September 18, 2022 • 7 mins
George Stephanopoulos discusses advising ABC News embedded reporters covering the midterms in new weekly docu-series, “Power Trip,” why he believes Democracy is “on a knife edge,” and standing up for the truth in journalism in an ever-growing world of election and fact deniers.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
You're listening to Comedy Central, Please welcome George Stephanopolis. Stepanopolis,
(00:21):
Welcome to the great to be here, this is this
is so amazing having you here because I mean, like
I feel like this is your world. You. You know,
you're one of the most familiar faces. You one of
the names that is most synonymous with all things news,
and now you're taking us behind the scenes in this
docuseries where NBC ABC is gonna be um embedding seven
young journalists. They're in their twenties. They're all ambitious, passionate,
(00:43):
smart kids. They don't have a lot of experience, but
they're gonna go out on the campaign trail, basically a
zone defense covering the country and cover all these campaigns.
We're doing it for the first time for these mid
term elections. Because I said it in that clip. I
think our democracies at stake in these midterms. We've never
seen anything like it before, and we want to make
sure we get it in as real way as we can.
(01:04):
It feels like these mid terms are going to be different,
and you know, and people often say that I've seen,
you know, American news try and drum up interest, but
it feels like these are going to this time. This
is the first time I think in a mid term
election we saw a little bit of a lot of
it where the very way we debate and decide elections
is under assault. I mean, you've got of the country
(01:26):
who still doesn't believe the last election is over, of
the country who is determined, who doesn't accept facts in
a in a debate, and you know, our whole system
is premised on the ideas both sides can argue out
based on a common set of facts. Whoever wins wins
and you go on to fight another day. This is
different because that has not been settled after the last election.
(01:48):
Let me ask you this as somebody who's been covering
the news for so long and somebody who's been involved
in campaigns. You've seen the tides shift, You've seen the
attitude change. Did you see this coming? Is it new?
And if if you did see it coming, what was
the moment There's gonna be one moment where you you
noticed that something had I can't say I ever saw
this coming to this degree. I never believed. I mean
(02:08):
I still well up when I think of the capital
under assault. On January six, after an election, our whole
system is premised on the idea of a peaceful transfer
of power. But the change that started to happen, I am.
You make it sound like I'm very old. I guess
I am. But when I first worked in camp long time,
but it could be at when I first worked in campaigns,
(02:35):
we used to footnote are commercials because we were so
concerned about being called out for not telling the truth. Interesting,
but what has changed over time is that as each
side basically just tries to get out their own voters
rather than trying to persuade others, they care less about
whether they're called out by the media on telling the truth.
(02:55):
It's interesting you say that because I've noticed on on
the news shows you'll be talking to politicians, and back
in the day, it felt like a politician was so
afraid to to contradict themselves, to be a hypocrite, to
have any moment where there was a discrepancy. And now
it feels like just having the platform to come on
your news show and say something is more important than
whether whether or not you will you know what they love.
(03:18):
Often you'll have someone come on and you can show
and it can be footnoted. You can go to the Dictionary.
You can go to eight thousand reference books and say
you're just not telling the truth, and they say, well,
you're lying, and they don't care because to the group
of voters they're trying to appeal to, calling us out
whether we're right or wrong, works for them. So do
(03:38):
you do you ever get to a point whereas the
news organization you say we can right now? I mean,
I will not put anybody on my show who will
not accept the results of the last election. Just they
don't come on. Um, well you have and you have
newsis coming up all the time. I had an interview
with a senator a few weeks back which I still
(03:59):
can't leave. And remember how when Hillary Clinton had her
emails that were classified, have Trump said locker up? Republicans
wanted investigation after investigation. This senator would not even say
that Trump having all of those documents in his house
was wrong. Four questions, four times, I would not say
(04:19):
it was wrong. So you're in an interesting position. For
a long time, America had an agreed idea of what
was happening on the news for the most parts, supposed right.
Cable news came and then it became, you know, really positive,
and you could have it this way, and you could
have it that when your facts could almost be Alacotte.
