Mediaite’s Colby Hall Calls Out Cable News’ Avenatti Love Fest: A Result of ‘Entertainment Packaged as News
Mediaite’s Colby Hall condemned the media’s past admiration for Michael Avenatti while on Newsmax Tuesday — also hitting at networks for their tendency to package entertainment as news.
While sitting down with Newsmax’s Wake Up America host Rob Finnerty and guest host Mercedes Schlapp, Hall first addressed Avenatti’s fall from grace.
Hall noted that it was apparent “this pendulum of his career was going to swing the other way,” but added that the outlets that once praised him, now do not want to own up to their past mistakes.
“Brian Stelter did say about a year ago that he questioned out loud whether or not he did it, but now that Michael Avenatti is serving time, it’s easier for them to pretend like nothing happened,” Hall added. “Like it was all just a fever dream.”
He then pointed to Avenatti’s ability to trash talk Trump on air in an articulate manner, predicting that the skill largely contributed to his role as a media darling.
“Quick question on the media,” Finnerty later said to Hall. “Is this sort of new sycophantic media that we’ve got right now — that’s pervasive nationwide — is this a problem for Americans? Is this a bad thing?”
“Well, I think it is absolutely and I don’t think it’s news sycophancy, although that’s an astute point. I think what we’re seeing now is that it’s mostly entertainment packaged as news,” Hall responded.
“You know there, there is news that is delivered on news outlets, but, you know, when you’re covering 24 hours, whether it’s CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, you’re basically filling time with analysis, and so it looks like news, it feels like news, but it’s not really abiding by the standard — you know the journalistic standards of, above all else, share no opinion — that doesn’t really exist in this current ecosystem and as a result, you know, we have a body politic that’s largely siloed and people only consume that which they see.”
Hall went on to note that here at Mediaite we attempt to “call balls and strikes fairly,” admitting that while we don’t always get it right, as “no one’s perfect,” Mediaite reporters and editors make “the effort to try to call things fairly.”
Watch above, via Newsmax.
