• Is the problem that Americans simply do not pay enough attention to the news? If they pay more attention, does this reduce the likelihood of misperceptions? Does this vary according to their news source?

• Is the problem one of bias—of one seeking out information to confirm political predilections? Do levels of misperception vary according to party identification or feelings about President Bush?

-- from the PIPA report, which I am in the process of reading, as I assume you also are.

It struck me as odd that CBS was the secondmost prime source of news among those poeple who held at least one of those three misperceptions... I had always thought they were counted among the dreaded "liberal" media (that may be only because I used to watch CBS).

So what is it? Is editorial policy unfairly de-emphasizing the piecemeal follow-on announcements by the Bush Administration that their earlier assumptions were mistaken... or are unbalanced listener/viewers either denying they heard anything refuting their preconceptions, or simply not paying attention?

That's what I meant by "cognitive abilities" - the capacity to accept and synthesize information which may contradict previous perception.

("cognitive abilities" my ass.)

I have no doubts about the cognitive abilities of your ass, Tom - you talk out of it so often. To wit:

Of course, if many of the people at NPR had their way we'd have the same kind of government as Cuba does, so I don't know how bright this actually makes them.