Only Cable News Viewers Think Israel isn't Committing a Genocide, Survey Finds ( theintercept.com )

Americans who get their news primarily from cable are the only people who believe that Israel is not committing a genocide in Gaza, according to a new survey that examined the relationship between attitudes toward the war and news consumption habits.

The survey puts numbers on trends that have become increasingly apparent: Cable news viewers are more supportive of Israel’s war effort, less likely to think Israel is committing war crimes, and less interested in the war in general. People who get their news primarily from social media, YouTube, or podcasts, by contrast, generally side with the Palestinians, believe Israel is committing war crimes and genocide, and consider the issue of significant importance.

Archive link

ctkatz ,

you're going to get that when

a) western media and journalists are deathly afraid of being labeled antisemites for reporting on what the secular government of israel is doing and

b) cable news viewers skew overwhelmingly republican and conservative who are already antimuslim and pro israel to begin with.

these are the people who are keeping the current administration from telling it like it really is. because I honestly don't believe that bibi would be as empowered to do what he's been doing in gaza if the us government isn't actively publicly condemning in plain language what has happened already.

Aria ,

Cable news viewers and Redditors.

Fidel_Cashflow ,
@Fidel_Cashflow@lemmy.ml avatar

https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/0bf5d413-8d48-45b4-b8da-51fe76ddbcac.png

CanadaPlus ,

Jesus Christ, what is CNN airing? That's pretty much the only story in Israel/Palestine. Legitimate argument is just about whether it's genocide, or "only" close.

Edit: Unfortunately I can't see the study for the exact percentage of cable news viewers. Fox, of course, is unsurprising. Fluff pieces go where important ones that are too politically inconvenient would. CNN usually likes to follow the bleeding wherever it goes.

yogthos ,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

And yet there are still lots of people on here who tell us that western media is not biased, and trot out nonsense like mediabiasfactcheck to argue why we should only consume information from mainstream western sources.

dessalines ,
@dessalines@lemmy.ml avatar

I talked to a boomer fox news watcher recently, and apparently the current party line is that since the US firebombed dresden, what Israel is doing to Gaza is justified. The US even bombed white europeans, so how can you criticize them for killing middle-easterners?

IE, nothing wrong with murdering civilians as long as the US did it first, and to criticize Israel for doing what the US already did is unpatriotic, and the protesters have no right to protest this genocide.

At least the US right is honest about their values, and make no justifications or apologies for civilian murder.

yogthos ,
@yogthos@lemmy.ml avatar

Indeed, this is the key difference I see between liberals and conservatives in US. Conservatives are just more honest about their support for US hegemony by any means necessary. Meanwhile, liberals will do hand wringing and talk about lesser evils to justify atrocities.

mlg ,
@mlg@lemmy.world avatar

That seems somewhat surprising, considering how much internet media post bias also exists.

I guess cable users only stick to one or two news channels?

Omega_Haxors ,

I used to think there wasn’t a conspiracy until I visited the states and heard a neoliberal loudly ranting to themselves about how they’re “not able control people through the media anymore because everyone’s on the internet” There it was, straight out of the horse’s asshole.

https://lemmy.ml/comment/10540478

livus ,

Presumably a big chunk of the cable news demographic are watching Fox, which notoriously has been proven to leave its viewers knowing less than people who don't watch news at all.

wildbus8979 ,

Yeah regular viewers of CNN, which runs every story about Palestine by the IDF first, are totally on the side of genocide is happening...

livus ,

Just to be clear I'm not trying to disagree with OP's article.

Let alone set up some kind of binary where CNN is somehow exempt. I was just making an observation about this demographic.

I'm not American so I don't see these channels but their online coverage is biased AF.

In some of the threads about Tiktok I've been saying that I think the generational divide is more between boomers who watch TV news cycles versus people who get more varied sources of info online. Had to watch our free-to-air TV a couple of weeks ago and the news on the Gaza Genocide was ridiculously pro IDF.

Tagging @macabrett who made a similar point to me.

macabrett ,

I don't think you understand just how aligned all of the networks are on this issue.

datavoid ,

Fox's rhetoric is just the most obvious / laughable (assuming you have a brain)

macabrett ,

Yeah, you're right. I shouldn't have assumed you were giving cover to the other networks. Sorry if I sounded hostile! Seems like we're on the same page.

livus ,

I only get to see it via clips on Seth Meyers but it reminds me of Idiocracy.

Phegan ,

This isn't as much of a left / right issue as other things. Coverage of cable news across the entire political spectrum is running cover for the genocide.

Zagorath ,
@Zagorath@aussie.zone avatar

Very interesting, if not surprising.

I wonder if this would remain true if you controlled for other highly correlated factors like age and political affiliation. Do young leftists who watch cable news (admittedly likely a very small population) still support Israel's genocide? What about old conservatives who use TikTok?

While on the subject though, why the emphasis on cable news? The article made no mention of traditional free-to-air TV.

TropicalDingdong ,

Do young leftists who watch cable news (admittedly likely a very small population) still support Israel’s genocide? What about old conservatives who use TikTok?

I mean the sum of those two cohorts make up such a vanishingly small percentage of anyone its a rounding error. Its likely what you originally assumed, that the breakdown is going along pyschodemographic lines. Old ill informed people watch TV news, and the local stations have offloaded all that unsightly political stuff that ruffles advertiser feathers to cable news. And then your only getting the illusion of variety. Its always the same procorporate, neoliberal, neoconserivative uniparty.

TrickDacy ,

BoTh SiDeS

Schadrach ,

Wait, I can both sides this!

Israel is committing a genocide. Palestine would probably be committing a genocide if they had the capacity to do so effectively ("from the river to the sea, palestine will be free" doesn't leave much space for Israel to, umm, exist at all?).

bamboo ,

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” has never been a call for genocide. It is a call for the destruction of the Israeli state, but not the genocide of Jewish people in Palestine. It’s a call for a new state that grants freedom and equality to all, instead of an apartheid state that has been committing a slow but accelerating genocide against Palestinians.

Alsephina OP ,

https://lemmy.ml/pictrs/image/6d5f1715-c181-42b0-9967-90d6115eeb9f.png

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • [email protected]
  • kbinchat
  • All magazines
    •