Now you still occupy a position to yeah, but you
(04:39):
still occupy this position when most people think of it
as Okay, this is the middle, this is but the
Overtson window of middle is shifting. How do you not respond?
Do you try and do you have to cater to
some of these position heres here's what you don't do.
I mean, I think there is a risk when you're
talking to certain politicians if if you're willing to say
what you're saying is not true, and sometimes you have
(05:01):
to risk looking partisan by doing that. But I think
we can't bow to that threat. I mean, as long
as as I'm confident when I am that we're arguing
about facts, undisputable facts, I have no problem saying you're
not telling the truth, even if that's going to cause
somebody to say, oh, you know, you're just being a
(05:21):
political hack. You have to do that. That's what we
have to stand up for as journalists, right and wrong,
fact not fiction. You um, you are now sending these
journalists as m beds. You know, they on the ground,
they're getting information on the ground from these people. What
we see even in that clip, and I think the
documentary it really gets into it is people say, well,
you have fake news. Do you think we're moving towards
(05:44):
a world where the news is what you want to
hear and then what you do essentially almost falls away.
It's it's the great I think it's one of the
greatest dangers or democracy faces right now. I think there's
no question about that. You see it right there by
different mission, There's going to be certain people who, no
matter what the facts are, if I'm saying it, you're
(06:06):
a liar, it's fake news. If they're if they're Kennedy
is saying he's right, not wrong, and you're right, people
just end up going to the places where they know
the view that they already have is going to be reinforced,
whether or not it's true. Have you found any way
to break through on the ground on your show in
any of them to try to do it? With this
new show, I think what we're gonna try to do
(06:26):
is show the process of these young reporters trying to
get the truth, show them doing it in the right way,
showing them doing it, we hope with integrity, showing the
risks they take, to do it and if I think
if people have, if if we have some transparency on
the process, I hope that people will trust what they're hearing. Well.
(06:47):
I wish you the best of luck. Thank you so much.
A general want to show you really fascinating about the
series and make sure to check it out. Short stuff
and not for everybody. What's the Daily Show? Week to
a learned Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on
Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast
You're listening to Comedy Central, Please welcome George Stephanopolis. Stepanopolis,
(00:21):
Welcome to the great to be here, this is this
is so amazing having you here because I mean, like
I feel like this is your world. You. You know,
you're one of the most familiar faces. You one of
the names that is most synonymous with all things news,
and now you're taking us behind the scenes in this
docuseries where NBC ABC is gonna be um embedding seven
young journalists. They're in their twenties. They're all ambitious, passionate,
(00:43):
smart kids. They don't have a lot of experience, but
they're gonna go out on the campaign trail, basically a
zone defense covering the country and cover all these campaigns.
We're doing it for the first time for these mid
term elections. Because I said it in that clip. I
think our democracies at stake in these midterms. We've never
seen anything like it before, and we want to make
sure we get it in as real way as we can.
(01:04):
It feels like these mid terms are going to be different,
and you know, and people often say that I've seen,
you know, American news try and drum up interest, but
it feels like these are going to this time. This
is the first time I think in a mid term
election we saw a little bit of a lot of
it where the very way we debate and decide elections
is under assault. I mean, you've got of the country
(01:26):
who still doesn't believe the last election is over, of
the country who is determined, who doesn't accept facts in
a in a debate, and you know, our whole system
is premised on the ideas both sides can argue out
based on a common set of facts. Whoever wins wins
and you go on to fight another day. This is
different because that has not been settled after the last election.
(01:48):
Let me ask you this as somebody who's been covering
the news for so long and somebody who's been involved
in campaigns. You've seen the tides shift, You've seen the
attitude change. Did you see this coming? Is it new?
And if if you did see it coming, what was
the moment There's gonna be one moment where you you
noticed that something had I can't say I ever saw
this coming to this degree. I never believed. I mean
(02:08):
I still well up when I think of the capital
under assault. On January six, after an election, our whole
system is premised on the idea of a peaceful transfer
of power. But the change that started to happen, I am.
