Riding his high horse as CNN’s senior media correspondent, Brian Stelter had a piece during Thursday’s AC360 in which he lamented how Republican presidential candidates have often attacked the liberal media “to deflect tough, unwelcome questions” plus their conservative supporters have caused “more polarization” in the electorate by not trusting the media.
Stelter started the diatribe by exclaiming that it’s “both a shield and a sword” for “Republican politicians [to make] claims of media bias.”
As for why they do it, Stelter chalked it up to being not because it’s true the liberal media is biased but rather because they want “to deflect tough, unwelcome questions and it's a way to show strength, putting the press on the defensive.”
Speaking specifically to the CNBC debate on Wednesday night, Stelter mentioned that multiple candidates “showed just how effective media bashing can be” and raising such an issue makes for “easy applause lines in front of conservative audiences.”
While Stelter claimed that “most journalists will tell you they try very hard to expunge any and all bias from their stories,” he added that instead of simply believing them and moving on, “many conservatives laugh at that.”
The Reliable Sources host and former New York Times reporter then fired another shot across the bow at conservatives by blaming them for “more political polarization” in America because they won’t get along with the media:
The result? More political polarization. According to Pew, the more conservative you are, the fewer mainstream media sources you trust. Fox News has benefitted from that and so have some candidates. On Thursday, several of them declared war on the liberal media, e-mailing supporters asking for money while mocking the moderators and they’re not the only ones doing that.
Asking if “CNBC’s questions” were truly “any tougher than Fox’s or CNN’s,” Stelter closed by teeing up University of Virginia’s Larry Sabato, who also defended the CNBC moderators for merely trying to find “the truth”: “Some of the criticism is for show. What those moderators at CNBC were trying to do was to get candidates to tell more of the truth.”
The relevant portion of the transcript from CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 on October 29 can be found below.
CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360
October 29, 2015
8:32 p.m. Eastern
ANDERSON COOPER: Ten Republican candidates shared the stage at last night’s debate and, as you’d expect, several of them traded jabs, including Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, but the biggest punching bag, by far, was the media and audience seemed to eat it up. Senior media correspondent Brian Stelter has more on what’s now a battle tested tactic.
BRIAN STELTER: Republican politicians claims of media bias are both a shield and a sword.
MIKE HUCKABEE: To a lot of people in the media, this is just a great big game and we're the players and we come out here and we do our thing and sometimes, we're held up in contempt by people who write columns.
STELTER: It's a way to deflect tough, unwelcome questions and it's a way to show strength, putting the press on the defensive.
REPUBLICAN SENATOR RAND PAUL (Ky.): How do we decide who used to follow up? I seen 20 other people follow-up
BECKY QUICK: It was at the moderator discretion.
STELTER: On CNBC’s stage, Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and others showed just how effective media bashing can be.
REPUBLICAN SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (Fl.): The Democrats have the ultimate Super PAC. It’s called the mainstream media for every single day.
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA’s LARRY SABATO: This has been a staple of Republican politics since the 1960s.
STELTER: Media attacks are easy applause lines in front of conservative audiences.
CNN’s JOHN KING [in 2008] [TO GINGRICH] She says you came to her in 1999 at a time when you were having an affair. She says you asked her to enter into an open marriage. Would you like to take time to respond to that?
NEWT GINGRICH: No, but I will. [SCREEN WIPE] And I am frankly astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate.
STELTER: Now, most journalists will tell you they try very hard to expunge any and all bias from their stories, but many conservatives laugh at that.
MITT ROMNEY: Most of the people in my business are convinced that you are bias against all of us.
SARAH PALIN [at CPAC 2013]: I can spot those liberal media folk here to write their annual conservatives in crisis story.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE PAUL RYAN: It kinda goes without saying that there is definitely a media bias.
STELTER: The result? More political polarization. According to Pew, the more conservative you are, the fewer mainstream media sources you trust. Fox News has benefitted from that and so have some candidates. On Thursday, several of them declared war on the liberal media, e-mailing supporters asking for money while mocking the moderators and they’re not the only ones doing that.
AMERICAN UNIVERSITY’s JANE HALL: It just seems they lost their way and that they did not seem to be in command of it.
STELTER: The RNC, which picked CNBC for the debate, put the media on notice, saying bias won't be tolerated, but were CNBC's questions any tougher than Fox's or CNN’s?
SABATO: Some of the criticism is for show. What those moderators at CNBC were trying to do was to get candidates to tell more of the truth.
