Sunday on CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” host Brian Stelter ironically questioned if there are any left media outlets that “tear down” President Donald Trump during a segment on “right-wing” talk radio hosts questioning the state of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Vice President Joe Biden’s mental and physical health.
Stelter said, “Fox’s narrative and talk radio’s narrative for months has been that Joe Biden is falling apart. You just heard him say it, falling apart. There he is riding a bike, out for a bike ride. Fox, of all networks, is the one that showed it happen. Look, we are going to see negative partisanship fuel the next three months — the last three months of this never-ending campaign. It is a key part of what is going on. It is a potion, an ugly potion that’s only getting worse.”
He added, “Negative partisanship, it kind of explains everything about what is broken in our media environment because there’s all of these media outlets, all of these radio stars and TV shows that are just constantly attacking, fueling hatred of the other side. Am I right to say this happens on the left and the right, but it’s more severe on the right currently?”
Panelist Nicole Hemmer said, “Yes. I would say it’s more severe on the right currently in part because the right just has a longer tradition of these overtly ideological media outlets.”
Stelter said, “I don’t want to claim it’s new, but I’m just arguing it’s getting worse, more severe. Errin, your view of this? When you see entire media companies essentially exist to tear down Joe Biden, is there an equivalent of that on the left, tearing down Trump?”
Panelist Errin Haines responded, “There really isn’t. What I would say is it’s really a diet of this type of information that a lot of these voters are getting.”
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