Ellington

"People have doubts, apparently, about (President Barack Obama's) background and early life. They believe he's hiding important information about his background and early life."

—FOX News "America Live" host Megyn Kelly commenting on a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll finding that 63 percent of Americans believe in at least one political conspiracy theory.

Why it stinks: Kelly was tsk, tsking about Americans believing conspiracy theories when she should be crowing about how successful FOX has been in fostering fear, uncertainty and doubt among its viewers.

FOX news has been one of the most--if not the most--active media sources repeating conspiracies about Obama with little to no context. The station's reports have claimed that the president was educated in a Muslim madrassa and that he is a Muslim. FOX provided Donald Trump a platform to spew "birther" nonsense. They've also given weight to theories that Obama had his college transcripts sealed because they prove he isn't a citizen.

From the report: "In general, higher levels of actual knowledge about politics tends to reduce belief in conspiracy theories. ... 15 percent of people who got none of the questions right thought that three or four of the conspiracies were likely, compared to three percent of those who answered three or four correctly."

"... It could be that more conspiracy-minded Republicans seek out more information, or that the information some Republicans seek out just tends to reinforce these myths," said Dan Cassino, a professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University and an analyst for the poll.