New York Mayor Bill De Blasio appeared on CNN's "Reliable Sources" yesterday to state that that the news outlets run by Rupert Murdoch "put race front and center, and they try to stir the most negative impulses in this country."
"We would be a more unified country," De Blasio said.
"There would be less overt hate and appeal to division because what Murdoch did is create a dynamic where race was infused into the dialogue in a negative way and it was an apocalyptic version of crime and decay and always putting that through a lens of people of color as the villains."
"They put race front and center and stir the negative impulses, there is no Donald Trump without News Corp," he said. "He never would have got the presidency because he wouldn't be elevated the way he was for years and years. I believe in a free strong media. I'll defend it with all I got but we have to be able to call out when a particular company has a corporate agenda, has a political agenda and very effectively changed the American discourse."
Stelter responded by comparing his words to Trump's attacks on the press as "fake news" and the "enemy of the people." (Because why not?)
De Blasio responded that Trump has created "a dynamic that's anti media, anti free speech, undermining democratic norms. This is a president that doesn't believe in democratic norms. i believe in them deeply and a free discourse."
Stelter responded that "politicians make lousy media critics. Why do you think it's your role because you don't like the context?"
De Blasio pointed out "when it comes to News Corp, they have a political mission and we have to be able to talk about it."
"It's like Trump singling out CNN. Two wrongs don't make a right. Two versions of something bad," Stelter said.
And so on. Bill De Blasio pointing out something about Fox -- an effect that's well documented, by the way -- is exactly the same as Trump attacking CNN.
While a major part of the problem, it's bigger than just Fox News. It's the intellectual foxhole the rest of the media digs, deeper and deeper, at our expense.
