Brian Stelter Updates His Fox News Book With 12 New Chapters Covering Tucker Carlson, the Election, and Capitol Insurrection
CNN’s Brian Stelter has updated Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth, his bestselling book about the relationship between former President Donald Trump and Fox News, to include coverage of the end of Trump’s presidency, the growing influence of right-wing media outlets Newsmax and One America News Network, and other post-election topics.
The changes to the book include coverage of the end of Trump’s presidency, false claims of voter fraud which culminated in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and the apparent increased influence of Newsmax and OAN, according to a report by Associated Press media writer David Bauder.
“With Trump out of office and Fox out of its usual first place spot in the ratings, the story now seems complete,” Stelter said in the Sunday edition of his Reliable Sources newsletter. “So I wrote a brand new beginning; updated the text throughout; and added twelve (!!!) new chapters toward the end of the book.”
Fox, which has for years been the most-watched cable news network, slipped in the ratings following the 2020 presidential election. There are signs the network is regaining its footing, however: For much of last week Fox beat CNN and MSNBC in both total viewers and in the highly coveted demographic of viewers age 25-54.
Stelter said he has added around 20,000 words to the book.
In his interview with the AP, Stelter said that the “creation of the Fox News presidency was a critical story. Now we’ve reached the end of the Fox News presidency.”
“I hope this is now the complete story of Trump and Fox,” Stelter also told the AP. “But who knows? Maybe Trump will join Fox.”
The book will also include an analysis of Fox News opinion host Tucker Carlson’s rise to become the network’s most prominent personality, the AP report said.
The cover of the book has changed to reflect Stelter’s update; the original featured a picture of the back of Trump’s head, while the new cover includes pictures of Fox News personalities.
Stelter told the AP that he added new chapters to the book, as well as updating existing chapters with additional material.
The revised edition of Hoax will be available in paperback on June 1.
Marisa Sarnoff was a researcher at Fox News from 2015-2020.
