In the last edition of CNN's Reliable Sources before the election, host Brian Stelter launched into another one of his Trump-trashing "essays" about how he and CNN stand for "truth." What will he do with his show if Biden wins?
Stelter could never admit that CNN has invented narratives and warped facts to promote their own ideological goals and preferred candidates. Just last week, an MRC study depicted this reality on the broadcast networks with coverage vastly favoring their beloved Joe Biden over President Trump.
Restating the theme of his book Hoax, Stelter denounced Trump and Fox News: “Trump is like an improv actor making it along. Oblivious to the truth. He is addicted to TV shows that tell him he is right when he is wrong. So he gets misled by Fox and Fox & Friends and then he misleads everyone else.” There was no evidence given, no examples, just an opinion treated as fact.
He turned to other liberal journalists for support: "As Peter Baker wrote this weekend: Dishonesty has defined the Trump presidency and the American system has never figured out quite how to respond.,,,As Politico recently noted, the President and his allies are making a sport of plucking minor incidents from local news feeds and distorting them into data points of a grand conspiracy.”
That was exactly what his own network has done repeatedly.
This was not enough for the leftist host, who emphasized the importance of voting for Biden on air. Stelter noted: “[Trump] keeps tells his fans that Joe Biden cannot win unless the Democrats cheat. That smelly little lie is fundamentally why this election is a test for America. Truth is on the ballot.
This shouldn't come as a surprise to most of you, but lines such as those squared with what Biden said during his DNC acceptance speech.
As important as the truth is, CNN and other leftist networks have betrayed it in favor of parroting DNC talking points, covering for their candidate, attacking the President at every opportunity, and fixating on striking fear for the future into the hearts and minds of viewers. And yet they wonder why people do not trust the media.
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A transcript of the November 1st Coverage is included below:
Reliable Sources
11/1/20
11:00 AMBRIAN STELTER: The coming days are a test of American democracy. The world is watching live through this network and others. America passes this test by staying tied, tethered, secured to the truth. America may fail this test if lying politicians and propagandists drown out what's true and replace it with what they want to be true.
Failure means succumbing to fantasy and conspiracy theory and hate and division, and there is already too, too much of this that. Distrust is so high. In politicians, in the press, in each other. This country needs a trust injection. A trust infusion. And maybe it starts right here. In these lines.
One of the many, many things this election is about is the truth. If you feel like you are living through a war on the truth, you are not alone. The last four years have been a daily assault. I could spend this entire hour simply fact-checking and debunking the past week of Presidential mendacity. Trump is like an improv actor making it along. Oblivious to the truth. He is addicted to TV shows that tell him he is right when he is wrong. So he gets misled by Fox and "Fox & Friends" and then he misleads everyone else. As Peter Baker wrote this weekend, dishonesty has defined the Trump presidency and the American system has never figured out quite how to respond. It's true.
But I know one thing. Staying on the side of the truth is essential. May we follow it wherever it goes, so in the coming days look out for bad-faith actors spreading disinformation, look out for domestic disinformation, look out Twitter armies that try to make a fringe idea seem really popular. Look out for argument by anecdote tactics. They grab a story here, they grab a story there. They try to claim voter fraud is widespread when it is not. As "Politico" recently noted, the President and his allies are making a sport of plucking minor incidents from local news feeds and distorting them into data points of a grand conspiracy.
Indeed, Trump sees conspiracies everywhere. He keeps tells his fans that Joe Biden cannot win unless the Democrats cheat. That smelly little lie is fundamentally why this election is a test for America. And a test for the American media. Truth is on the ballot. Truth is actually always on the ballot. And Biden has leaned into this fact by using the slogan "Truth overlies." But Democrats don't own a copyright on the truth. Democrats have lied to us before. They will do it again. The media's adversarial approach that you’ve seen during the Trump years, calling out lies, that approach serves us well no matter who holds high office.
Of course, different degrees of deception deserve to be treated differently. A delusional President is a much bigger deal than a candidate who merely dodges questions. But in all cases the media must challenge power and the media must stay on the side of the truth. Edward Luce recently said it's a bad sign for democracy when trust is gone. He said fear is the glue of autocracy and trust is the lubricant of democracy. Without trust, he said, you're in trouble.
That's the principal feeling I have from this election, that had has been conducted with very little trust and on one side no good faith whatsoever. That's Edward Luce, the financial editor for the Financial Times. Trust is in low supply right now, but it's in high demand. May this election help rebuild trust and be guided by truth rather than even losing more of it. Now, we know America is anxiety ridden right now. Some nervous excitement out there, lots of fear as well. What should the press be doing in these crucial hours to instill confidence and certainty in the election results?
