By giving a fascist liar (and not his rivals for the nomination) a platform and a studio audience that’s sympathetic to him and also prohibited from reacting negatively, a supposedly mainstream outlet promotes the perception that he and his ideology have more support than they do. In doing so they normalise fascism and white supremacy (see also the NYT “Nazi next door” pieces).
Also, as noted above, this “town hall” was not news or an expose. Von Clownstick is a known quantity who already has been handed far too much free publicity over his shady career.
I don’t link to Twitter, but user maryangelaperna responded to Cooper’s ridiculous statment with the following quote about the news media from a history of the Holocaust:
The media played a vital role in producing and sharing the Nazis’ propaganda .Under Goebbels’ new Chamber of Culture, all aspects of the media were Nazified and controlled.
In 1933, prior to the Nazi rise to power, over 4700 newspapers freely operated across Germany. Shortly after Hitler became chancellor, all opposition newspapers were banned. Those that remained were subject to strict censorship laws, so open opposition to the regime became increasingly difficult. On the 4 October 1933 the Editorship Law, the Schriftleitergesetz, was passed. This law stated that all editors must be ‘Aryan’, dismissing hundreds of non-‘Aryan’ editors on purely racial grounds”
Openly LGBTQ+ journalists and publications didn’t fare any better. Gratuitous centrist coverage of right-wing populism for the sake of spectacle and circulation/ratings doesn’t end well.
Again, to CNN and all media outlets and people asking “what’s the big deal?”:
