CNN’s NewsNight host, Abby Phillip, continued her book tour on Tuesday when she stopped by former MSNBC host Joy Reid’s podcast. In addition to the book, Phillip and Reid discussed NewsNight, conservative guests, and conspiracy theories. While Phillip’s lamentation about media echo chambers may have sounded good, beneath the surface there was much to critique.
Phillip declared, “Conservatives are living in a completely different information world than liberals, and breaking that down needs to be done, because when you don't ever even hear the facts, it's hard to even know that you're wrong. And that happens a lot. I mean, half my job sometimes is knowing what the latest conspiracy is so that if it comes up, I'm ready to address it because it happens a lot where people don't even know that what they're saying or what they've seen and believe is not true.”
That sounds nice, but it was said against the backdrop of a clip of Phillip sympathizing with Ana Navarro in a recent argument with conservative Scott Jennings over whether or not Navarro was unjustly demeaning ICE. The second problem is that she said this on The Joy Reid Show. Reid, who wants to know what “really” happened to Donald Trump’s ear, is probably not the best person to complain to about conspiracy theories.
Nevertheless, Phillip rolled on, “And so that happens a lot, and I don't come away from that saying, ‘What's the point of this? People are just saying false things.’ I think that one time that that person brings up something that is debunked and false and I debunk it at the table might be the very first time that someone out there has heard an alternative point of view, and so again, the siloing of our information landscapes is one of the biggest problems in media today. And it is not going to resolve all of our political problems or differences, but less siloing is better than more. That's my view of it.”
Again, sounds great. The only problem is that Phillip’s interest in puncturing those silos only seems to go one way. If Phillip were more willing to correct liberal guests, then it would be easier to take her warnings about silos more seriously.
Here is a transcript for the November 11 show:
The Joy Reid Show
11/11/2025
ABBY PHILLIP: Conservatives are living in a completely different information world—
JOY REID: Absolutely.
PHILLIP: —than liberals, and breaking that down needs to be done, because when you don't ever even hear the facts, it's hard to even know that you're wrong. And that happens a lot. I mean, half my job sometimes is knowing what the latest conspiracy is so that if it comes up, I'm ready to address it because it happens a lot where people don't even know that what they're saying or what they've seen and believe is not true.
And so that happens a lot, and I don't come away from that saying, “What's the point of this? People are just saying false things.” I think that one time that that person brings up something that is debunked and false and I debunk it at the table might be the very first time—
REID: That they’ve heard it.
PHILLIP: — that someone out there has heard an alternative point of view, and so again, the siloing of our information landscapes is one of the biggest problems in media today. And it is not going to resolve all of our political problems or differences, but less siloing is better than more. That's my view of it.
