"Believe-whatever-you-want fantasy is deeply embedded in our DNA," journalist Kurt Andersen wrote in his 2017 book "Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire." Brian Stelter asks him to apply the lessons of "Fantasyland" to the Covid-19 crisis. Andersen also discusses the American affinity for "ultra-individualism," Trump's disconnect from "reality-based" Americans, and the impact of the QAnon conspiracy theory.

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Kurt Andersen on 'Fantasyland' thinking about the pandemic and America's long-held taste for mistruths

Reliable Sources examines how journalists do their jobs and how the media affect the stories they cover in this CNN program.

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Brian Stelter addresses the end of "Reliable Sources" on television and thanks the audience. Carl Bernstein, Jeffrey Goldberg, Jodie Ginsberg, David Zurawik, Claire Atkinson, Eric Deggans, and Brian Karem discuss the past, present and future of journalism and media.
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Media leaders convene for final episode of 'Reliable Sources' TV show

Alice Miranda Ollstein of Politico and Shefali Luthra of The 19th discuss their roles as health care beat reporters in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. They tell Brian Stelter about coverage priorities; different types of stories about abortion; and sudden spikes in interest about reproductive rights. "I think what's been so deeply important to me has been trying to prioritize the voices of people who are affected," Luthra says. "I just feel a lot of responsibility to rise to this moment and do the the best and most responsible and hardest hitting reporting I can," Ollstein says.
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Shefali Luthra and Alice Miranda Ollstein on covering abortion rights in a post-Roe nation

Henry Reese, who was on stage with Salman Rushdie when Rushdie was brutally stabbed, joins Brian Stelter. Plus: Bill McCarren on the ten year anniversary of Austin Tice's disappearance in Syria; Byron Allen on his plans for theGrio; John Dean on Donald Trump's potential legal peril; and Laura Bassett, Oliver Darcy and Caitlin Dickson on anti-FBI rhetoric becoming mainstream in the GOP.
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Salman Rushdie event moderator recounts stabbing attack that left Rushdie critically injured

In his new book "The Fifth Act: America's End in Afghanistan," combat veteran and acclaimed novelist Elliot Ackerman documents the horrors of America's evacuation from Afghanistan. He talks with Brian Stelter about why he wrote the book; what people need to know about the August 2021 withdrawal; and the media's coverage of war. In "our obsession not to repeat Saigon... we actually created, I think, a far more terrible image and grisly image," he says. Ackerman also shares how the war in Ukraine relates to last year's images from Kabul. He predicts that "America might be done with Afghanistan, Afghanistan is certainly not done with America."
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Elliot Ackerman reflects on Afghan war and how he helped rescue allies amid chaotic withdrawal

First Lady Jill Biden's former press secretary Michael LaRosa talks with Brian Stelter about media coverage of the first family. Plus, Elaine Godfrey, Howard Polskin and Lauren Wright analyze election denialism; Dan Friesen and Jordan Holmes, co-hosts of the "Knowledge Fight" podcast, dissect the trial of Infowars host Alex Jones; and David Bornstein explains how "solutions journalism" can transform the media.
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Kurt Andersen on 'Fantasyland' thinking about the pandemic and America's long-held taste for mistruths

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