Hoax

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

By: Brian Stelter

Narrated by: Brian Stelter

Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

The instant New York Times best seller that reveals the collusion between Fox News and Donald Trump - with explosive new reporting covering the election and the January 6 riot.

As the nation recovers from the Trump presidency, many questions remain: Why was the COVID-19 pandemic so grossly mishandled? How did we get so politically polarized? What caused White nationalist groups to come out of the shadows, and are they here to stay?

The answers lie the twisted story of the relationship between Donald Trump and Fox News. Through firsthand accounts from over 250 current and former Fox insiders, CNN anchor and chief media correspondent Brian Stelter unlocks the inner workings of Rupert Murdoch’s multibillion-dollar media empire. The confessions are shocking: “We don’t really believe all this stuff,” a producer says. “We just tell other people to believe it.”

Stelter completes the story of the Trump years and looks toward the future of the network that made him. Hoax is a book for anyone who reads the news and wonders how we got here, and what happens next.

©2020 Brian Stelter. All rights reserved. (P)2020 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

Sad but true

A timely read before this presidential election!
A president that is more concerned about RATINGS than our security as a nation🇺🇸

Truly frightening time

I liked the thoroughness if Stelter’s book. He examined the direct link from Fox to Trump in a disturbing revelation of the insanity that is Trump’s presidency.

good journalism

a great insight on how and why fox news is the way it is. great spurcing aswell

A compelling narrative of one of the most surreal, dark, and dangerous periods in American politics

"Imagine if they were evil."

That's all I could think of at the end of the book. The Murdochs and Fox talking heads are greedy; Trump is too busy loving himself and trying to make money to be truly evil but imagine if they have craved power, like world-domination, type of power. What Fox and Trump achieved has exposed America's weakest spot, and unless we change direction, that spot soon will be targeted by someone with evil intelligence with an outcome I don't even want to consider imagining.

Whether you agree with his opinions, side of the story, or writing style, you have to appreciate the extensive and lengthy investigative effort, cultivation of sources, and the professional trust gained over decades required to put this book together.

For me, as a history and politics geek, it was a compelling narrative of one of the most surreal, dark, and dangerous periods in American politics that pushed the entire country into a crisis near its breaking point. As we all served as witnesses to history to all those events, it was weird being worried and heartbroken for what was happening while geeking out about the historical narrative of these events 25, 50, 150 years from now.

The book lies on the table facts, points, and evidence of how a media empire became an actual and factual propaganda machine that enabled Trump to achieve his personal goals while disregarding an entire country's safety and well-being.

To me, it felt more like an investigative report, newsy storytelling, and rough historical account sprinkled with Brian's opinions and points of view than a prosecution of Trump or Fox. Still, given how polarized the country is, I'm going to guess that whether or not you feel brian was intentionally prosecutorial depends on which side of the aisle you sit. I just happen to sit right in the middle of the aisles.

All and all, it was a good read with a good pace. The delivery felt pragmatic and purposeful. It also managed to be engaging and entertaining, albeit, as disclosed before, I'm a bit of a news, history, and politics nerd, so that that opinion and this review with a grain of salt.

Alarming

We all knew this, but to hear it by a reputable journalist is so alarming. Listening to the Republicans at CPAC was so unsettling, they all now sound like Trump. They are taking on his horrifically negative feel to their speeches. We need to all start working towards the middle to avoid another Trump.

Valuable listening for 2020

A very interesting and detailed account of the shifting nature of conservative news for our politically divided times. Very approachable for every audience.

INFORMING

Well researched and narrated.
it all falls into history.
What a group Rupert family.
stinks they have one goal:
line my pockets with the $$$$

Must Read for all Americans

Hoax is a well-told story of greed and corruption. My own parents - both in their 80’s have been radicalized by the Fox cult. Their views are so twisted and full of misinformation that it is difficult to have just a simple conversation without some mistruths seeping in. While I blame Donald Trump, I have come to realize that his lies could not have taken hold without Rupert Murdoch and Fox. I implore anyone interested in understanding the past 5 years to read Hoax. Thank you Brian for shedding light on these lies.

A Bit Gossipy but a Valuable Contribution

Finished reading "Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth" written by CNN journalist Brian Stelter and published at the end of last month. Stelter tells the story of how a media network transformed a reality tv star into a political personality and how that reality star used techniques pioneered on Fox News to capture the nation's highest office.

Granted, the text is filled with a lot of unconfirmed gossip, given that it relys on anonymous sources inside Fox and the White House and it's status as a 'media insider's exposé' I think a lot of that can be forgiven or ignored to still appreciate the core message and lesson of the text.

What is that core message? In the age of Trump, Fox News has drifted further from journalistic standards than has been seen from any major US media institution in a century and has essentially become "state-endorsed" (as opposed to state-sponsored) media because of it's unethically close relationship to the president.

From the dismantling of the wall dividing news and opinion at Fox to the President's parroting of unsupported claims he heard on Fox, from the revolving door of people moving from jobs within Fox to the White House and vice versa to the unethical relationship media personalities on Fox have with the president providing him with private consul and even appearing on stage at partisan rallies, Stelter documents how Fox News has far overstepped it's purported place as a news network with a conversative opinion slant and entered into the domain of a partisan propaganda outlet that is damaging to our democracy.

Stelter's story of Fox is worth a read because it helps to explain the hyperpartisan divisions we are currently experiencing as a country. And the statistics he shares about how misinformed the public who recieve most of their news from Fox are an abject lesson in why it's always important to rely on mutliple media sources and to question the worldview you are being fed by the media.

No media organization is perfect but collectively they do serve an essential service for a democracy, informing the public. And as Stelter tells it, Fox should serve as a cautionary tale of what happens when other interests trump what is suppose to be that highest and most sacred trust of the media, the public.

finally something true about fox

I'll look into one possible future Fox News becomes a propaganda machine for one man. oh wait that already happened. a good detailed book mostly things we already knew but just how much Fox sold out the country their core beliefs their soul. and that's the good part it gets far far darker