The so-called “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy” conference being put on by the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics and The Atlantic this week, has really proven to be unamenable to examining the liberal media’s disinformation in how they cover stories depending on the political affiliation of who gets hurt. And during a panel discussion on Thursday, a freshman at the school made a fool out of CNN’s Brian Stelter by calling out the network as a “purveyor of disinformation” and he had receipts.
As the final question for the “How Media Platforms Shape Consumer Realities” panel, self-identified “first-year” student Christopher Phillips chided the panel (moderated by the New York Times’ Jim Rutenberg, The Dispatch’s Stephen Hayes, Lauren Williams of Capital B, and Stelter) for attacking Fox News while they themselves had a laundry list of disinformation sins:
You’ve all spoken extensively about Fox News being a purveyor of disinformation. But CNN is right up there with them. They pushed the Russian collusion hoax, they pushed the Jussie Smollett hoax, they smeared Justice Kavanaugh as a rapist, and they also smeared Nick Sandmann as a white supremacist, and yes, they dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop affair as pure Russian disinformation.
That airing of the laundry was followed up with two hard-hitting questions. “With mainstream corporate journalists becoming little more than apologists and cheerleaders for the regime, is it time to finally declare that the canon of journalistic ethics is dead or no longer operative,” he asked in his first.
And in his second question, Phillips made the astute observation that “[a]ll of the mistakes of the mainstream media, and CNN in particular, seem to magically all go in one direction.” And that brought him to wonder: “Are we expected to believe that this is all just some sort of random coincidence or is there something else behind it?”
Stelter was clearly uncomfortable and quipped that it’s “too bad” he couldn’t answer the questions because “it’s time for lunch.” And he didn’t want to get into a discussion about CNN’s lies on camera, telling Phillips, “I’ll come over and talk in more detail after this.”
Of course, in his bloviating that followed, Stelter didn’t actually answer any of Phillips’ questions. He initially scoffed, suggesting the student was “describing a different channel than the one that I watch.” And he dismissed the facts of CNN’s flamboyant bias as just “a popular right-wing narrative about CNN.”
Things took an obnoxious turn when Stelter started touting how CNN had helped to get wounded Fox News correspondent Benjamin Hall out of Ukraine and used that opportunity to address an earlier question:
But, when Benjamin Hall, the Fox News correspondent, was wounded in Ukraine, the news crews at CNN and The New York Times stopped what they were doing and they tried to help. They tried to help him get out of the country, they tried to find the dead crew members. That’s what news outlets do. That’s how they actually do work together – to your question about sharing those kind of connections and trust.
And taking issue with Phillips referring to the Biden administration as “the regime,” Stelter tried to suggest he wasn’t out to help the White House or the left because “The last time I spoke with a Biden aide, we yelled at each other.”
Sometimes allies argue.
The transcript is below, click "expand" to read:
Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy
April 7, 2022
1:42 p.m. Eastern(…)
CHRISTOPHER PHILLIPS: Hi, thank you for coming. My name is Christopher Phillips, I’m a first-year at the college. My question is for Mr. Stelter.
You’ve all spoken extensively about Fox News being a purveyor of disinformation. But CNN is right up there with them. They pushed the Russian collusion hoax, they pushed the Jussie Smollett hoax, they smeared Justice Kavanaugh as a rapist, and they also smeared Nick Sandmann as a white supremacist, and yes, they dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop affair as pure Russian disinformation.
With mainstream corporate journalists becoming little more than apologists and cheerleaders for the regime, is it time to finally declare that the canon of journalistic ethics is dead or no longer operative?
All of the mistakes of the mainstream media, and CNN in particular, seem to magically all go in one direction. Are we expected to believe that this is all just some sort of random coincidence or is there something else behind it?
BRIAN STELTER: Too bad, it’s time for lunch.
JIM RUTENBERG: You have 30 seconds, Brian.
STELTER: There’s a clock that says 30 seconds.
But I think my honest answer to you – and I’ll come over and talk in more detail after this – is that I think you’re describing a different channel than the one that I watch. But I understand that is a popular right-wing narrative about CNN.
I think it’s important when we talk about shared reality and democracy – all these networks, all these news outlets have to defend democracy and when they screw up, admit it.
But, when Benjamin Hall, the Fox News correspondent, was wounded in Ukraine, the news crews at CNN and The New York Times stopped what they were doing and they tried to help. They tried to help him get out of the country, they tried to find the dead crew members. That’s what news outlets do. That’s how they actually do work together – to your question about sharing those kind of connections and trust.
We don’t talk about it enough though. We don’t share that reality about how that happens. And with regard to “the regime,” I think you mean the President Biden. The last time I spoke with a Biden aide, we yelled at each other. So, that’s the reality of the news business that people don’t see, that people don’t hear. They imagine that it’s a situation that simply is not.
But I think your question, it speaks to the failure of journalism to show our works and show the reality of how of profession operates. We have a lot of work to do, I think.
RUTENBERG: Okay, well, I’ve got a blinking red light.
STELTER: I know, we can keep going but there’s lunch right out in the hallway!
RUTENBERG: It’s lunchtime.
