Hoax (book)

Book by Brian Stelter

Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

* [[Atria+Publishing+Group|Atria]]
* One+Signal+Publishers

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Author| Brian Stelter
Language| English
Publisher|

* Atria
* One Signal Publishers

Publication date

| August 25, 2020
Publication place| United States
Media type|

* Print
* e-book
* audiobook

Pages| 368
ISBN| 978-1-9821-4244-5
Followed by| Network of Lies: The Epic Saga of Fox News, Donald Trump, and the Battle for American Democracy

Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth is a nonfiction book by American journalist Brian Stelter, former CNN chief media correspondent. The book was first published on August 25, 2020, through Atria/One Signal Publishers and covers the entanglement of Donald Trump and Fox News.

## Synopsis

[edit]

Stelter draws on over 250 sources, including 140 current staffers at Fox, to detail Trump's ties to Fox News and its evolution from a news network to what he describes as "state-supported TV". He charts the network's origins from its inception in 1996 under Roger Ailes to today, noting Trump's close relationship with the channel emerging back in 2012 when he was given a regular call-in spot on the show Fox & Friends, giving Trump a platform for the birtherism conspiracy and his eventual presidential run.[1]

Sean Hannity

The book also details Trump's entwinement with Sean Hannity, with claims they speak almost daily, while building and sharing each other's rhetoric on such topics as rigged elections, immigration issues, the evils of the Democrats and the "fake news media". Stelter provides incidents in which Trump's campaign speeches and tweets use terminology taken from Hannity's program, and notes that Trump has used Hannity's program to test the ratings he might receive from his voter base on certain political stands or theories.[2] Stelter also calls out Trump and the network's downplaying of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Fox News medical contributor Marc Siegel telling Hannity on March 6, 2020, that "at worst, at worst, worst case scenario, it could be the flu." Sean Hannity had at one time discouraged the use of social distancing to combat the spread of COVID-19.[3] Stelter also credits Hannity with both pressuring FBI Director James Comey to investigate Hillary Clinton's laptop emails only days before the election as well as shifting public opinion against Hillary Clinton as a result of Comey's public statement that he was investigating the emails.[4]

## Reception

[edit]

Jane Eisner of Washington Post gave the book a mixed-yet-positive review, mentioning Stelter's partisan point of view that Eisner describes as "Alarmist" and not detached or neutral. Eisner writes "Stelter shows Fox News accelerates and amplifies Trump's denigration of truth, disregard for facts and manipulation of a pliable public." Stelter writes “Hannity and Trump worked hand in hand to tar practically the entire American news media as ‘fake.’ Both men's hypnotic message was that Fox was the only legit network while everyone else was fraudulent,” and Eisner notes that that message is increasingly shaping the workings of the federal government. In particular, Eisner notes the books chronicle of 20 people who had jumped from the network to the White House, including a member of the Cabinet and a deputy chief of staff, concluding that the Fox worldview directly affects American policy. Eisner critiques that the book suffers from a reliance on assertions, blind quotes, and unverified accounts; though overall asserts that "the book (Hoax) exposes a collusion that threatens the pillars of our democracy."[1]

David Bauder of the Associated Press gave a positive review, saying that the most disturbing parts of the book do not rely on insider access but are pulled directly from on-air broadcasts and the resulting Twitter feeds by Trump which very closely match the content of the broadcasts. These examples demonstrate Trump's continuous reliance on the station to directly mold much of his political stance on a variety of issues.[5] Publishers Weekly provided a positive review, commenting that the book provides "a copious and alarming catalogue of the damage the 'Trump-Fox merger' has done to American journalism and politics."[5] Lloyd Green of The Guardian positively reviewed the book, saying that "Brian Stelter of CNN has produced a well-sourced portrait of the symbiotic relationship between president and presenters" of Fox News. He draws attention to Stelter's message that "Fox News has deliberately and repeatedly downplayed the threat posed by Covid-19 for the sake of making Trump look good, even as the pandemic took hold in Arizona, Florida, Georgia and Texas, ie: Trump’s base."[6]

