CNN’s Brian Stelter does indeed resemble a potato, but it’s what comes out of his mouth that will make a grown man go cross-eyed in disbelief. The supposed media reporter is obsessed with Fox News, and you’ll be less than shocked to learn that his take on the Hunter Biden affair isn’t that the media failed to cover and eventually covered up what was a huge story. It’s that those dastardly Fox News devils are covering it now.

Also, hat tip to Kurt Schlichter for the potato reference. The royalty check is on the way.

To put it simply: Fox News producers believe that their viewers do not want to hear about depressing pandemic deaths. They believe pandemic news doesn't "rate." They believe that they need to focus on culture war battles, anti-Democrat narratives, and pro-Trump stories. The end.

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) December 11, 2020

Let’s just break this down. Most of the vaccine news is weeks old at this point. It’s been approved and the Trump-enacted plan to get 100 million doses out in the first 100 days is going to happen. The FDA approved it under emergency use yesterday and Fox News covered that. But that is not a major “spend 10 minutes on it” story. It’s something you note and move on. The COVID death toll has also been covered continually since the pandemic began. The fact that Fox News doesn’t want to be morbid and put up a counter doesn’t change that fact.

Regardless, if Trump’s “attempts to overturn” the election are newsworthy in Stelter’s opinion, how is the supposed incoming president’s son being under federal investigation not? That’s especially true when Joe Biden himself is implicated in emails. Fox News has obviously covered the Trump election lawsuits as well, but I think a possible president presiding over his own son’s criminal inquiry (which he could also get caught up in) is a bit of a bigger story when you consider the repercussions and ethical violations involved in that.

Remember how thoroughly and obsessively CNN covered Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting at Trump Tower? To this day, anchors and analysts on the liberal network will bring it up despite the fact that it led nowhere and that it was not actually facilitated by a “Russian agent” but by a lawyer hired by Fusion GPS. Why does that same standard of newsworthiness not apply here? By CNN’s previous behavior, this Hunter Biden thing should not only be the top story, it should dominate the news for months to come.

But they have no actual standards. Being anti-Trump, anti-conservative media, and anti-conservative in general is what animates them. Everything else is just shaped to fit around those goals. If that means ignoring the Hunter Biden story and smearing those who were trying to get it out there, then so be it.

Here’s Jake Tapper doing that back in October.

Tapper: "The right wing is going crazy with all sorts of allegations about Biden and his family too disgusting to even repeat here. Some of the ones I've seen from the president's son and some of the president's supporters are just wildly unhinged." pic.twitter.com/gtGffC9xLc

— Eddie Zipperer (@EddieZipperer) October 22, 2020

Well, that aged like milk left in the sun. Good take there Jake.

The worst part is that CNN almost certainly knew better at the time. The Hunter Biden investigation was actually announced by James Rosen all the way back in October. CNN’s sources in the DOJ likely confirmed the story immediately for them. Yet, they chose to go on air and lie to their viewers instead, and in doing so, they interfered in an election. Our news media are far worse for the country than any Russian Facebook meme.

(Please follow me on Twitter! @bonchieredstate)