CNN’s Brian Stelter and The Hill’s Joe Concha Tussle on Twitter: ‘You’re Changing the Subject’
Right-wing media says the Russia story is "over." They're wrong. Watch @BrianStelter scrutinize their talking points https://t.co/sOOIq1xa8U
— Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) September 3, 2017
CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter got into a bit of a back-and-forth with The Hill media reporter (and Mediaite alum) Joe Concha on Twitter last night.
On yesterday’s Reliable Sources, Stelter looked at how conservative media has “talk[ed] about Russia in the past tense, like it’s over.” He showed video from late August of Tucker Carlson asking, “Did the Russia story disappear or is that my imagination?”
Concha said at the time, “Before I went on vacation, it was the biggest story of our lifetime and we were entering a constitutional crisis. Now I can’t seem to find any coverage on it.”
Stelter played the clip and then showed a clip from a CNN report on Russia from the day before.
The Tucker Carlson Tonight segment in question featured Carlson and Concha talking about the crazy ESPN Robert Lee story and the reaction to news of Wall Street Journal editor-in-chief Gerard Baker chastising reporters for the framing of Trump coverage, before Carlson brought up the Russia coverage question.
Following Stelter’s segment, Concha said he was talking about evening newscasts and that Stelter took him out of context. Stelter said he did no such thing, and they both fought it out:
@BrianStelter plays a clip of me from 10 days ago talking decrease of Russia news. Presents it as recent, provides no context. Nice try, BS.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 3, 2017
Criticism is fine. But don't play a SOT w/o saying when it was said. It's dishonest & exactly the thing we as media critics would criticize.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 3, 2017
Huh? When I introduced the clip, I said "August 24." Can't be any clearer than that! Then I cited examples of Russia stories from August 23.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 3, 2017
This is the transcript of the segment. I said "August 24." https://t.co/aP7K53Quyx pic.twitter.com/MRphEzustg
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 3, 2017
Examples from the broadcast evening news? That was the context.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 3, 2017
No, that wasn't the context. You never said "broadcast" or "evening" or anything like it. Here's the transcript of the Tucker segment. pic.twitter.com/ZJR3sgOTxm
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 3, 2017
Don't consider a few partisan opinion shows to be major coverage. Broadcast evening news shows reach 25m. Provide where they covered it then
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 3, 2017
Joe, you accused me of "playing a SOT without saying when it was said." I showed your accusation was false. You're changing the subject.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 3, 2017
Actually I'm not, Brian. So did ABC, NBC & CBS evening newscasts — not opinion shows –cover Russia on Aug 23 in any way or not? Yes or no?
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 3, 2017
Joe, read your original tweet! https://t.co/cndF63VZZd You said nothing about "ABC, NBC & CBS" or "Aug 23" on TV or on Twitter. Stop digging
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 3, 2017
On Fox, you said "it WAS the biggest story of our lifetime" but "NOW I can't seem to find any coverage on it."
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 3, 2017
You played along with "Russia is over" spin. You said nothing about ABC, NBC, CBS. Then you falsely accused me of not citing the SOT's date.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 3, 2017
So… your final answer is no, the three major networks didn't devote one second to Russia on August 23, correct? Answer the question.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 3, 2017
And I never said "Russia is over." Show me where I said that verbatim. There are three active investigations going on. Provide the quote.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 3, 2017
And no need for the exclamation points. You're being condescending.
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 3, 2017
I guess you should have watched @SpecialReport. Bret covered the latest Russia-Trump news 2 hours before you said "I can't seem to find…"
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 3, 2017
Today's segment called out Tucker, not you. But you falsely accused me of "playing a SOT without saying when it was said." Have a good night
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 3, 2017
It's a holiday weekend. Enjoy your new daughter & wife. Evening newscasts didn't cover Russia then. I missed SOTdate mentioned on RS. Onward
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 3, 2017
As a coda to the Twitter spat, Concha this morning brought up a tweet of his from the day after, saying then too he was talking about straight news reporting:
My Aug 25 tweet after going on Tucker Carlson's show to talk how wall-to-wall Russia coverage had gone away (context: on evening newscasts). https://t.co/L6Z4YBfWl3
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) September 4, 2017
You can watch the Reliable Sources segment in question above, via CNN.
[image via screengrab]
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