You're right that it would be nice if the article would provide more evidence to back that claim up (especially given the article's content), however I don't th

You're right that it would be nice if the article would provide more evidence to back that claim up (especially given the article's content), however I don't think it's such an outlandish claim if you look at the facts. To greatly oversimplify (with the inherent dangers of oversimplifying), suppose 50% of the population believes news item "A" is true while the other 50% of the population believes "not A" to be true. There could be different reasons for such a scenario, but if "A" is something that can actually be verified with relative ease, then having such a high percentage of people disputing "A" could very well imply that way too many people are more interested in holding on to an opinion that suits their agenda (be it psychological, political or other) than to seek out what is true.