Hoax Quotes

“For anyone who knows Russia, Trump’s aim in the use of the word ‘hoax’ is uncannily familiar,” he said. “In Russia the regime dismisses any criticism as ‘information war,’ thus making any kind of evidence-based debate impossible: All information is just a weapon, a form of manipulation, there is no rational ground on which to have a debate, you are either ‘with us’ or ‘against us.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“Yes, O’Reilly had some legitimate grievances about the liberal values of some major news outlets. But in the Trump years most constructive sorts of media criticism were replaced by destructive attacks. They didn’t even buy what they were selling half the time: The same Fox talkers who called The New York Times “failing” relied on it for story ideas and background information. The same hosts who bashed CNN texted me links to their latest segments, hoping for coverage from CNN.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“Sunday night host Steve Hilton said, on March 22, “You know that famous phrase, ‘the cure is worse than the disease’? That is exactly the territory we’re hurtling towards.” Trump watched Hilton on his Genie DVR a couple hours later, then tweeted in all caps, “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.” This was the Trump-Fox feedback loop at its loopiest.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“A 2019 PRRI survey found significant differences between “Fox News Republicans” and other Republicans who said Fox was not their primary news source. “Fox News Republicans” were much more closely wedded to Trump, with 55 percent saying there was nothing Trump could do to lose their approval.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“Once unbound from the shackles of truth, Fox’s power came from what it decided to cover—its chosen narratives—and what it decided to ignore. Trump’s immature, erratic, and immoral behavior? His sucking up to Putin? His mingling of presidential business and personal profit? Fox talk shows played dumb and targeted the “deep state” instead. Conservative media types were like spiders, spinning webs and trying to catch prey. They insisted the real story was an Obama-led plot against Trump to stop him from winning the election. One night Hannity irrationally exclaimed, “This makes Watergate look like stealing a Snickers bar from a drugstore!” Another night he upped the hysteria, insisting this scandal “will make Watergate look like a parking ticket.” The following night he screeched, “This is Watergate times a thousand.” He strung viewers along, invoking mysterious “sources” who were “telling us” that “this is just the tip of the iceberg.” There was always another “iceberg” ahead, always another twist coming, always another Democrat villain to attack after the commercial break. Hannity and Trump were so aligned that, on one weird night in 2018, Hannity had to deny that he was giving Trump a sneak peek at his monologues after the president tweeted out, twelve minutes before air, “Big show tonight on @SeanHannity! 9: 00 P.M. on @FoxNews.” Political reporters fumbled for their remotes and flipped over to Fox en masse. Hannity raved about the “Mueller crime family” and said the Russia investigation was “corrupt” and promoted a guest who said Mueller “surrounded himself with literally a bunch of legal terrorists,” whatever that meant. Some reporters who did not watch Fox regularly were shocked at how unhinged and extreme the content was. But this was just an ordinary night in the pro-Trump alternative universe. Night after night, Hannity said the Mueller probe needed to be stopped immediately, for the good of the country. Trump’s attempts at obstruction flowed directly from his “Executive Time.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“Guilfoyle “knew how to use sex to get ahead,” in the words of one friend, and some of her colleagues suspected that she was hitching herself to Junior for more than purely romantic reasons. According to them, Guilfoyle had been told months ahead of time that her last day at Fox was July 1. Undeterred, she fought to stay on the air. “She had Trump calling Rupert, lobbying on her behalf,” one well-placed source said. “She thought Rupert would do nothing to her once she was with Trump Jr.,” another source said.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“I'm writing this book as a citizen; as an advocate for factual journalism; and as a new dad who thinks about what kind of world my children are going to inherit. This story is about a rot at the core of our politics. It's about an ongoing attack on the very idea of a free and fair press. It's about the difference between news and propaganda. It's about the difference between state media and the fourth estate.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“show from it. They missed the point: The purpose wasn’t news, it was propaganda. Propaganda was more effective when it masqueraded as news. Anyone who was in denial about this clearly wasn’t watching.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“What works: Stories about undocumented immigrants killing Americans Stories about citizens standing up to the government bureaucracy Stories about college students disrespecting the flag”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“People don’t care if it’s right, they just want their side to win. That’s who”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“It was hypocritical too. Trump called the news “fake” but pined for journalists’ attention.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“The hourly anti-media shtick was best understood this way: Fox was a 24/7 ad for Fox. Every insult hurled at CNN and NBC doubled as a reminder not to change the channel. Every segment about some other news outlet’s screwup doubled as a declaration to only trust Fox. It was as effective as it was cynical, and Trump helped by battering Fox’s competition every step of the way.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“you have to be careful about what you are watching and reading, because the media has taken sides. So if you only watch Fox News, because it’s reinforcing what you believe, you are not an informed citizen.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“While he was still president-elect in January 2017, Trump seized on the term “fake news”—which was coined by reporters and researchers to describe made-up stories on social media—and co-opted it as a bludgeon, a diversion, and a punchline. “Fake news” meant Russian propaganda and clickbait, but for his base Trump defined it as “news you shouldn’t believe.” It was probably the most important thing he did during the presidential transition period. Turning “fake news” into a slur fit perfectly into Trump’s permanent campaign of disbelief, as best conveyed by his 2018 statement that “what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.” He suggested with disturbing regularity that everything could be a hoax. It was straight out of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“In Fox’s early days,” a former anchor said, “it was like professional wrestling. It was all predetermined. ‘I’ll say this, and then you say that.’ ” But the anchor noticed a change in the green-room pre-gaming: “Once Obama took office, guests of different political stripes were less genial off camera. Segments became less choreographed, with the conservative invariably taking an extreme line of attack that went beyond the established norms of political punditry.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“If you’re a thief, accuse your enemies of thievery. If corrupt, accuse your rivals of corruption. If a coward, accuse others of cowardice. Evidence is irrelevant; the goal is to dilute the truth and the case against you with ‘everyone does it.’ ”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“See, anyone who views Fox News as a mere cable channel, no different than AMC or TBS, is missing what it really is. Fox is an addictive substance. For its biggest fans, Fox is an identity. Almost a way of life. Hardcore viewers rarely change the channel or seek out a balanced media diet. They compare the network to a church, to a senior center, to a city hall.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“I felt compelled to write it because of what I heard from inside Fox—from anchors and producers and reporters who were appalled by Trump’s gradual takeover of the network. They said management encouraged pro-Trump propaganda and discouraged real reporting, and they said many staffers went right along with it. “They are lying about things we’re seeing with our own eyes,” one well-known Fox commentator said, embarrassed about their colleagues’ conduct. “We surrendered to Trump,” one anchor said to me with remorse in his voice. “We just surrendered.” “What does Trump have on Fox?” another anchor asked, convinced there was a conspiracy in play. Dirty pictures of Rupert Murdoch?”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“the single most important thing to understand about Fox: Everyone there is profoundly afraid of losing the audience and the resulting piles of cash. “They’re making too much money to change,” said one veteran producer who resigned in disgust.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“So did the producers of F& F reckon with their newfound power? Did they triple-check their facts to make sure the president was fully informed? No. They continued to rip stories off fringe right-wing blogs and promote conspiracy theories and play into the president’s worst partisan impulses.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“Like someone dying of thirst in the desert, conservatives drank heavily from the Fox waters,” Bartlett wrote in 2015. “Soon, it became the dominant—and in many cases, virtually the only—major news source for millions of Americans. This has had profound political implications that are only starting to be appreciated. Indeed, it can almost be called self-brainwashing—many conservatives now refuse to even listen to any news or opinion not vetted through Fox, and to believe whatever appears on it as the gospel truth.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“You have to understand how completely sexualized Fox is,” a former star said. What was visible to viewers on the air also affected the culture off the air.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“What works: Stories about undocumented immigrants killing Americans Stories about citizens standing up to the government bureaucracy Stories about college students disrespecting the flag Stories about hate crime hoaxes Stories about liberal media outlets suppressing the truth And, whenever possible, stories involving attractive women (They could be the hero or the villain, it didn’t matter, but they had to be attractive.) “Job one is to titillate the audience,” the former producer said. “For celebrity stories, I had to pick the sexiest photos. And then I’d still hear, ‘Can you find hotter photos of her?’ Sigh. Okay, we’ll spend another thousand bucks on three photos from Getty.” It got to the point where the producer knew, without being told, which specific photos of Angelina Jolie the execs would expect to see. This sexualized approach spilled over to other parts of the show. If it was a quiet news day and the producers needed to fill a spare block, “we would look and see, what are the locals doing?” Fox tapped into its network of stations in big cities all across the country. “Then we would Google around to find the hottest reporter.” Workers striking in Detroit or rush hour flooding in Houston? Sometimes that’s how the editorial call was made.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“This “do as I say, not as I do” attitude was one of the first things the producer noticed when he started working for F& F. Anti-marijuana segments were a layup on the show. Then he headed to a house party with colleagues for the first time and saw half the staff out on the balcony getting high. “Okay,” he said to himself, “so we don’t really believe all this stuff. We just tell other people to believe it.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“Here’s what everyone should understand about Fox’s relationship with Trump, a former Fox & Friends producer said: “People think he’s calling up Fox & Friends and telling us what to say. Hell no. It’s the opposite. We tell him what to say.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“After the cameras stopped rolling, Bush says Trump remarked “Billy, look, you just tell them and they believe it. That’s it. They just do.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“Breslin said Trump was living by rules instilled by his pop: “Never use your own money. Steal a good idea and say it’s your own. Do anything to get publicity. Remember that everybody can be bought.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“The only outlet that dedicates itself to keeping track is Media Matters for America, a progressive group founded by David Brock to monitor and confront conservative media. In 2019 the group’s senior fellow Matt Gertz counted every single time Trump tweeted in direct response to a Fox News or Fox Business program and found at least 657”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“It’s worth stating the obvious here: Trump’s entanglement with Fox has no historical precedent. Never before has a TV network effectively produced the president’s intelligence briefing and staffed the federal bureaucracy. Never before has a president promoted a single TV channel, asked the hosts for advice behind closed doors, and demanded for them to be fired when they step out of line. This story has all the makings of a farcical drama: a dysfunctional White House, a delusional president, and a drama-filled network misinforming him from morning through night.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

“Fox News is not a ‘news network.’ Don’t think of it as a network at all,” said a veteran host. “It’s a profit machine.”
― Brian Stelter, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth