A New York Times article about the inability of media outlets to dissuade 20 percent of Americans that President Barack Obama is not a Muslim quoted Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication associate professor Barry Hollander, whose research inspired the story.
“The efforts of journalists to correct this misperception seem to have had no effect for some people,” he said. “There was this core group of people who were convinced for whatever reason that Obama was lying.”
He added: “It shows that many people want to believe the worst about a candidate or a politician that they don’t like. Negative information is just more memorable. That’s why everyone hates negative advertising, but everyone does it.”
