Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan defended the mainstream media against accusations of liberal bias as she and the CNN "Reliable Source" panel discussed President Trump's recent "Fox & Friends" interview.
Host Brian Stelter showed how the Post reported on the almost hour-long interview, where topics ranged from impeachment to the 2020 election.
"'Trump continued to make lofty promises of soon-to-come bombshells, peddle falsehoods, spread long-debunked conspiracy theories, attack his perceived enemies and dabble in misogynistic tropes — all while playing the role of persecuted victim.' Now, Margaret, you’re at the Washington Post, that's why I wanted to have this. We need writing and reporting like that to explain how bonkers this is," Stelter said.
"Right I mean, we can’t just sort of say, you know, take it down the middle and sort of say, 'Here’s what the people on the Right are saying. Here’s what the people on the Left are saying.' I mean that does amount to a false equivalency," Sullivan said. "Unfortunately, what’s being viewed as left-wing media is actually what I like to call the reality-based press, and you know, I don’t think that most of the time, and particularly on those evening shows, but as Oliver [Darcy] says not just on the evening shows, you’re not getting reality. You’re getting a very skewed version of things and that is by design."
Sullivan added she considers it a "cop-out" for everyday Americans to say they do not understand everything that is occurring because of the types of information that is available.
"I think we ought to make ourselves informed. And so to say, 'Well gee, I don’t really know. I’m hearing things on different sides.' You know, read a newspaper. Watch the evening news. Okay, you want to watch Fox [News], but compare and contrast and get a sense and go beyond the headlines," she said.