Fox News anchor Chris Wallace and CNN anchor Jake Tapper have taken decidedly different approaches to booking interviews since the Jan. 6 riot.
Friday’s issue of Politico Playbook showcased the diverging philosophies side by side.
NEW: TV hosts @jaketapper & Chris Wallace debate how to deal with GOPers who denied the election results.
Ban them from shows ? Or have them on and grill them w/tough questions?
Interesting @playbookdc top by @tarapalmeri this am ->https://t.co/jDmGzQiVV1
— Rachael Bade (@rachaelmbade) June 4, 2021
Tapper said he has moved away from inviting Republicans who continue to make false claims of fraud impacting the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. (RELATED: ‘Made Up, Convoluted Crap’: Jake Tapper Says For Republicans, Telling The Truth Is ‘Hazardous To Your Political Health’)
He told Kara Swisher that the decision not to book certain Republicans was more of a philosophical decision than an actual policy. “It’s not a policy, but it’s a philosophy where I just don’t want to deal with it,” he said. “I mean, there’s about a third of the House Republican caucus that I am willing to book. I could name them to you if you want.”
Tapper’s decision continues a trend that has been ongoing since the Trump administration when he told “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter that he would not book former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.
“There are some people that are so mendacious, I just wouldn’t put them on air. Kayleigh McEnany, I never booked her. Jason Miller from the Trump campaign, I would never book him,” Tapper told Stelter in December of 2020. “These are just people who tell lies the way that most people breathe. There was no value in that.”
Jake Tapper: Kayleigh McEnany ‘Lies The Way That Most People Breathe’ https://t.co/12HKaisY0l
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) December 27, 2020
Tapper again broached the subject in early May on his other show, “The Lead,” saying, “How am I supposed to believe anything they say?” Tapper continued. “If they’re willing to lie about Joe Biden wanting to steal your hamburgers and QAnon and the Big Lie about the election, what are they not willing to lie about? Why should I put any of them on TV?”
Wallace took a different tack, telling Politico in a statement that his job was to cover the news, regardless of the direction it took him.
“I don’t think moral posturing goes well with newsgathering. There are plenty of people I would like to have on Fox News Sunday that voted to challenge the election — House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy for one. And I don’t have any rule about what the first question has to be,” Wallace said. “I have asked plenty of guests about voting to challenge the election and about Trump’s role in the … insurrection. But I cover the news, wherever that takes me.”
Tapper responded to Wallace with a statement of his own, saying, “Should those who shared the election lie that incited the deadly attack on the Capitol and that continues to erode confidence in our democracy be invited onto our airwaves to continue to spread the Big Lie?”
“Can our viewers count on these politicians to tell the truth about other topics? This isn’t an easy conversation for some folks — especially for journalists who work for organizations where the Big Lie was platformed — but that’s all the more reason to have this conversation.”