Just when you thought CNN host Brian Stelter couldn’t become any more of a “ridiculous figure” he found a new level of low to crawl to, during Sunday’s Reliable Sources. As had been extensively covered by the MRC, the liberal networks have been blacking out the rape of a girl on school ground by illegal immigrants in Rockville, Maryland, with Fox News being the only TV news outlet covering it in detail. But according to Stelter, that’s apparently a problem for Fox.
“Rapes and assaults and murders are local news stories on a daily basis. But when do they break through to become national news and when do they not?” he wondered at the top of the segment and before taking it to Fox.
He then immediately whined that “This week, the health care bill, the talks in the House dominated cable news coverage all over the place, but Fox News also focused heavily on another story and sometimes tying it to the President's immigration agenda.”
“Now on Fox, all roads lead back to media bias,” he chided, “So Tucker Carlson called out channels like CNN for not covering this story thoroughly, for not covering it extensively.” He also wrote off how Carlson slammed the Big Three networks for their lack of coverage.
In a pitiful attempt to turn Carlson’s assertion back on Fox News, Stelter slammed the cable news outlet for not covering another crime in Maryland. “But there was another story with Maryland ties that got little to no news coverage anywhere on Fox or any other channels,” he said, “This was about an army veteran, an alleged white supremacist who drove to New York and attacked a 66-year-old black man with a 26-inch knife, killing that man.”
“But this story received almost no coverage on Fox or CNN or anywhere else for that matter,” he admitted as he took another swipe at Fox for reporting the heinous rape of a 14-year-old girl, “Another example of a crime but not a crime that fit the political agenda of those pro-Trump hosts on Fox.” But for the lack of coverage he claimed that story had, both ABC and NBC reported on that tragic incident in New York last week.
But Stelter’s own show still leaves his prefaced question unanswered. As he asked at the top of the segment about local news stories, “when do they break through to become national news and when do they not?” He never answered that question for CNN. The real question should be: Why didn’t CNN cover either of those stories? Especially after he admitted CNN failed in their duty to cover them, or more importantly: Why shouldn’t the Rockville rape be a national story?
Of course, the man who declared that the media “need” to mobilize against “authoritarian” Trump would have a problem with events being reported that aid his call for greater border security. This goes back to his calls for the media to be extremely tough on the man he freely insinuates is a dictator. This is absolutely a grave new low for CNN’s “ridiculous figure.”
Transcript below:
CNN
Reliable Sources
March 26, 2017
11:51:28 AM EasternBRIAN STELTER: Rapes and assaults and murders are local news stories on a daily basis. But when do they break through to become national news and when do they not? This week health care bill, the talks in the House dominated cable news coverage all over the place, but Fox News also focused heavily on another story and sometimes tying it to the President's immigration agenda. Watch.
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A sickening story from Rockville, Maryland about an alleged rape at a school. Now on Fox all roads lead back to media bias. So Tucker Carlson called out channels like CNN for not covering this story thoroughly, for not covering it extensively. He also pointed out NBC, CBS, ABC's nightly newscast did not cover this alleged rape.
Now Fox chose to focus partly tying it to Trump's immigration agenda. That was a story in Maryland. But there was another story with Maryland ties that got little to no news coverage anywhere on Fox or any other channels. This was a story that crossed state lines from Maryland to New York. You may not have heard about it. This was about an army veteran, an alleged white supremacist who drove to New York and attacked a 66-year-old black man with a 26-inch knife, killing that man.
Now there’s much still to be learned about this story. Can you see surveillance footage from the incident here. But this story received almost no coverage on Fox or CNN or anywhere else for that matter. Another example of a crime but not a crime that fit the political agenda of those pro-Trump hosts on Fox.
Joining me now talking more about those cable news coverage choices and latest with a Fox commentator, CNN's Brian Lowry. Brian, we've talked in the past about coverage choices on cable news. To me, this is interesting an interesting example, because this rape case was covered virtually every hour according to a New York Times analysis on fox but not on other big news channels.
BRIAN LOWRY: One of the things that TV news does is does an excellent job of connecting individual stories to larger themes. And in this case, it really dovetailed with the theme Fox wanting to push supporting Trump’s immigration agenda. And I also think the fact that they used it to buttress their point that this is the kind of coverage you won't get on other media. That’s just a win-win for them.
STELTER: That’s a benefit. That’s interesting. What was the latest on Judge Andrew Napolitano…
