Gretchen Carlson said that Fox News viewers are so sealed off from other media that some think she still works there because Fox never covered her story.
Video:
Carlson said to Jim Acosta on CNN:
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
And that’s the other problem that we have in society with the media right now is that we’re so siloed into only watching what we agree with. So, every day, that thought process just gets reinforced time after time. I mean, there are some people, Jim, who actually, when I’m walking through the airport, still think that I work at Fox News.Â
 Because — yeah. Because they watch only Fox News, and they never covered by story there, obviously. And so, you know, that’s what they see and what they hear. Now, that works on the other side too. There’s probably people that only watch other networks that have another point of view.Â
 But I think it’s incredibly dangerous to have — a big difference between having a conservative opinion and having one that supports conspiracy theories.
Compromise and bipartisanship are impossible when one side of the political dialogue is living in an alternate reality. Fox News has its viewers so locked in to only watching Fox that they only believe what they see on Fox.
One of the most long-lasting devious achievements of Roger Ailes, the late sexual predator who Gretchen Carlson took on, was that he managed to convince millions of people to only watch and believe Fox News.
Before Fox, this sort of polarization and pick your own reality behavior didn’t exist.
Fox News viewers have gone from being misinformed to a threat to democracy that is willing to attack the Capitol to overturn an election, and refusal to believe anything outside of Fox News is a major reason for the transformation.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
