If you thought the media might relax a bit during the Republican National Convention and not show themselves to be total hacks, you thought wrong. But let’s be serious, no one actually expected anything less.

CNN laid out the groundwork this morning for how they will censor the RNC and keep their chosen narratives on track. The plan was unsurprisingly stated by Brian Stelter on his low-rated Sunday show. In his comments, he promised that CNN would cut in with “fact-checks” to counter things being said by Republicans.

“SHOULD TV NETWORKS AIR RNC IN FULL?” @BrianStelter advanced rationale for nets not to: “Television nets are going to have interesting choices to make…about whether to cut away if there’s this stream of disinformation happening live.” Promises CNN will cut in w/ “fact checks. pic.twitter.com/7GBgDSdiaI

— Brent Baker (@BrentHBaker) August 23, 2020

It’s not just Stelter either. Here’s CNN’s Amanda Carpenter, who also hails from The Bulwark because of course she does.

From me: Networks need to be prepared to handle the RNC as a major political and medical disinformation event. Trump’s messaging on the rigged election and miracle coronavirus cures are dangerous to our health and democracy. https://t.co/k0fzb1VriJ

— Amanda Carpenter (@amandacarpenter) August 23, 2020

The lack of self-awareness here is fairly breathtaking. CNN spews misinformation all the time, but past their own behavior, is the assertion here that the DNC contained no misinformation that needed to be countered? I ask because CNN did not cut into the Democrat event with “fact-checks” no matter how egregious the lies told go.

For example, when Joe Biden repeated the Charlottesville lie, instead of noting that the President had actually specifically denounced white supremacists in his 2017 comments, CNN echoed Biden’s framing. When Michelle Obama lied about the “kids in cages” issue, failing to note that her husband built them and setup the policies for their use, CNN did not interrupt the broadcast to let their viewers know an untruth had been uttered. There are dozens upon dozens of examples like this from the DNC, yet no live fact-checking was done.

Yet, now that the American people might actually get a real counter narrative from the RNC, CNN wants change the rules. It’s all very convenient and expected. Stelter is so biased that he can’t possibly imagine that the Biden, the Obamas, or Bernie Sanders could be guilty of what he claims the Republicans are going to do this week. This is all part of the gas-lighting that has overtaken the media, whereby they pretend political speech from the right is uniquely dangerous and prevalent while ignoring blatant lies from the left, including from their own writers and reporters. In this case, we have two events which are the equivalent of each other, yet CNN wants to treat them totally differently.

But we all knew this coming. The full court press to get rid of Trump and elect Biden has been on for a while. It would have actually been surprising had CNN not laid out a totally different standard for the RNC whereby every political statement (many of which are actually ambiguous or opinionated) ends up “fact-checked” so as to feed into the prevailing left-wing narrative. What this will be in practice is lots of cut ins to offer “context” couched as objective journalism when it’s really just political activism.

Regardless, CNN’s low-rated network will not be able to hide the message Republicans are trying to put out by themselves. Whether other networks follow their lead, we’ll have to wait and see.

(Follow me on Twitter!!! @bonchieredstate)