Recent Reading: Hoax by Brian Stelter

 

I recently finished Brian Stelter's excellent book Hoax: Doanld Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth. One of the points that Stelter makes in the book is that one of the primary functions of Fox News and the right-wing media echo chamber is counter-programming. Week after week over the past four years, the Trump administration has engaged in a series of disastrous policies and decisions. But people in the United States who get their news primarily from Fox News -- and there are millions of them -- think that Trump has been a good president because they hear opinion hosts like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity tell them so night after night. When there is a news story that makes Trump look bad, such as the lack of planning for vaccine production and distribution, Fox News either does not cover the story or only briefly mention it, and spend hours on something else.

Yesterday was a good example of this counter-programming phenomenon. If you read or watch a mainstream news outlet, you learned about a group of Trump supporters who stormed the capitol and interrupted the certification of Joe Biden's election to be President of the United States. The New York Times, for example, ran this headline:

As House Was Breached, a Fear ‘We’d Have to Fight’ to Get Out:What unfolded on Wednesday was a tableau of violence and mayhem that shocked the nation, one of the most severe intrusions of the Capitol since the British burned down the building in 1814.

By contrast, as axios.com described the coverage in their article How right-wing media explained the pro-Trump siege of the Capitol:

The right's favored media — conservative TV, websites and social networks — offered an alternate reality in which everyone but pro-Trump rioters were to blame for the mayhem at the Capitol.

Here's the version of events a good chunk of America got:

• Instead of condemning the pro-Trump mobs that stormed Washington, right-wing media outlets mostly blamed left-wing activists, the media, Vice President Pence — and even police officers — for the riots that some suggested were the start of a "civil war" in America.
• Hosts on Fox News, One America News Network and Newsmax went so far as to baselessly suggest that the unlawful protestors at the Capitol may have been members of Antifa.
• Conspiracy theorist Lin Wood tweeted to his over 1 million followers before having his account suspended: "Mike Pence @VP @Mike_Pence is a TRAITOR, a Communist Sympathizer & a Child Molester. Lock him up."

Even when it became obvious that the riots were becoming destructive, right-wing networks downplayed the severity of events, calling those marching on the Capitol mostly peaceful protestors.