CNN’s Anderson Cooper tied himself into a pretzel on Wednesday’s edition of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS as he tried to explain that journalists need to “point out what is true and what is not true,” but also to “let viewers make up their mind.” Cooper also laughably implied that this fact-checking genre of journalist is done equally to both parties.
Asking about Trump, Colbert wondered what the definition of objective journalism is, “How do you cover him [Donald Trump] in a fresh way? … Eight years ago he came on the scene politically as, really, kind of a comic figure. But he ended as an avatar of an American tragedy and now, so he starts as a tragic figure or rather a symbol of American tragedy. How can you as a journalist or do you feel any compunction to remind the audience of that? Or does that seem not objective? Or is the objective choice to point out the tragedy that his candidacy is?”
For Cooper, the answer is not to present both sides of an argument, but rather, “I think the role of a journalist is to point out what is true and what is not true and to, you know, there’s only so much journalists can do. I mean, you can, you know, confront somebody, you point out facts, you call them out on what is true, what is not true, you point out when they’re lying, but ultimately it is up to voters to decide and nobody can say they don’t know who this person is.”
Cooper also added, “I think you keep doing what journalists do, which is ask the questions, have the facts at your disposal, confront the person with the facts. And, you know, and again, this is across the board, Democrats, Republicans, that’s the role of what journalists are supposed to do and let the viewers decide of– let the American public decide what they want and where they want this country to go.”
No serious person believes CNN applies this standard “across the board.” Whether it is fact-checker Daniel Dale, “reality checker” John Avlon, Christiane Amanpour and her “truthful, not neutral” shtick or anyone else at CNN, this sort of reporting only seems to go one way.
Nevertheless, Cooper kept going, “I don’t think it should be up to reporters to be—I mean, I’m not – I don’t watch, you know, hard-core opinion news programs. I’m not particularly interested in what an anchor thinks about or, you know, is trying to push an agenda. I’m interested in information facts and trying to stick to that let viewers make up their mind. Viewers are smarter than anybody. Let them make up their mind.”
Ultimately, Cooper’s position contradicts itself. If you’re constantly accusing one side of lying, but not the other, viewers are going to vote accordingly.
Here is a transcript for the October 4-taped show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
10/5/2023
12:17 AM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: How do you cover him in a fresh way? Because, let me contextualize this is that six years ago– eight years ago, eight years ago he came on the scene politically as, really, kind of a comic figure. But he ended as an avatar of an American tragedy and now, so he starts as a tragic figure or rather a symbol of American tragedy. How can you as a journalist or do you feel any compunction to remind the audience of that? Or does that seem not objective? Or is the objective choice to point out the tragedy that his candidacy is?
ANDERSON COOPER: I don’t know that– I think the role of a journalist is to point out what is true and what is not true and to, you know, there’s only so much journalists can do. I mean, you can, you know, confront somebody, you point out facts, you call them out on what is true, what is not true, you point out when they’re lying, but ultimately it is up to voters to decide and nobody can say they don’t know who this person is.
Nobody can say they are surprised by any of these things. Shocked, yes. But not necessarily surprised. I think you keep doing what journalists do, which is ask the questions, have the facts at your disposal, confront the person with the facts. And, you know, and again, this is across-the-board, Democrats, Republicans, that’s the role of what journalists are supposed to do and let the viewers decide of– let the American public decide what they want and where they want this country to go.
COLBERT: And the—
COOPER: I don’t think it should be up to reporters to be—I mean, I’m not – I don’t watch, you know, hard-core opinion news programs. I’m not particularly interested in what an anchor thinks about or, you know, is trying to push an agenda. I’m interested in information facts and trying to stick to that let viewers make up their mind. Viewers are smarter than anybody. Let them make up their mind.