WAYNE BESEN (HOST): Isn’t the media’s responsibility to be the gatekeeper and not knowingly publish lies or unsubstantiated material?

ANGELO CARUSONE: No, that’s totally true. They are absolutely -- part of what they do to shape stories is not just produce the stories. It’s not the stories themselves that are the only thing that make the news. It’s the decision that goes into what to cover and what not to cover, what to write the story about or what questions to ask. And so, if you have a four and a half minute interview, and a full quarter of that interview is devoted to responding to or elevating or giving traction to a theory about somebody’s health, even if you’re doing it in a way that is designed to discredit or dismiss it, it still puts it out there into the ether. And that becomes part of the strategy here, is that you can sort of muck things up by raising these questions and casting all this doubt and it is a form of manipulation. It is deceptive and deceitful. It’s a coordinated effort on that part of [Hillary Clinton’s] detractors and, in some ways, the media is enabling it. Because, as I pointed out in the beginning of the conversation, this idea has been percolating -- what we do at Media Matters is monitor the news media, especially conservative media -- and this has been there for a year and a half, and it’s actually gotten a lot of attention in the last month. I mean, a lot. And yet, we’re only now hearing about it in a wider way because it has been elevated by more legacy and mainstream outlets. And so in part, they’re responsible for giving oxygen and air to these kinds of smears and attacks.

Previously:

Anchors Give Legitimacy To Clinton Health Conspiracies Their Own Outlets Have Debunked

Fox Panelists Debunk Clinton Health Conspiracies Embraced By Some At The Network

NBC Nightly News Dispels Right-Wing Media “Conspiracy Theories” About Hillary Clinton's Health