Steve Krakauer has worked at CNN, NBC, Fox News, and The Blaze. You can read his Fourth Watch newsletter and check out his Fourth Watch podcast, but he has a new book out titled Uncovered: How the Media Got Cozy with Power, Abandoned Its Principles, and Lost the People. Many of the media interviews in the book were guests on his podcast.
The chapters in the book explore concepts about the media, including Geographic Bias, Lack of Introspection, Trump Addiction, Coziness with Power — oh, and there a whole chapter on CNN from an insider point of view. His title suggests a very recent loss of principles in the press, which clearly suggests the tumult of Trump. From the earliest days of his presidential campaign, Trump explicitly trashed them as fake news and enemies of the people. Why did it shock them that this resonated with Republicans?
Krakauer kicked off his book tour by bringing Brian Stelter to interview him on his own podcast. Typically, Stelter said to Krakauer that the press wasn’t the problem with democracy, it was the “press bashers.” But he told Krakauer he liked how he was a “constructive” media critic, where apparently most of us are “destructive” media critics. Destructive to democracy? Or just destructive to the reputations or brands of CNN, or PBS, or The New York Times?
It all recalls former Tom Brokaw lamenting that Brent Bozell and the MRC were all about “driving up our negatives.” As if liberal journalists don’t labor diligently as driving up the negatives of conservatives?
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