The sales of Brian Stelter’s latest anti-Fox News book were so low that he made an appearance with the liberal ladies of ABC’s The View on Thursday in an attempt to bump up his numbers. Of course, there were the usual back-slapping conversations for him going after one of their mutual hate objects, but Stelter also had sweet nothings to proclaim the cast: falsely claiming the show was home to truthful conversations.
Faux conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin touted Stelter’s “important book” and wanted to focus on the “intrigue” of the Murdoch family. “So, after decades of running the company, Rupert Murdoch announced he would step down, he’s passing the baton to Lachlan Murdoch. There’s a lot of intrigue around this family and is it going to look different under the son? Tell us what we can expect and what you learned in writing this?” she wondered.
Keeping the discussion in fantasyland, Stelter suggested the Murdoch family was literally like the ridiculous TV show Succession:
Rupert Murdoch was so cozy with Donald Trump at the start of the Trump presidency, they were best buds on the phone. The relationship has fallen apart, he hates Trump now. But Rupert’s handed it off to his son Lachlan. And this is really real-life Succession, crazy billionaire Thanksgiving.
As they were nearing the end of the second segment with Stelter, Farah Griffin finally got around to admitting “have a handful of very good reporters like Trey Yingst, Jennifer Griffin, people who cover actual news.” Lamenting: “And it's so hard for those journalists that they have to be next to basically people espousing propaganda.”
Stelter called Fox News “a very uncomfortable environment” for them and suggested that that was why The View was better. “[W]e should advocate to have a truthier, healthier environment. That’s why I love this show! Your guys are louder than the liars!” he praised.
Moderator Whoopi Goldberg was tickled by that compliment and said he could join their “very truthy table any time.” Farah Griffin also chimed in, adding: “We correct ourselves all the time!”
Farah Griffin’s exclamation was a tacit admission that they say false things often and that ABC’s legal department made them say things to blunt liability. As a NewsBusters study discovered, in 2022, The View was forced to issue three dozen (36) legal notes to cover themselves.
In September, racist and anti-Semitic co-host Sunny Hostin and executive producer Brian Teta whined about the study on The View’s podcast. Hostin called the legal notes a “necessary evil” they had to put up with and Teta insisted that the notes were “not a correction” but rather “is something that as a part of ABC News we are asked to do to make sure we’re presenting all statements and sides.” He would later call them corrections.
Stelter’s erroneous compliment flew in the face of The View’s more egregious lies. They once suggested that conservative Turning Point USA had invited neo-Nazis to one of their events, and were forced to retract their claims only after the group threatened to sue the show.
They also falsely claimed Ginni Thomas, the wife of Justice Clarence Thomas, was an insurrectionist leader on January 6. Hostin also made a false racist attack against Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, lying about her using a fake name to appear white. She also lied about Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) terrorizing her at a congressional hearing.
Those were only a handful of The View’s lies.
Stelter was right about them being loud, but The View cast were most definitely the liars.
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s The View
November 30, 2023
11:30:52 a.m. Eastern(…)
ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: But you’ve got this important book out and I have to ask you, so after decades of running the company, Rupert Murdoch announced he would step down, he’s passing the baton to Lachlan Murdoch. There’s a lot of intrigue around this family and is it going to look different under the son? Tell us what we can expect and what you learned in writing this?
BRIAN STELTER: Right. Rupert Murdoch was so cozy with Donald Trump at the start of the Trump presidency, they were best buds on the phone. The relationship has fallen apart, he hates Trump now. But Rupert’s handed it off to his son Lachlan. And this is really real life Succession, crazy billionaire Thanksgiving.
Lachlan Murdoch is just as conservative as his dad but is not as interested in politics; doesn't care as much about politics. So, I'm told he doesn't really like Trump but he’s also not doing anything to try to step in the way of this anti-democratic movement.
FARAH GRIFFIN: So, it’s ultimately driven by the ratings.
STELTER: Well, yes, that’s right. And the other brother, James, he’s on the outside. Maybe someday he can take over. I mean that's sort of the cliffhanger in the book: What's going to happen in the event of Rupert Murdoch's death? But that's awkward to say out loud and right now James is on the outside.
SUNNY HOSTIN: Right. And he's less conservative, correct?
STELTER: He definitely has more of a vision of dragging Fox back to reality. Back to the middle.
SARA HAINES: That’s probably why he didn’t get the job!
STELTER: Well, that's the thing. That’s the thing and it will be a family battle someday.
(…)
11:41:22 a.m. Eastern
FARAH GRIFFIN: Can I mention one thing because I have a few friends at Fox. They have a handful of very good reporters like Trey Yingst, Jennifer Griffin, people who cover actual news. And it's so hard for those journalists that they have to be next to basically people espousing propaganda.
STELTER: That's what makes it a very uncomfortable environment. It’s multiple things in one. Fox though, it is still the beating heart of the GOP. I think it's really important to study it for that reason. We have to know how it works and how it sometimes doesn't work, how it goes wrong, because we should advocate to have a truthier, healthier environment. That’s why I love this show! Your guys are louder than the liars!
[Applause]
FARAH GRIFFIN: We correct ourselves all the time!
STELTER: You got to be louder than the liars!
WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Brian, you're welcome at this table – at this very truthy table any time.
STELTER: Truthy table. Thank you.
(…)
