Should politicians who pushed The Big Lie be given a platform on cable news? To no one’s surprise, the hard news standard bearers at CNN and Fox News see the issue differently.
Jake Tapper, the host of CNN’s State of the Union, doesn’t think so, telling The New York Times, “It’s not a policy, but it’s a philosophy where I just don’t want to deal with it.”
For Tapper, that means ignoring the vast majority of House Republicans, including its leadership: Reps. Kevin McCarthy, Steve Scalise, and Elise Stefanik.
Who’s left? “I mean, there’s about a third of the House Republican caucus that I am willing to book. I could name them to you if you want,” Tapper said.
Politico summarizes Tapper’s thinking, “If they’re willing to lie about the election, what else are they willing to lie about to his audience?”
Over on MSNBC, anchors Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski have had a prohibition on Republicans who peddled election conspiracies since the January 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol. Brzezinski recently criticized outlets for “booking Republicans who support the big lie and tiptoed around it just because they’re so grateful to have a Republican on to talk about other things.”
But there’s hardly a consensus in the media landscape. Fox News’ Chris Wallace told Politico, “There are plenty of people I would like to have on Fox News Sunday that voted to challenge the election — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy for one. And I don’t have any rule about what the first question has to be. I have asked plenty of guests about voting to challenge the election and about Trump’s role in the January 6th insurrection. But I cover the news, wherever that takes me.”
Wallace added, “I don’t think moral posturing goes well with news gathering.”
That dig got a rise out of Tapper, who responded, “This isn’t an easy conversation for some folks — especially for journalists who work for organizations where the Big Lie was platformed — but that’s all the more reason to have this conversation.”