Does the News Help Make People More Informed? Maybe Not.

(PHOTO:Ben Murray

The accepted wisdom is that exposure to the news and other media helps make people more politically educated—but a new study examining 2,400 respondents over the 2008 presidential campaign suggests that when it comes to an entrenched belief (or paranoia), this may not be the case.

Because the survey asked the same questions of the same people in October, September and November of 2008, Hollander was able to explore how people’s beliefs changed over time. The percentage of respondents who believed that Obama was Muslim stayed roughly the same over the study period, shifting from 20.2 percent in September to 19.7 percent in November.

“With most forms of political knowledge, media should theoretically make you more accurate,” Hollander said. “In this case, media exposure had no effect. Ultimately, the message here is that people believe what they want to believe.”

For more, check out the press release about the study.