Student challenges Atlantic writer on dismissal of Hunter Biden laptop story, calls out 'unsurprising' answer
Anne Abblebaum said the Hunter Biden laptop story was not 'interesting'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Daniel Schmidt, a student at the University of Chicago, took aim at the mainstream media for ignoring the Hunter Biden laptop scandal. Schmidt said on "Fox & Friends First" that it was "unsurprising" when a liberal reporter dismissed the story as not "interesting."
During a campus event Wednesday, Schmidt asked Atlantic reporter Anne Applebaum whether she believed media outlets acted inappropriately when they dismissed the Hunter Biden story as Russian disinformation. She responded by saying she thought the laptop was "irrelevant."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Schmidt noted the irony of the situation, as the event was centered on addressing disinformation but his question on Hunter Biden was ignored.
"It’s just an example of how journalists, the elite ruling class, views what Americans care about as irrelevant to them and not worthy of any attention," he told host Carley Shimkus.
Schmidt highlighted the contradiction between Applebaum’s claims while there were efforts by the media to discredit the Hunter Biden story entirely.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"It doesn't really make much sense how it's at one point irrelevant, but another point so worthy of getting out of the media sphere."
HANNITY BLASTS ‘MEDIA MOB’ FOR ‘REFUSING TO REPORT’ ON HUNTER BIDEN LAPTOP
Christopher Phillips, another student who attended the campus event, pressed CNN’s Brian Stelter on journalistic ethics and the bias seen in mainstream media. Stelter, like Applebaum, dismissed the tough question, saying it is a "popular right-wing narrative about CNN."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Schmidt said he and Phillips were the only students who asked important and difficult questions.
WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 12: World Food Program USA Board Chairman Hunter Biden (L) and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden award designer Michael Kors (C) the World Food Program USA's McGovern-Dole Leadership Award at Organization of American States on April 12, 2016 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for World Food Program USA) (Photo by Paul Morigi/Getty Images for World Food Program USA)
"You feel like most people nowadays are totally uninterested in actually grilling them," he said. "They just accept what they’re told as truth, and they accept the censorship as just normal. It’s really worrying."
While he hopes more of his peers will speak up and ask questions, he said there is a "serious" need to study the way mainstream media immediately claimed the Hunter Biden story was Russian disinformation.
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"The distrust in the media is so rampant," he said. "Something has to be done about it."