Thread by @DeanLuk

#HowLiarsWin – a thread about @AriMelber’s @MSNBC interview with @PeterNavarro. I’m an Ari fan. I admire the diligence and prep that clearly went into this. He has been rightly praised for holding Navarro’s feet to the fire, eliciting a “quiet part out loud” coup confession 1/11

But in the spirit of a discussion of #journalism, I believe this was – as live interviews with liars almost invariably are – a failure, and a disservice to the public. So let’s - as Warner Wolf used to say – go to the videotape: 2/11

In the 11+ minute live interview, Navarro got 6 minutes of uninterrupted airtime, and used it to successfully advance an array of lies. At the end Melber himself acknowledged what was plain to see: “I can’t fact check everything in real time.” 3/11

So Navarro got to say twice – both times unchallenged – that the Jan 6th plot was carried out “clearly within Constitutional and legal lines” or “within the lanes legally, prescribed by the Constitution” to deal with an election result that was “still in doubt.” 4/11

Navarro got to plug his book – Melber did it once, Navarro did it twice. Navarro was allowed to assert that his book “shows unequivocally that both Stephen K. Bannon and President Trump should be exonerated in any violence on Capitol Hill on January 6th.” 5/11

Navarro got to say – again, unchallenged – that the secretaries of state of Michigan and Pennsylvania were “put in power by George Soros” – thereby advancing a favorite, vile and ongoing piece of anti-semitic QAnon quackery. 6/11

By the way, any viewer who left the interview to search Google with “George Soros Michigan Secretary of State” would have landed on articles furthering the lie, courtesy of KingfisherPres (search result #3) or Stexsports.com-GatewayPundit (search result #5). 7/11

Mercifully, viewers were not subjected to a full-throated attack on Anthony Fauci nor an endorsement of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment for COVID-19 – subjects that featured prominently on some of Navarro’s more notorious 2021 media outings. 8/11

Did Melber challenge Navarro? Yes. Did every lie get exposed? No. Did Navarro and his pals enjoy having access to MSNBC’s audience, and plotting better ways to exploit it? See Bannon’s podcast for that answer. And so – the rule of lying liars winning on live TV holds true: 9/11

It is a real dilemma when live interviews are the coin of the realm, but the best any interviewer can do – even really good interviewers, like Melber – is to wrestle a live liar to a draw. Too often – as in this case – the liar arguably wins. Viewers, and democracy, lose. 10/11

Re-upping my @CJR piece that goes deeper and proposes a rule: “Let truth-telling be a prerequisite for appearing on live TV. Repeat offenders who lie or obfuscate with abandon, no matter their position, should not be put on live again.” Thoughts? 11/11
cjr.org/analysis/journ…