The right-wing commentary and President Trump's criticism of the FBI are part of a vicious circle, according to Stelter. The TV hosts encourage Trump, then Trump supplies sound bites for their shows, and then the hosts are even more emboldened.
With Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election reaching closer to Trump's inner circle, Fox hosts like Sean Hannity continue to demand Mueller's firing. Every night, Hannity tells millions of viewers that Mueller's probe is a corrupt plot to take down Trump and reverse the outcome of the election. Trump is a big fan of Hannity's show, and the two men speak on a regular basis.
"The anti-Mueller rhetoric in conservative media right now is part of a feedback loop," Nicole Hemmer, the author of a book about conservative media, "Messengers of the Right," told CNNMoney.
"Conservative media personalities know Trump hates the investigation and wants it shut down," she said in an email. "They bash the investigation and Mueller, and when Trump sees that happening (say, on 'Fox & Friends') it reinforces his belief that the investigation is illegitimate and that he should do something to end it. The likely consequence is that this increases the odds of Trump attempting to fire Mueller."
For several months, news sources favored by conservatives have been heavily covering every perceived conflict of interest involving the special counsel and every alleged scandal involving the leadership of the FBI, reports CNN.
According to Stelter, many of the storylines revolve around Trump opponents like Hillary Clinton. But some members of Trump's own administration, like Attorney General Jeff Sessions, also come in for scathing criticism. That's why this was a notable comment by Sessions on Friday: "Things that might appear to be bad in the press have more innocent explanations," he told reporters.
Stelter writes, he should tell that to TV and radio commentators like Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin, all of whom have devoted hours of airtime to anti-Clinton, anti-Mueller and anti-FBI conversations.
Media Matters for America, a liberal media monitoring group that has urged an ad boycott of Hannity's show, recently estimated that "Hannity and his guests have questioned Mueller's legitimacy or called for Mueller to remove himself or be fired 79 times since the special counsel was appointed."
Stelter added, Hannity sometimes uses propagandistic terms like "head of the snake" and "cesspool" to demean Mueller. He portrays himself as an investigator out to get the truth about an anti-Trump plot. Fox's on-screen banners, social media feeds and web site repeat these messages every day.
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