CNN Newsroom host Alisyn Camerota brought on media reporter Brian Stelter on Tuesday for a segment that was so lacking of self-awareness it was almost comical. The subject matter was former President Obama saying the raise of misinformation "worries me," which led Stelter and Camerota to lament the lack of solutions of information echo chambers and sensationalist media coverage...as if CNN isn't part of the problem.
Stelter summarized Obama's fears by declaring, "Time and time again he warns the biggest crisis in this country is we're divided along information lines. We can't figure out way to communicate with each other. In this new comment today, he's citing the riot as the evidence of that: the riot of lies of January 6th and if you listen between the lines, he's saying the Republican Party has come unglued."
Camerota was even more alarmed by Obama's proclamation, declaring it to be a "hair on fire moment." She added "I think you often bring up as I think I try to. We know this, we know this, we’re in different echo chambers. It's getting really dangerous and I agree with you. I don't know what the solution is, but I know everyone has become more entrenched and it’s gotten deadly."
If CNN is worried about echo chambers it could drop the idea that there are only two types of Republicans, crazed conspiracy theorists and super-sensible CNN Republicans, and hire a more intellectually diverse set of on-air talent.
Displays of self-awareness were only just beginning as Stelter added warned that "local news has hollwed out" and "everything is being nationalized....That gets to the way our media is funded and how it's profitable to be polarized and fighting all the time.
CNN is arguably the worst offender of nationalizing the news. What used to be considered distinct local crime stories are now constantly amalgamated by CNN to push national gun control narratives.
Camerota then shifted to President Biden's speech earlier in the day and her former employer, complaining Fox didn't cover Biden live. CNN made it a virtue to avoid live coverage of Trump speeches and appearances when he was president! But Biden's speech was allegedly healing news for the working class:
CAMEROTA: I was just pointing out, we were just listening to President Biden’s job plan, they weren't playing it on Fox. The very crowd, the MAGA crowd that wants to hear about no more outsourcing, you don't need a college degree to have a well-paying job, and they are not getting that information.
Most people can understand why Republicans are generally less optimistic about the economy during Democratic administrations and vice versa, but for Stelter, "as a result, polls show Republicans are much more pessimistic about the economy. They may not be actually hearing the same information."
Of her former employer, Camerota concluded the segment by declaring "It's so frustrating," but speeches are not substitutes for real-world realities.
This segment was sponsored by Trivago.
Here is a transcript for the June 29 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota and Victor Blackwell
3:28
BRIAN STELTER: For a former president to address this in such blunt terms though does speak to the crisis we're in. This information crisis we're in. We have not had a situation in our lives where a former president feels compelled to speak out the way Obama has. He's been doing this with a book last year and now through these public events. I think, my impression is he’s trying to come up up with way to be as blunt as he can be while preserving the dignity of a former president and the kind of position that would normally entail. Time and time again he warns the biggest crisis in this country is we're divided along information lines. We can't figure out way to communicate with each other. In this new comment today, he's citing the riot as the evidence of that: the riot of lies of January 6th and if you listen between the lines, he's saying the Republican Party has come unglued. Of course, what he's not presenting, what nobody’s presenting are solutions. You can identify the problem. You can identify what's gone wrong but it's so much harder to get to the place of solutions. We don't see that in this presentation.
ALISYN CAMEROTA: It's also his classic Barack Obama understatement of “I would say one party is not as tethered to reality.” This is hair on fire moment as I think you often bring up as I think I try to. We know this, we know this, we’re in different echo chambers. It's getting really dangerous and I agree with you. I don't know what the solution is, but I know everyone has become more entrenched and it’s gotten deadly.STELTER: One of the words he used recently was nationalization, I think that’s a helpful way to think about it. As local news has hollowed out, as local politics gets more and more polarized, everything is being nationalized. He's identified that as part of the problem. It gets the media business structures. That's gets to way our media is funded and how it's profitable to be polarized and fighting all the time. So again, he's pointed to those issues, I think he’s doing it really well, but the solutions are structural, they are financial as well as psychological.
CAMEROTA: I was just pointing out, we were just listening to President Biden’s job plan, they weren't playing it on Fox. The very crowd, the MAGA crowd that wants to hear about no more outsourcing. You don't need a college degree to have a well-paying job and they are not getting that information.
STELTER: And as a result, polls show Republicans are much more pessimistic about the economy. They may not be actually hearing the same information.
CAMEROTA: It's so frustrating. Brian, thank you very much
