Topic: Media Research Center
The Media Research Center's fall outbreak of Stelter Derangement Syndrome had on gotten started when Brian Stelter released a book critical of Fox News (which is forbidden at the MRC). The MRC's chief Stelter Derangement Syndrome sufferer, Tim Graham, who had a whataboutism-laden metldown over the book in a Nov. 10 post (though he still had to concede that Stelter's reporting was accurate on how Fox News lied to viewers):
Brian Stelter’s second book raining fire on Fox – Network of Lies – is coming out next week, but he appeared on MSNBC’s Alex Wagner Tonight on Thursday night to promote it. Somehow, in the seven-plus minutes of Fox-bashing, they didn’t discuss Stelter’s old network CNN having its freelancer literally kissed by a Hamas terrorist. That’s an inconvenient truth for Mr. Facts First.
Instead, MSNBC put on screen Stelter’s hot quote that “Fox is the black widow at the center of the web of lies that pervert American politics.” You can’t call CNN “fake news,” but you can compare Fox to a dangerously venomous spider.
Stelter’s book is in part a compilation of all the frantic internal communications over a short period when Fox aired embarrassing segments spreading wild conspiracy theories about Trump winning in a landslide. Some of those texts are explicit acknowledgments that this was fake news.
So let’s fast forward to the part where Stelter and Wagner address the current status of Fox and Trump.
Wagner asked “Does Fox, I mean, is all forgiven? And to what do you feel like Fox feels like it needs to actively curry favor with Trump? I ask that because it's interesting in and of itself. But because there's going to be January 6, 2025?”
This, on the network that hires their program hosts right out of the Biden White House public relations department, from Psaki to Symone. That illustrates a close relationship between a president and a network.
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Wagner and Stelter won't discuss all of the misinformation that CNN and MSNBC uncorked in the Trump years, from the years of spreading Russian collusion conspiracy theories to the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop, falsely dismissed as Russian disinformation. "Networks of Lies" could describe that period for them.
Remember that Graham gave a pass to Fox News for telling those lies -- something he would never have done if CNN or MSNBC had done the same thing -- because it wouldn't hurt the channel with its core audience.
The next day, Alex Christy complained that Stelter plugged his book at his old employer and, like his boss, hurled whataboutism rather than respond to what Stelter said:
Brian Stelter returned to CNN on Friday when he joined The Source host Kaitlan Collins to continue his book tour and, just like old times, bash Fox News as the GOP's agenda setter while ignoring how the rest of the media helps set the left's agenda.
Collins noted that Rupert Murdoch is set to step down and wondered “How different does his media empire, not just Fox, but everything, look after that?”
After going on about the future of media more generally, Stelter eventually got to the specifics of Fox, “It's almost as if the energy has moved away from him. Although I think it's important to note, Fox is still the beating heart of the GOP. And that's where, for better and for worse, the narratives are still set.”
As opposed to the rest of the media, where narratives set for the left.
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Stelter wasn’t buying the idea that Trump and Fox are distancing themselves from each other, “In a primary, he would argue that. But come general election, they'll be in Trump's corner.”
And CNN, and the rest of the media, will be in Biden’s corner.
Grahamm returned for an attempted gotcha in a Nov. 16 post on Stelter's appearance on NewsNation, where host Dan Abrams tried to get Stelter to unquestionly buy into Israeli propaganda:
Ex-CNN host Brian Stelter is ubiquitous on liberal TV networks and podcasts right now, selling his latest Fox-frying book Network of Lies, but one TV interview really stands out. He appeared on Tuesday night's Dan Abrams Live, and instead of delighting in the Fox hatred, Abrams pressed him on a raft of challenging media questions. Stelter stumbled throughout, but the most embarrassing part was claiming no host at CNN was partisan.
Stelter could have pointed at himself. But he thinks he and Jim Acosta were just "truth telling."
Up first? Abrams asked about the petition of Israel-hating journalists insisting news accounts must smear Israel as guilty of "genocide," "apartheid," and "ethnic cleansing." Stelter said these are "progressive writers" who might not be in news rooms, but they should push their "standards and practices" squad to explore it. Abrams shot back that "genocide" is not reality, but Stelter wouldn't commit. I wouldn't sign it, he said, but he wouldn't condemn it as not factual.
"That's a cop-out answer," Abrams said.
Graham continued to portray Stelter as the idiot for not biting on Abrams' gotcha questions:
Then came the one that drew the most attention. Who is the most partisan host on Fox? He said Maria Bartiromo, and Abrams said she's become a "fringe player." What about MSNBC? Stelter noted he was on Joy Reid's show, and she said Trump has an "authoritarian streak," which Stelter agreed on. But he tried to say she has a "point of view," a "perspective," not a bias. What about CNN? Abrams said CNN is the most dishonest network in denying it's biased. "Do you think there are any people on CNN who are overtly biased, whatever word you want to use that isn't offensive?"
"I really truly don't," he said, "and they fired me!" He said feel free to send him comments at his email (bstelter@gmail.com). What about Jim Acosta? Stelter said "I think Jim is telling the truth, I really do!"
Graham said absolutely nothing about the content of Stelter's book other than to whine that is "Fox-frying." He whined further in a Nov. 19 post:
Taxpayer-funded PBS and NPR loathe Fox News like all leftists do, and both promoted ex-CNN host Brian Stelter's second Fox-bashing book Network of Lies. On Thursday, PBS NewsHour anchor Amna Nawaz ran Stelter through his usual talking points about Rupert and Lachlan Murdoch, but concluded with the Big Picture, as reporters panic about how their coverage of Donald Trump won't prevent his re-election:
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Stelter thinks there's someone out there who hasn't heard their incessant Trump warnings: "I would like to see the coverage amped up quite a bit on that front in order to help people who are not news junkies. I feel like I know what's going on, but most people are tuned out right now about the 2024 election. It's time to tune in."
On Tuesday's Fresh Air talk show on NPR, Stelter blabbed for more than a half-hour on the same points. Host Terry Gross mocked Tucker Carlson's exit: "Well, if Lachlan is focused on advertising, I mean, Tucker Carlson's extremism cost the network a lot of money. A lot of the sponsors pulled out. They had to rely on My Pillow (laughter) for - as a primary sponsor."
As opposed to NPR, where we are the involuntary sponsors.
Graham's whataboutism continued: "It's funny sometimes that NPR people ask what Fox News shows are like, as if they have never seen it for a minute in their lives." As if the hate-watching of non-right-wing media the MRC does to cherry-pick clips could be consider real viewing.
