CNN's Brian Stelter continued his book promotion tour on Tuesday morning as he joined CNN Newsroom host Jim Sciutto to blast Fox for insufficiently fact-checking the first night of the RNC, while unwittingly admitting he didn't fact-check the title for his own book, entitled Hoax.
Sciutto had asked Stelter to explain why Fox is so terrible. "In your book, your essential argument is Fox is not just a mirror image of left-leaning news outlets, but really a propaganda machine that wraps itself in a cloak of conservative journalism, but goes further. Explain how make that case."
Stelter condemned Fox for allowing President Trump to, "program the network himself. He chooses to call in, take over for an hour, you know, rant and rave. No president has had access to a megaphone like this before." A president like Obama had a plethora of liberal media options, not just one channel.
Stelter insisted CNN is so much more rigorous than Fox on the conventions: "We've been fact-checking night one of the RNC but that's not happening nearly as much over at Fox. There aren't the same journalistic standards. It doesn't have to be this way. They could add more journalistic standards, but they choose not to, because it ticks off the president."
Despite CNN's liberal fact checker Daniel Dale declaring after day two of the DNC "To be frank, there hasn't been a whole lot to fact-check from the Democratic National Convention so far," he was forced to concede very gently that Michelle Obama, Andrew Cuomo, and John Kerry were less than truthful. He also addressed Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who echoed Stelter's allegation, saying it is "unclear, though, whether he was calling the virus itself a hoax or saying that Democratic criticism of his administration's handling of the virus was a hoax."
Speaking of fact-checking, later in the interview, Sciutto asked Stelter to, "tell us about the title Hoax because that was not your original title. How did you get there?"
Stelter recalled he was going to originally call the book Wingman, "but when the pandemic upended our lives and the president used the word 'hoax' saying that the Democrats were making too much of a fuss about the virus, it was clear that the story had changed. My editor Julia Chaffetz said we need to call this book Hoax, we need to start and end this book with the pandemic and that’s what we’ve done, Jim." As a sales strategy, it clearly worked. Liberal Fox haters are lapping it up.
After Stelter claimed that his book "explains what's gone wrong in this country," he and Sciutto concluded the interview by agreeing that Trump and Fox's "shared disinformation" has been "harmful to people's health."
This segment was sponsored by Downy.
Here is a transcript for the August 25 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto
9:53 AM ET
JIM SCIUTTO: In your book, your essential argument is Fox is not just a mirror image of left-leaning news outlets, but really a propaganda machine that wraps itself in the cloak of conservative journalism, but goes further. Explain how make that case.
BRIAN STELTER: Yes, and that’s because President Trump has effectively taken control of the network due to a lack of leadership there. He's able to program the network himself. He chooses to call in, take over for an hour, you know, rant and rave. No president has had access to a megaphone like this before. We've been fact-check night one of the RNC but that's not happening nearly as much over at Fox. There aren't the same journalistic standards. It doesn't have to be this way. They could add more journalistic standards but they choose not to because it ticks off the president.…
SCIUTTO: Finally, tell us about the title "Hoax" because that was not your original title. How did you get there?
STELTER: Yeah, that's right. I told you I was working on a book called "Wingman" but when the pandemic upended our lives and the president used the word “hoax” saying that the Democrats were making too much of a fuss about the virus, it was clear that the story had changed. My editor Julia Chaffetz said we need to call this book "Hoax," we need to start and end this book with the pandemic and that’s what we’ve done, Jim. This book is the last five years of Fox and Trump and explains what's gone wrong in this country and why the president is so addicted to TV, but it really mattered this year when Fox downplayed the pandemic. We know the cost is measured in human lives. That is why this story really matters.
SCIUTTO: Shared disinformation, right? About it that was harmful to people's health.
STELTER: That's right.
