State of info-tainment

Not so long ago, I had an experience wherein an evening of television viewing was briefly interrupted by a very small pig wearing a scarf and carrying a very small booklet of Christmas carols who screamed at me, "Are you enjoying your stupid pseudo-intellectual quasi news show, you yuppie freak!?"

I suppose it was the pig's intention to cause me to feel ashamed but, as it turns out, I was likely watching the most informative television programming currently available.

NEW YORK A new survey of 1,502 adults released Sunday by Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that despite the mass appeal of the Internet and cable news since a previous poll in 1989, Americans' knowledge of national affairs has slipped a little. For example, only 69% know that Dick Cheney is vice president, while 74% could identify Dan Quayle in that post in 1989.

Other details are equally eye-opening. Pew judged the levels of knowledgeability (correct answers) among those surveyed and found that those who scored the highest were regular watchers of Comedy Central's The Daily Show and Colbert Report. They tied with regular readers of major newspapers in the top spot -- with 54% of them getting 2 out of 3 questions correct. Watchers of the Lehrer News Hour on PBS followed just behind.

While not terribly surprising.. I can't bring myself to believe this is a particularly good thing.

link via Haney