CNN’s Brian Stelter accused “GOP media” of “riot denialism” after former Vice President Mike Pence called out the media for, according to him, focusing too much on Jan. 6.
Pence told Fox News host Sean Hannity during an interview Monday that “the media wants to distract from the Biden administration’s failed agenda by focusing on one day in January,” according to Politico National Political Correspondent Meredith McGraw.
Washington Post White House reporter Seung Min Kim responded and said that the Capitol riot “was the worst breach of our U.S. Capitol since” the War of 1812.
That “one day in January” was the worst breach of our U.S. Capitol since the War of friggin’ 1812. https://t.co/I4vvkamLUQ
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) October 5, 2021
Stelter then jumped in, praising CNN for giving Pence’s comment lots of coverage since the Hannity interview. He also slammed Fox for not following up on Pence’s comments and not covering it beyond the interview. (RELATED: 3 Times Media Said Everything Was Fine As Fires Blazed Behind Them)
“Pence minimizing the Jan. 6 attack rightly received lots of attention from CNN and other outlets in the past 24 hours,” Stelter said Wednesday morning on Twitter. “But on Fox? Nope. The Pence interview happened on Hannity, but then there were 0 followups.”
He accused “GOP media,” including Fox News, of “riot denialism.” The CNN host claimed that not following up on Pence’s comments was part of a “pathetic pattern” of not “talking honestly about the riot.”
This fits a pathetic pattern. After all, scrutinizing Pence’s revisionist history about 1/6 would require talking honestly about the riot, and that rarely ever happens on Fox. Riot denialism is practically required in GOP media.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 6, 2021
CNN was ridiculed during last summer’s Black Lives Matter protests and riots for minimizing the demonstrations that turned into violent riots. One chyron, which was displayed during CNN’s coverage of the Kenosha, Wisconsin, called the events “fiery but mostly peaceful protests.” The chyron was displayed as buildings burned down in the background.
CNN editor-at-large and reporter Chris Cilliza also claimed that then-President Donald Trump was wrong to “label what is happening in major cities as ‘riots.'”