The sit-down format was a poor choice for an interview with a conspiracy theorist.
Conspiracy theorist has spent years on a cruel crusade trying to convince people that the parents of the children slain at Sandy Hook Elementary School are liars. Now freshly minted NBC host Megyn Kelly, formerly of Fox News, is giving him a mega platform for one of the very first sit-down interviews on her new Sunday night show. A for the interview, which will air this Sunday, was released last night. And immediately Kelly got an earful about it — from the families who lost loved ones in Sandy Hook, an event Jones claims was staged by actors, among others. In her defense, Kelly said she’s simply shining a light on an increasingly important media figure. But a serious sit-down interview was a poor choice for a figure like Jones. It’s extremely difficult to have a reasonable exchange with a person who rants and spews misinformation, as he does. The format risks validating him and. It doesn’ t leave space for context and debunking. It also sends the message that in a time of “fake news” and Donald Trump’s never-ending attack on the media, hoaxers like Jones are significant enough to deserve an hour of primetime TV. If Jones’s words didn’ t have dangerous real-world consequences, it wouldn’ t matter much. But they do — from spurring people to violent action to such as the media, science, and government. If you’ ve ever watched Alex Jones, , you might come away steeped in a dark and distorted view of the world. Jones alleges that 9/11 was “an inside job, ” that the to get Americans to side with gun control, and that there’s a secret spreading across the country and slowly killing Americans. He delivers these bizarre claims, , red-faced, in his signature husky rasp. They’ re framed as truths the mainstream media and elites are hiding from public view, with Jones as the bearer of the truth. The president of the United States, meanwhile, has and perpetuated falsehoods that originated on the show, like the and that the. Along with Breitbart and Fox News, Infowars was one of the for conservatives in the last election. (The White House recently gave Infowars press credentials.) This is one reason Jones’s audience is growing: Jones is now broadcast on some 150 radio stations, with a website that reaches and a that has more than 2 million followers — numbers that rival those of mainstream media outlets. But his lies have also had real consequences for real people. The parents of the spurred on by Jones. Even last week, a woman who claimed in prison for threatening the father of a Sandy Hook victim. There was also the so-called Pizzagate scandal late last year. Jones often talks about the pedophile rings that elites are helping to organize, and his suggestion that restaurant in Washington, DC, was the reason a man walked into that shop with a gun last year threatening to kill people. In April, Jones was entangled in another legal skirmish that once again demonstrates how seriously people take him. On the show, he’s argued that the of hiring refugees has brought “migrant rapists” and tuberculosis to areas near their factories. The claim activated his audience, prompting people to boycott Chobani products, and the company is now suing Jones for what it says are “false” and “defamatory” reports. We don’ t know what the full interview holds, but the suggests Jones will roll out his standard rants in response to Kelly’s questions on topics like 9/11 and Sandy Hook. And family members of some of the who were killed in are furious. In tweets, Nelba Márquez-Greene, whose daughter Ana Grace was killed in Sandy Hook, admonished NBC and Kelly for their decision to showcase Jones: Instead of airing the sit-down, NBC could run an annotated interview, in which it uses the exchange to explain to viewers what Jones gets wrong — about 9/11, Sandy Hook, the HPV vaccine, etc. The network could use the opportunity to give its viewers context that explains where a figure like Jones has arisen from. Kelly could pause when he makes a false statement, to debunk a person who has so enthusiastically mislead the public on so many fronts. Instead, the teaser suggests that Jones will be shown sitting across from the anchor, like heads of state, important authors, and serious scientists have in major network interviews before him, given lots of latitude to promulgate bullshit. The President told Jones in a, “You have an amazing reputation.” Trump may disparage institutions like the New York Times and the Washington Post on Twitter and Fox News, but he shares Infowars articles and videos. Kelly has a choice between helping Jones become even more “amazing” — or treating him the way he deserves to be treated: as a reservoir of falsehoods that have serious and dangerous repercussions.