David Enrich of The New York Times Book Review gave a mixed review, stating that Stelter excels when he explains the forces that caused Fox to embrace propaganda, while still stressing that as a CNN host, Stelter is a Fox competitor and far from impartial. Stelter has been the victim of criticism from Hannity and other hosts, but he clearly admits early on in Hoax that he is "shocked and angry" by what is happening at Fox, and that he is overtly emotional about the station's questionable relationship with facts and occasional reliance on conspiracy theories.[5]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Eisner, Jane (August 25, 2020). "Charting Fox News's slide from serious news outlet to 'state media'". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
2. ^ Enrich, David (August 23, 2020). "The Incestuous Relationship Between Donald Trump and Fox News". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 2, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
3. ^ Egan, Elisabeth (September 10, 2020). "In 'Hoax,' Brian Stelter Ventures Where No Author Has Gone Before". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 14, 2021. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
4. ^ Stelter, Brian, 2020, Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth, 2020, Atria, One Signal Publishers, New York, London, Toronto, pg. 79
5. ^ a b c "Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth". Bookmarks. Archived from the original on January 19, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2020.
6. ^ "Hoax review: Fox News, Donald Trump and truth v owning the libs". The Guardian. August 24, 2020. Archived from the original on October 20, 2021. Retrieved December 2, 2020.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Media by and about Donald Trump

See also: Media career of Donald Trump – Donald Trump in popular culture – Trump Productions – List of things named after Donald Trump

Books|

| By
Trump|

* Trump: The Art of the Deal (1987)
* Trump: Surviving at the Top (1990)
* Trump: The Art of the Comeback (1997)
* The America We Deserve (2000)
* Trump: How to Get Rich (2004)
* The Way to the Top (2004)
* Trump 101 (2006)
* Why We Want You to Be Rich (2006)
* Think Big and Kick Ass (2007)
* Trump Tower (2011)
* Time to Get Tough (2011)
* Midas Touch (2011)
* Crippled America (2015)
* Our Journey Together (2021)
* Letters to Trump (2023)
* Save America (2024)

|

About
Trump|

* Point the Finger (1989)
* Trumped! (1991)
* TrumpNation (2005)
* Never Enough (2015)
* The Conservative Case for Trump (2016)
* The Day of the Donald (2016)
* The Making of Donald Trump (2016)
* The Plot to Hack America (2016)
* Trump Revealed (2016)
* In Trump We Trust (2016)
* The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump (2017)
* The Case for Impeachment (2017)
* Insane Clown President (2017)
* Understanding Trump (2017)
* The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump (2017)
* Devil's Bargain (2017)
* Raising Trump (2017)
* Let Trump Be Trump (2017)
* Fire and Fury (2018)
* Media Madness (2018)
* The Faith of Donald J. Trump (2018)
* A Higher Loyalty (2018)
* Liars, Leakers, and Liberals (2018)
* The Briefing: Politics, the Press, and the President (2018)
* Unhinged (2018)
* Resistance Is Futile! (2018)
* Fear: Trump in the White House (2018)
* The Fifth Risk (2018)
* Impeachment: An American History (2018)
* Whose Boat Is This Boat? (2018)
* Team of Vipers (2019)
* The Threat (2019)
* Siege: Trump Under Fire (2019)
* Triggered (2019)
* A Warning (2019)
* Trump and His Generals (2019)
* A Very Stable Genius (2020)
* Hiding in Plain Sight (2020)
* Front Row at the Trump Show (2020)
* The Room Where It Happened (2020)
* Too Much and Never Enough (2020)
* Melania and Me (2020)
* Hoax (2020)
* Compromised (2020)
* Rage (2020)
* Disloyal: A Memoir (2020)
* Speaking for Myself (2020)
* Landslide (2021)
* I Alone Can Fix It (2021)
* The Reckoning (2021)
* Peril (2021)
* I'll Take Your Questions Now (2021)
* Midnight in Washington (2021)
* Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show (2021)
* A Sacred Oath (2022)
* Thank You for Your Servitude (2022)
* Breaking History (2022)
* Holding the Line (2022)
* Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America (2022)
* The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017–2021 (2022)
* The Trump Tapes (2022)
* Enough (2023)
* Network of Lies (2023)
* Tired of Winning (2023)
* At War with Ourselves: My Tour of Duty in the Trump White House (2024)
* All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Got This Way (2024)
* Lucky Loser (2024)
* Melania (2024)

