Fox News probe writer Brian Stelter says network's hosts are trying to 'make a living' and don't care about politics
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: Brian Stelter has caused a stir with his recently penned expose of Fox News called 'Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy.'
Picking up from the controversial lawsuit that the network had to face against Dominion, the book unveiled shocking facts from inside Fox.
The hosts of the network, who remain at the center of it all, are the main focus of Stelter as he traced Fox's ups and downs through the popularity of its faces. But he went on to empathize with them, saying that they are mainly trying to make money off of it.
Brian Stelter says Fox hosts don't care about politics
In a recent interview with Poynter related to his book, Stelter mused that while the conservative hosts might seem serious about their right-leaning politics, it's merely a way to make money.
"For most, it’s just a job, not a calling," Stelter said, "Some producer and director types truly believe in the Trump agenda and will stop at nothing to see him reelected. But most are just trying to make good TV. They definitely aren’t losing sleep about Fox’s coarsening of the culture or Trump’s brainwashing of the base."
The Fox hosts like Jeanine Pirro and former host Tucker Carlson were significantly involved in the Dominion lawsuit which cost the network hundreds of millions of dollars in settlement.
He continued, "I write in the book that rank-and-file staffers like to gossip about hookups between hosts and ratings rivalries between shows. On the occasions when I steered my source chats in a more serious direction, toward the impact of Fox-fueled disinformation on society and democracy, staffers turned cagey or dismissive. I heard some predictable whataboutism and rants about the flaws of other networks."
Brian Stelter calls out Fox News for lacking accountability
The author then went on to say that it was the very system that the network incorporated that caused them to lose their ethical value as a journalistic source.
"Bottom line: I think introspection and accountability are in short supply at Fox, a tone that’s set at the top, by Rupert, who advised Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott years ago to “ignore the noise.”
He later also added, "I emphasize the word network in “Network of Lies” because this hyperpartisan hate-news machine is much bigger than Fox. Trump fans embraced the Big Lie because it echoed throughout almost every corner of the right-wing media. The effect was to make the lie seem omnipresent and obvious and indisputable. Republican elected officials caught the drift. The result: Trump is now running for reelection to right a wrong that wasn’t wrong at all."