I'm not necessarily arguing it was GWH, but for sake of argument say it did have that effect, it then gets perpetuated by journalists, enters the public psyche, and goes on from there.

I don't think the suggestion was that everyone watched GWH and then had that misconception straight from primary source.

I probably view(ed) it a bit wrongly too, and I have seen GWH, but I'm pretty sure I'd read ('pop math'/news) about the award/it's winners before that.