National Public Radio last week announced it was beefing up its disinformation reporting and this week, Fox News Channel host Greg Gutfeld popped off on the move.
What began as an NPR pop-up beat last year, manned by Brett Neely, will now be a team of at least four, Lisa Hagen, Huo Jingnan and Shannon Bond, with Neely as supervising editor.
Disinformation and misinformation has been a hot topic given the echo-chamber power of the internet and the attempts by groups, foreign and domestic, to use such campaigns to affect elections and foment violence.
Also: ‘Gutfeld!’ Makes Mark in Late Night
On his nightly show Gutfeld! Monday (July 18), which is among the most-watched nighttime talkers, Gutfeld ripped into the noncom network. ”[I]t’s good to see NPR finally realizing the necessity of policing fake news,” he said. “Sort of like a drug addict checking himself into rehab. You know, admitting you have a problem, NPR, is the first step. So good for you.”
Gutfeld and numerous Fox News hosts have opined on what they have said was the mainstream media's, including NPR's, lack of coverage of the troubles of first son Hunter Biden.
Gutfeld cited a tweet during the flap over Hunter Biden’s laptop from NPR explaining why it was not dogging the story the way, say, Fox News has. “We don't want to waste our time on stories that aren't really stories,” the Twitter post read. “And we don't want to waste listeners’ and readers’ time on stories that are just pure distractions.”
Fox News has been giving a promotional push to the second part of its Fox Nation streaming service’s two-part series Who Is Hunter Biden.
That did not sit well with Gutfeld, who has called the story the most consequential one of the 2020 presidential election season. “Apparently, NPR was doing people a favor by filtering out stories that might disturb them, but they really weren't filtering at all. They were blocking, cherry-picking, censoring, then acting as if it was a favor to you. Pulling that tote bag over your head and saying it's for your own good, sister.” ▪️
