CNN’s Brian Stelter and Oliver Darcy Call Out CNN Parent Company AT&T For Funding OAN’s ‘Conspiracy Crap’
CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy and host Brian Stelter called out their own network’s parent company, AT&T, for funding infamous conspiracy channel One America News Network.
Reuters on Wednesday reported on court documents that showed how AT&T executives inspired the creation of OAN, and how the communications company continues to fund the network to the tune of tens of millions. It was revealed in those documents that OAN received 90% of its funding from AT&T.
Darcy spoke to Don Lemon about the report, and they quickly addressed the fact that AT&T is also CNN’s parent company. This prompted Darcy to list “all sorts of nonsense” that OAN has pushed about vaccines and “the Big Lie” that the 2020 election was stolen.
“Frankly,” Darcy summed up, OAN is peddling “nonsense we spend a lot of time on this platform debunking.”
The segment continued with Darcy acknowledging AT&T’s claim that they don’t fund OAN, nor have a financial interest in the network’s success. He rebutted, however, that “OAN is distributed by AT&T platforms.”
On Thursday, Stelter continued coverage of the story on New Day as he looked at AT&T’s “pivotal role” for OAN’s origin. Stelter noted that OAN founder Robert Herring Sr. claimed AT&T executives inspired OAN, and also explained how AT&T cash keeps OAN afloat:
There is a reason Comcast and Charter and others don’t carry this conspiracy network. There’s a reason why they don’t provide carriage fees to OAN. They are making a choice about content. Competition is a good thing. It’s great to have more and more channels. But there is a limit when we talk about channels that spread hate and misinformation. This is not just a conservative channel. It’s a conspiracy channel, and there’s a big difference, and that’s why AT&T has come under very harsh scrutiny.
Stelter concluded by saying AT&T executives might have felt like they needed an “alternative” to CNN, but “there is a difference between real news and conspiracy crap.”
Watch above, via CNN.
