A Yale researcher on Sunday lambasted CNN for its partisan coverage when host Brian Stetler wanted him to say the same about Fox News.
Yale assistant professor Joshua Kalla appeared Sunday on the CNN show “Reliable Sources.” Kalla was part of a study that paid Fox viewers to watch CNN.
After hearing researcher David Broockman, an associate professor of political science at the University of California, speak about the study, Stelter then touted his version of its conclusion.
“Fox viewers are in the dark about bad news for the GOP,” he said, according to Mediaite.
Kalla said that was only half the story, according to CNN.
Amazing to watch. Enthusiastic to suspicious in a matter of seconds.
STELTER: Your work is awesome
KALLA: Thanks and it’s not just about Fox News
STELTER: Whoa hold on there
https://t.co/pM6Q90yYBo pic.twitter.com/pJASP79wpv— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) April 10, 2022
“Fox and CNN cover different issues, and Fox News predominantly covers issues that make the GOP look good and make Democrats look bad. And on the flip side, CNN engages in this partisan coverage filtering as well as that, we find,” he said.
He offered an example.
“For example, during this time, the Abraham accords were signed, and these were the agreements where Israel, the UAE and Bahrain signed a major peace agreement,” he said.
“And we see that Fox News covered this really major accomplishment about 15 times more than CNN did. So we established both networks are really engaging in this partisan coverage filtering. It’s not about one side it’s about the media writ large,” he said.
Stelter pushed back.
“I think you’re engaging on both sides, isn’t there, Josh?” he said.
Kalla said he is being realistic.
“Not trying to lay out a moral equivalency. It’s not about what an objective standard is, it’s really about how all networks do engage in this,” he said,
“And in order for viewers to get a realistic picture of the world, we need viewers to see all types of information. And unfortunately, what we find in this study is that the viewers don’t want to engage in watching all sides,” he said.
Broockman said the media needs to explain when leaders stumble, even the ones they support.
“If partisan media doesn’t tell its own side when a politician is not kind of performing up to snuff or doesn’t talk about their failings, that really breaks down some of the key mechanisms that keep our democracy responsive, having a side’s own voters tell their side, ‘hey, you need to do better in this way.’
“But they can’t do that if the media don’t tell them how … politicians are falling down on the job,” he said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
