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Brian Stelter Profile picture
@brianstelter
Sep 29, 2020 • 8 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
Is this a "Fox News debate?" Well, no, because it is live on EVERY big channel and website tonight. But in a broader sense, yes it is. #Thread time...
Tonight's moderator, Chris Wallace, stands alone at Fox. His Sunday program primarily airs on broadcast, not Fox News. He has his own producers. He has said that he doesn't regularly watch the right-wing talk shows that make Fox #1 in the cable ratings.
But here's the thing: Everyone at Fox is affected, in some way, by the Trump-Fox merger. Everyone "feels" it. The pressure from the audience, the pressure from management, the expectation that Fox will be "fair" to Trump – and I don't mean "fair" in the good faith definition.
In HoaxTheBook.com, I wrote that Wallace, Bret Baier and Shep Smith "felt they were working from the inside to preserve some space for news as Trump and Hannity gained power at Fox." There IS still space for news – but year by year Fox's news has turned Trumpier, too.
In February Wallace was asked "Do you ever think that Fox News is using the quality of your work to truth-wash prime time?" Wallace insisted there's a "firewall" between news and opinion. But I saw the wall come down brick by brick. So did the Fox insiders who told me about it 👇 ImageImageImageImage
Despite all we know about Trump, Fox's news leaders still largely treat him like any other GOP prez, giving him the benefit of the doubt, assuming the best, excusing the worst. This tilts the scales big time, treating lies and crazy talk like it is legit, aiding the propaganda.
So, with all this in mind, a few days ago I said to one of Wallace's friends, is this a "Fox debate?" They said "it's a Chris Wallace debate, and his esteemed masterful moderating record speaks for itself." Wallace DOES have an impressive moderating record. But...
This is a "Fox debate" because Fox has shaped the political and media environment in ways that help Trump – for example by letting the news-opinion wall come down. Watch tonight: Will Fox rigorously fact-check the candidates right after the debate? Let's see. /end

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More from @brianstelter

Brian Stelter Profile picture
Jun 14
Several dozen sidelined Voice of America staffers have suddenly been called back to work as the Israel-Iran conflict escalates – a dramatic turn of events for the US government-funded broadcasting system that was shut down by the Trump administration in March 🧵
>> @W7VOA says VOA specifically brought back Farsi language speakers who had been on paid administrative leave. The move suggests that the US government wants to bolster its programming into Iran. Here's my full story cnn.com/2025/06/13/med…
BEFORE the cutbacks were instituted in March, VOA said that it produced 4+ hours of "Persian-language programming to Iran" a day, meant to confront the "disinformation" of the "Iranian regime" and "speak directly to the Iranian people and the global Persian-speaking diaspora."
Read 6 tweets
Brian Stelter Profile picture
Jun 8
The timeline of Terry Moran's suspension deserves some unpacking.

This morning Trump White House aides publicly pushed ABC to discipline Moran. Lots of people have well-reasoned objections to that. But let's also note: ABC didn't "need" to be pressured >>>
As soon as ABC News execs woke up, it was obvious that they'd have to say something. Moran's post lit up group chats and Slack channels because it was so shocking to see from a network correspondent (and someone who had just interviewed Trump a matter of weeks ago!)
At 8:20am @PressSec said "we have reached out to @ABC to inquire about how they plan to hold Terry accountable." It's unclear who at ABC was contacted. But conversations were already underway at ABC by then.
Read 4 tweets
Brian Stelter Profile picture
Jun 8
"If you have the courage to speak, we are saved. If you fall silent, the country is doomed."

Scott Pelley had some strong words to share on tonight's CNN special after the telecast of "Good Night, and Good Luck" >>>
"People are silencing themselves for fear that the government will retaliate against them, and that's not the America that we all love," Pelley told Anderson Cooper in an exclusive sit-down cnn.com/2025/06/07/med…
When Cooper asked Pelley what Murrow would think of the state of play at CBS, Pelley said "he would probably be waiting to see how this lawsuit from the president works out and how the Paramount Corporation deals."

Murrow, he said, "would be for fighting," not settling.
Read 6 tweets
Brian Stelter Profile picture
May 29
Hollywood producers are thinking twice about liberal-sounding storylines. Media companies are downplaying diversity initiatives. "The Apprentice" struggled to gain US distribution last year. That's what makes the timing of "The Handmaid's Tale" finale all the more remarkable...
The acclaimed Hulu drama, which streamed its final episode yesterday, was unavoidably and unapologetically political.

"Handmaid's" launched a few months into Trump's first term and now it has concluded a few months into Trump's second term...
Trump's election certainly changed how the show was received. And the producers leaned in. They didn't hesitate when asked about real-world comparisons to the radicalism portrayed on screen. cnn.com/2025/05/28/med…
Read 7 tweets
Brian Stelter Profile picture
May 19
In 2023, Dan Bongino, star podcaster, demanded to know: "What the hell are they hiding with Jeffrey Epstein?"

In 2025, Dan Bongino, FBI deputy director, disappointed the 2023 version of himself. "I have reviewed the case. Jeffrey Epstein killed himself," he wrote yesterday.
Bongino was flooded with replies here on X from people who don't believe him. And that backlash is part of a broader phenomenon. Listeners accustomed to conspiracy theories and "just asking questions" innuendo aren't accepting the answers they're getting. cnn.com/2025/05/19/med…
Conspiracy thinking has been a defining trait of the MAGA movement for as long as Trump has been a politician. Right-wing media personalities like Bongino, acting as Trump’s top attack dogs, routinely floated unproven theories as a way to malign Trump's political opponents.
Read 9 tweets
Brian Stelter Profile picture
May 12
Since the beginning of this year, The Atlantic has hired twelve journalists away from The Washington Post. The New York Times has poached at least ten Posties. CNN has picked up half a dozen. The exodus is deeply distressing to Post staffers.🧵
The Post exodus is one of those things that rival editors whisper about, sounding mystified as they ask, "How is Jeff Bezos letting this happen?" @ClareMalone has some answers in a comprehensive new story about Bezos and the Post newyorker.com/magazine/2025/…
Malone quotes a "former top editor" who says "this is all a story about Jeff and how he changed over the course of his ownership and really became a different person, with huge implications for the institution."
Read 9 tweets

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