CNN's Tom Foreman explains right-wing media's role in spreading lies about the insurrection
Foreman: “The roar of the riot was still echoing when right-wing media started rewriting the story. ... And in the year since, those efforts have persisted through repeated and utterly unproven claims.”
Published
Citation From the January 7, 2022, edition of CNN's New Day
TOM FOREMAN (CNN CORRESPONDENT): You wonder why these Republican leaders won't stand up for the truth in all of this. It's because so many of their followers are living in a world where truth and facts and honesty are constantly taking a back seat to defending Donald Trump. And nowhere is that more true than on conservative media.
(VIDEO BEGINS)
FOREMAN: The roar of the riot was still echoing when right-wing media started rewriting the story.
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And in the year since, those efforts have persisted through repeated and utterly unproven claims.
First, that it was mainly a peaceful protest. More than 700 who stormed the capitol have been charged, dozens of police were injured, some people died. And yet viewers of right-wing media are pushed toward a very different take.
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Second, right-wing hosts have insisted these were not Trump fans, never mind the chants, the flags, and sworn testimony to the contrary from the participants.
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Right-wing commentators have kept promoting conspiracy theories that the uprising was the work of antifa or undercover federal agents.
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And third, they have framed this as a reasonable, even necessary, response by frustrated voters. A new study of podcasts hosted by the late Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Steve Bannon leading up to the insurrection found more than 50% endorsing unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud or related claims — the Big Lie that Trump won. And it continues.
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And through it all, right-wing media figures have dismissed virtually every credible attempt to investigate.
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(VIDEO ENDS)
FOREMAN: You know, all of society makes a big deal about how these lies are spreading on social media through Facebook and Twitter and places like that. But a study out of the University of Chicago said when you look at these millions of people who consider themselves part of the, sort of, insurrection class, when they're asked what their primary sources of information are, they say Fox, Newsmax, OAN — agencies that are out there with a lot of people looking at this information and agreeing to not put forward legitimate conservative stances but instead this pack of lies.