Study finds Fox viewers most uninformed in U.S.

I must apologize to Steve Hatcher for calling him stupid. I should have suspected he was a Fox viewer. Steve, like most Fox viewers, is not stupid (that was a bad choice of words on my part, mea culpa) just uninformed.

A recent study by the University of Maryland School of Journalism found that Fox viewers and listeners were the most uninformed consumers of news media in the country. For example, a majority still believed, two years after the fact, that Saddam Hussein had been responsible for the World Trade Center attack. Ironically, the best informed were listeners to NPR and PBS. That may explain why the Bush Administration wants to cut their funding.

In rebutting my recent letter about Fox, Steve used a rhetorical technique honed to a sharp edge by the right — if the facts don't support you, attack your opponent and change the subject. We see that time and time again. The most recent example is the attacks on Joseph Wilson in an attempt to protect Karl Rove.

I hope people will wake up to what is going on in this country and start thinking for themselves rather than letting Fox do it for them.

BOB WYNHAUSEN

Sandpoint