“Real Time” host Bill Maher had a tense exchange with “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane over media trustworthiness, with MacFarlane being way more trusting of news organizations.
While discussing the toxicity of social media, MacFarlane began by railing against the comments sections on news sites, citing The New York Times as an example where the reader’s impression of an article is “radicalized one way or the other.”
“It’s like this reporter took the time to research this, to fact-check it, oversight from an editor,” MacFarlane said. “And if they got it wrong, then they have to print the retraction.”
“Or it’s just slanted,” Maher chimed in. “What if it was just slanted? What if it was not wrong, it’s just slanted? That’s what somebody’s pointing out in the [comments].”
“Then write to the editor!” MacFarlane exclaimed. “Do your research, and formulate your argument.”
“But that appears a week later,” Maher fired back. “By then, I would’ve forgotten it, or I don’t see it.”
The “Ted” producer went on to assert “we take for granted” when the work of journalists is put on the “same shelf” as “everyone else’s spur-of-the-moment bulls—.”
“You seem to trust journalists more than I do,” Maher said.
“I trust certain journalists, yeah,” MacFarlane responded.
“Certain ones I do, not a lot,” Maher replied.
“Not a lot?” a shocked MacFarlane asked.
“No,” Maher doubled down. “Everything I read, whatever source, it’s only half the truth. They print the narrative. They don’t print truth.”
“That’s a generalization though, isn’t it?” MacFarlane followed.
“Well, it is because it’s generally true,” Maher said, sparking laughs and applause from the audience. “They print the side of the story that-“
“By the way, that’s exactly what Donald Trump wants… ‘Don’t trust the reporters. Don’t trust the journalists,'” MacFarlane interrupted.
“Well Hitler was a vegetarian. Doesn’t mean I like Donald Trump,” Maher pushed back. “They print the half that they want that is gonna make people like you who are a partisan, very partisan, you want to read something that ‘Oh, that makes me feel good.’”
“I read John Bolton’s book, for f–k sake. I’m not partisan,” MacFarlane quipped.
Fellow panelist, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., went on to tell Maher that people “tune into the news they want to hear to reinforce the views they already have.”
“They’re in the audience-stroking business. That’s what the media does,” Maher added.