CNN’s Brian Stelter: Are Journalists Doing Enough To Call Out Trump’s Lying?

CNN’s Brian Stelter: Are Journalists Doing Enough To Call Out Trump’s Lying?

On Saturday, President Donald Trump unleashed a daylong tweetstorm that covered a wide range of topics, such as the continued push of his Spygate conspiracy. Besides muddying the waters when it comes to the Mueller investigation, Trump sent out two tweets that were “pants-on-fire” false. Those tweets resulted in an online debate over whether reporters should explicitly call them “lies” or stick with the term “falsehoods.”

At the top of Sunday’s Reliable Sources, CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter addressed this issue of when the press should call out the president for lying. Noting that journalists are constantly getting hammered by the president’s supporters for being too tough on Trump, Stelter pointed out that the president’s critics feel the media is “too easy on him.”

“When he lies, why don’t you say he lies?” Stelter declared, presenting the critics’ position.

The CNN host went on to state that President Trump is the leader of this country, but also “a liar,” explaining that lying was a “big part of his business strategy.”

“Now, as commander in chief, he misleads the public constantly,” Stelter said. “Now I understand why many of you want news outlets to use the l-word — lie — more often. You want us to affirm what we all see — that Trump has a truth problem.”

After suggesting that perhaps one solution would be for journalists and hosts not to “read his tweets aloud” because you can’t believe anything he says, Stelter attempted to add some “nuance” into the conversation.

“He lies, but not everything he says is a lie,” the media reporter noted before showing some examples of Trump possibly exaggerating or saying something unintentionally false. He also brought up how Trump was able to get his debunked Spygate claim to dominate the news for days. (And it still is, frankly.)

“Are journalists doing enough to shut down these distortions? Are we doing enough to call out the lying?” Stelter asked before turning to his panel of reporters to drill down into the topic.

Watch the clip above, via CNN.

Justin Baragona

Justin Baragona is the founder/publisher of Contemptor and a contributor to The Daily Beast. He was previously the Cable News Correspondent for Mediaite and prior to starting Contemptor, he worked on the editorial staff of PoliticusUSA. During that time, he had his work quoted by USA Today and BBC News, among others. Justin began his published career as a political writer for 411Mania. He resides in St. Louis, MO with his wife and pets.

One thought on “CNN’s Brian Stelter: Are Journalists Doing Enough To Call Out Trump’s Lying?

  1. Latest study shows a 91% negative reporting of the President by fake news. Is Seltzer trying for 100%?

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