now comes a true tour-de-force seventh study showing that Fox News viewers are the most misinformed, this time once again about global warming....

http://desmogblog.com/fox-news-viewers-are-most-misinformed-seventh-study-arrives-prove-it-and-vindicate-jon-stewart

[beachinstead]

09:24 AM on 12/25/2011

Wrong!!!! LOL! Newt Gingrich is a Fox News viewer and al sharpton is not!!! Merry christmas!!

[coloradofla]

04:56 PM on 12/30/2011

Of course his viewers can spell.

[iyanovskay]

11:44 PM on 12/23/2011

I am not Rush fan at all, But as far as I know he is not on Fox News. He is a RADIO SHOW HOUST,

[wanagiakicita]

11:26 AM on 12/24/2011

And quotes FOX and defends them as the "authority" on political "news" - the biggest joke on Cable is that they refer to themselves as a "news" show.

[AverageJoeSixPac]

03:09 PM on 12/24/2011

The Big Joke is ... Tree huggin Earth kissin Free thinkin, where did you ever get the idea that Global Cooling/Global Warming now Global Extreme Weather was ever anything other than a political scam.

The joke is on you,,,,,

[AverageJoeSixPac]

03:30 PM on 12/24/2011

I am, and have been since he first started in Sacramento at KFBK. His program airs on many Fox Radio affiliate stations. Like any smart person, Rush has a team of people that research for him. One such is DR Roy Spencer .. http://www.drroyspencer.com/about/ ....a real climate scientist, (University of Alabama) who worked for nasa.

Rush is good listening, humerous as well as informing.

[Robert Lee Harrington]

06:49 AM on 12/25/2011

Roy Spence:

"...Roy Spencer sees himself–a persecuted Galileo, boldly speaking scientific truth to power, while most of his fellow scientists succumb to greed and cowardice. Whether Spencer ultimately turns out to be right or wrong, in this review I will show that at this point, he hasn’t even come close to proving his case. Furthermore, some of his work has been of demonstrably poor quality, so if his aim is to convince other scientists, he has shot himself in the foot more than once. Whereas Galileo’s main thesis was eventually universally accepted, the probability of that kind of outcome here seems vanishingly small...."

http://www.skepticalscience.com/Roy-Spencers-Great-Blunder-Part-1.html

[tradjety]

10:28 PM on 12/23/2011

First not a big fan of Ed Koch because he at times goes to the insane left. Im a liberal but Koch at times is extreme. That being said nice job Ed ... true and unbiased reporting this time.

Second , how does anyone listen to Rush Limbaugh. He has to be one of the biggest liars in the media. Extreme right ... wacko.

[wanagiakicita]

11:26 AM on 12/24/2011

Uh, Ed Koch is a Right wing billionaire and one of the brothers who started the TEA BAGGERS.

[tradjety]

12:14 PM on 12/24/2011

lol yea ... oops

[AverageJoeSixPac]

03:40 PM on 12/24/2011

Any time I see the use of " That being said" or "having said that" especially with a very short statement, it illustrates a person struggling to appear as an authority on something.

It’s really transparent and obnoxious

[frustrated one]

10:20 PM on 12/23/2011

This study interviewed 612 from New Jersey. Is 'The Situation' watching Fox News?

Please, when a real study comes out, then post it.

Ed Schultz is one of the most uninformed people on TV. He should fire his researchers.

Pathetic story.

[wanagiakicita]

11:34 AM on 12/24/2011

Actually he's very informed and this isn't the first study that shows Fuzzy News viewers are less informed: Dan Cassino, a political science professor at Fairleigh Dickinson, explained in a statement, "Because of the controls for partisanship, we know these results are not just driven by Republicans or other groups being more likely to watch Fox News. Rather, the results show us that there is something about watching Fox News that leads people to do worse on these questions than those who don’t watch any news at all."

This isn't the first study that has found that Fox News viewers more misinformed in comparison to others. Last year, a study from the University of Maryland found that Fox News viewers were more likely to believe false information about politics.

[Ramon Noches]

06:53 PM on 12/23/2011

I hope those bottles on Rush Limbaugh's desk contain only diet drinks, as his bazaar thought processes continue to ravage the landscape of professional broadcasters. If he is as smart and knowledgeable as he thinks he is, why doesn't he hang up his mike, walk out the door, and join the Republican parade of Presidential wantabe's? He has an uphill climb as the comedian community has already banked several years of jokes. Have Republicans and their supporting cast become a group "By the Rich, Of the Rich, and For the Rich.” RL's job seems to be capturing the imagination of the poor, the hardcore bigots, and continue their life-long brain washing to become solidified right-wingers.

[kasserinepss]

04:15 AM on 12/24/2011

“By the cliché, of the cliché for the cliché' coming out of the libretto of the left, uninformed critters, dogooderswannabe, the press, academia and other deserters.
Ex AF Ramon? By the way you talk you most likely are an AF AWOL”

Anyway, buenos nachos, Ramón …ehm ..sorry . buenas noches, Ramón

[wanagiakicita]

11:37 AM on 12/24/2011

Wow, your druggie Limbaugh has made quite an impression on your brain.....enforcing your bigotry, hate rhetoric and slang. What a lumbering unintelligent response. Living up to the Lumpball's rep I see.....lol.

[Ramon Noches]

12:33 AM on 12/25/2011

One of the most interesting aspects of my comments includes impartial research. From that approach, I form an opinion based on critical thought, not hair trigger opinions from those who seem swayed by what others say, what they see, and what they may hear. I am a moderate, not a Republican and not a Democrat, but what I have found, conservatives by a huge per ponderous of evidence seem more likely to cast inaccurate dispersions on political opponents, even in their own party. I am far from being AWOL, and served honorably for well over 26 years, which included Vietnam; my daughter served two tours in Iraq, and my father a B-25 pilot, died in 1945, while serving in the Army Air Corps. I also vote and have never missed a voting in over 42 years, how about you?

[l78lancer]

07:39 PM on 12/22/2011

""Misinformation is the cornerstone of the Republican election strategy,""
--------------------------------------------------->

And because the right doesn't believe in the use of facts and accuracy as an important part of information it enables them to change their perspectives and positions continuously and never be wrong.

The logic there: You can't be a flip flopper if you're always right.

[tincup2005]

02:41 PM on 12/22/2011

Fox News is most assuredly real news. Let me explain how.....ahhhh...I'm thinking.....hmmmmm....it's because....ahhhhhh....I'll get back to you on this later.

[tincup2005]

02:36 PM on 12/22/2011

Limbaugh is living proof that oxycotin addiction will give you a "rush."

[nancy kriescher]

11:31 AM on 12/23/2011

and users sometimes are users not because of physical pain, but of mental anguish.'

[tradjety]

10:33 PM on 12/23/2011

oxycotin is the corporate chemical equivelant of heroin .... but hey its a corporate money maker so its OK

[tincup2005]

02:32 PM on 12/22/2011

This proves what I have said all along and what Fox News Chief Roger Ailes has never pretended to hide: its programmed entertainment, not hard core news. Ailes makes no bones over the fact he slants whats reported to promote whatever political agenda will make him more money instead of reporting the facts and nothing but the facts. If you watch Fox for the news, you are getting anything but news.

[Chris Morrison]

05:22 PM on 12/23/2011

The main issue with this is that the average American is so inundated with televised tripe that they can no longer distinguish between news and entertainment.