You make it sound like I'm very old. I guess
I am. But when I first worked in camp long time,
but it could be at when I first worked in campaigns,
(02:35):
we used to footnote are commercials because we were so
concerned about being called out for not telling the truth. Interesting,
but what has changed over time is that as each
side basically just tries to get out their own voters
rather than trying to persuade others, they care less about
whether they're called out by the media on telling the truth.
(02:55):
It's interesting you say that because I've noticed on on
the news shows you'll be talking to politicians, and back
in the day, it felt like a politician was so
afraid to to contradict themselves, to be a hypocrite, to
have any moment where there was a discrepancy. And now
it feels like just having the platform to come on
your news show and say something is more important than
whether whether or not you will you know what they love.
(03:18):
Often you'll have someone come on and you can show
and it can be footnoted. You can go to the Dictionary.
You can go to eight thousand reference books and say
you're just not telling the truth, and they say, well,
you're lying, and they don't care because to the group
of voters they're trying to appeal to, calling us out
whether we're right or wrong, works for them. So do
(03:38):
you do you ever get to a point whereas the
news organization you say we can right now? I mean,
I will not put anybody on my show who will
not accept the results of the last election. Just they
don't come on. Um, well you have and you have
newsis coming up all the time. I had an interview
with a senator a few weeks back which I still
(03:59):
can't leave. And remember how when Hillary Clinton had her
emails that were classified, have Trump said locker up? Republicans
wanted investigation after investigation. This senator would not even say
that Trump having all of those documents in his house
was wrong. Four questions, four times, I would not say
(04:19):
it was wrong. So you're in an interesting position. For
a long time, America had an agreed idea of what
was happening on the news for the most parts, supposed right.
Cable news came and then it became, you know, really positive,
and you could have it this way, and you could
have it that when your facts could almost be Alacotte.
Now you still occupy a position to yeah, but you
(04:39):
still occupy this position when most people think of it
as Okay, this is the middle, this is but the
Overtson window of middle is shifting. How do you not respond?
Do you try and do you have to cater to
some of these position heres here's what you don't do.
I mean, I think there is a risk when you're
talking to certain politicians if if you're willing to say
what you're saying is not true, and sometimes you have
(05:01):
to risk looking partisan by doing that. But I think
we can't bow to that threat. I mean, as long
as as I'm confident when I am that we're arguing
about facts, undisputable facts, I have no problem saying you're
not telling the truth, even if that's going to cause
somebody to say, oh, you know, you're just being a
(05:21):
political hack. You have to do that. That's what we
have to stand up for as journalists, right and wrong,
fact not fiction. You um, you are now sending these
journalists as m beds. You know, they on the ground,
they're getting information on the ground from these people. What
we see even in that clip, and I think the
documentary it really gets into it is people say, well,
you have fake news. Do you think we're moving towards
(05:44):
a world where the news is what you want to
hear and then what you do essentially almost falls away.
It's it's the great I think it's one of the
greatest dangers or democracy faces right now. I think there's
no question about that. You see it right there by
different mission, There's going to be certain people who, no
matter what the facts are, if I'm saying it, you're
(06:06):
a liar, it's fake news. If they're if they're Kennedy
is saying he's right, not wrong, and you're right, people
just end up going to the places where they know
the view that they already have is going to be reinforced,
whether or not it's true. Have you found any way
to break through on the ground on your show in
any of them to try to do it? With this
new show, I think what we're gonna try to do
(06:26):
is show the process of these young reporters trying to
get the truth, show them doing it in the right way,
showing them doing it, we hope with integrity, showing the
risks they take, to do it and if I think
if people have, if if we have some transparency on
the process, I hope that people will trust what they're hearing. Well.
(06:47):
I wish you the best of luck. Thank you so much.
A general want to show you really fascinating about the
series and make sure to check it out. Short stuff
and not for everybody. What's the Daily Show? Week to
a learned Comedy Central and stream full episodes anytime on
Paramount Plus. This has been a Comedy Central podcast
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