CNN’s Stelter Warns of ‘Asymmetric Lying’ From RNC Convention: Networks Must Decide How to Handle ‘Stream of Disinformation’

CNN’s Brian Stelter predicted that the 2020 Republican National Convention will give way to a huge wave of lies and misinformation, and TV networks face an unavoidable quandary in terms of how they should handle it.

In his latest Reliable Sources monologue, Stelter warned of an imminent “truth imbalance” and “a real forecast of lies coming fast and furious from the president and, sadly, from many of his allies.” Stelter described this as “asymmetric lying,” saying the contents of the Democratic National Convention were “largely accurate,” whereas he suspects the RNC will be “a grievance convention where speakers will rant and rave against the media.”

“I think we can expect, sadly, misinformation about voting, which is going to put news outlets in tough positions about when to interrupt, when to fact-check and how,” Stelter said. “There’s probably also going to be headlines about Covid-19 and safety concerns.”

Stelter went on to say “there are discussions in newsrooms about how to handle what is likely to be a stream of lying,” from the RNC.

The television networks will have interesting choices to make. Interesting decisions to make about whether to cut away if there’s this stream of disinformation happening live.

After digging at President Donald Trump and Fox News for spreading misinformation about the DNC, Stelter continued to dig at the network for how it presented the DNC. He also accused the network of facilitating “asymmetrical polarization” before saying “what we’re seeing currently in our political system in America is asymmetrical lying, where one side does it a whole lot more than the other. Where one leader and his followers mislead the public a lot more than the other side.”

“If we don’t tell that story truthfully and honestly, then we’re part of the problem,” Stelter said.

Watch above, via CNN.

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