Radio,
TV and
film|

| By
Trump|

* The Apprentice franchise
* The Apprentice (U.S.) (2004–2010)
* The Celebrity Apprentice (2008–2017)
* The Ultimate Merger (2010–2011)
* Trumped! (2004–2008)
* Pageant Place (2007)

|

About
Trump|

* Trump: What's the Deal? (1991)
* Trump Unauthorized (2005)
* You've Been Trumped (2011)
* A Dangerous Game (2014)
* Michael Moore in TrumpLand (2016)
* Trumped (2017)
* Trump: The Kremlin Candidate? (2017)
* American Horror Story: Cult (2017)
* Dirty Money: The Confidence Man (2018)
* Trump: An American Dream (2018)
* The Fourth Estate (2018)
* Death of a Nation (2018)
* Fahrenheit 11/9 (2018)
* The Trump Prophecy (2018)
* America's Great Divide (2020)
* Trump Card (2020)
* The Choice 2020 (2020)
* The Comey Rule (2020)
* Totally Under Control (2020)
* The Curve (2020)
* Unprecedented (2022)
* The Apprentice (2024)
* Vindicating Trump (2024)

Satires|

* Pizza Man (1991)
* Bart to the Future (2000)
* Our Cartoon President
* The President Show
* The Queen's Corgi
* The Art of the Deal: The Movie (2016)
* Last Week Tonight
* February 28, 2016, episode
* Tracey Breaks the News
* Tracey Ullman's Show (2018)
* "Demise of the Planet of the Apes / The Celebrity Ape-rentice" (Mad)
* "The Thanksgiving Special" (Regular Show)
* Saturday Night Live
* Herbert Garrison (South Park)
* Spitting Image (2020)
* Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)
* "Trump: The Rusical"
* Trump vs. Bernie
* You Got Trumped: The First 100 Days
* Harvey Birdman: Attorney General
* Sassy Justice
* Trump vs the Illuminati
* "Trump Guy"
* Biff Tannen

Music|

* "Donald Trump (Black Version)" (1990)
* "Las Vegas (In the Hills of Donegal)" (1991)
* "Country Grammar (Hot Shit)" (2000)
* "Donald Trump" (2011)
* Up Like Trump (2014)
* Make America Psycho Again (2015 album)
* "FDT" (2016)
* 1,000 Days, 1,000 Songs
* "Million Dollar Loan" (2016)
* "Campaign Speech" (2016)
* "We the People...." (2016)
* "Land of the Free" (2017)
* "Legendary" (2017)
* "The Heart Part 4" (2017)
* "I'm Not Racist" (2017)
* "Tiny Hands" (2017)
* Too Dumb for Suicide: Tim Heidecker's Trump Songs (2017)
* "Ye vs. the People" (2018)
* "Love It If We Made It" (2018)
* "Batuka" (2019)
* "Quick Escape" (2020)
* "Commander in Chief" (2020)
* "Justice for All" (2023)
* "You Missed" (2024)

Artwork|

* Colorado State Capitol portrait
* Crooked and Obscene
* Don Colossus
* The Donald J. Trump Enduring Flame
* Dump Trump
* The Emperor Has No Balls
* God Emperor Trump
* In Honor of a Lifetime of Sexual Assault
* Make Everything Great Again
* Portrait by Michael O'Brien
* Slovenia
* Trump Buddha
* The Visionary

Games|

* Trump: The Game
* Trump Castle
* II
* Who Wants to Beat Up a Millionaire
* Real Estate Tycoon
* The Political Machine
* 2012
* 2016
* 2020
* Trumped Up Cards
* Secret Hitler

Websites|

* r/The_Donald
* Truth Social

Related|

* Cultural depictions of Ivanka Trump
* Public image of Melania Trump
* Winning Team Publishing

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