George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s “This Week” put on a clinic for how journalists should treat Republicans who refuse to acknowledge that the 2020 Presidential Election wasn’t stolen. He would not accept Republican Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s attempts to skirt the question with nonsensical GOP rhetoric. This is a refreshing contrast to other interviewers who allow Republicans to stonewall certain questions with false equivalencies.
Until Republicans can answer the most basic questions honestly, reporters shouldn’t give them a platform to spread their misinformation. Yet no matter the network, you see Republicans constantly spewing lies or disseminating “whataboutism” to escape having their base find out their true stance on a topic. Of course, Republicans are going to come off as credible if they say what voters want to hear when in actuality they’re actions tell a far different story.
Stephanopoulos’s refusal to move forward without a direct response from Scalise highlighted how the Right Winger was clearly dodging the question. In an interview with CNN Stephanopoulos said “In my mind, if you can’t say the election is not stolen, why move on to other things? Why should anything else have any credibility?”
“You don’t move on from whether an election is stolen,” Stephanopoulos added. “This is not just another policy debate, it is fundamental.”
“We are a democracy. A democracy is decided by elections. And the peaceful transfer of power, up until 2020, was at the heart of our democratic tradition,” Stephanopoulos told CNN. “If that can be called into question, then our whole democracy can be called into question. In my mind, it is a foundational question, the most fundamental question we face now as we head into the next election.”
Though election denialism is a major issue that Republican officials have been lying to the public about, it’s not the only one. Today’s GOP has perfected the art of manipulating voters by misleading them with false narratives. Networks that allow this to continue are complicit in the erosion of our democracy. Or as Stephanopoulos put it “I don’t think we should be in the business of airing falsehoods,”
However, every day Donald Trump is given carte blanch to habitually lie to the American people while media outlets trip over each other to cover and air his rants. Knowing full well that what he is going to say isn’t true. When asked about how the press should cover Trump’s multitude of legal cases Stephanopoulos agrees “The fact that he is going to court is newsworthy,” he added. “The falsehoods are not.”
With coverage of Trump and the Republican Party generating ratings boosts to news organizations. it’s incumbent upon them to make the ethical decision to keep their coverage factual. Otherwise, their greed will certainly help tear apart the fabric of our society. Until the media admits to themselves that their journalistic integrity has been compromised by their obligations to their shareholders. They will be just as liable as the dishonest Republicans who’ve they’ve given a platform. That could easily destroy the democracy that We The People have fought for generations to uphold. So bravo George Stephanopoulos you are a shining example of how a true journalist should handle today’s corrupted Republicans.
For the CNN article quoted click the link below
https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/07/media/george-stephanopoulos-scalise-2020-election/index.html
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