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No Kidding

A study of Americans finds that most adults can’t tell the difference between fact and opinion in news stories. The Pew Research Center, a non-partisan Washington D.C. “fact tank” sponsored by the non-profit Pew Charitable Trusts, surveyed 5,035 American adults, both Democrats and Republicans, and showed them sentences from news stories and asked if they were statements of fact, or opinions. Only 26 percent were able to correctly identify the facts, and only 35 percent were able to correctly identify the opinions. “There is a striking difference in certain Americans,” noted Pew’s Director of Journalism Research, Amy Mitchell, “and that depends on one’s level of digital savviness, political savviness.” (RC/Reuters) ...Which in turn depends on whether they were taught how to think, or what to think.
Original Publication Date: 01 July 2018
This story is in True’s book collections, in Volume 25.

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