CNN media correspondent Brian Stelter and Washington Examiner correspondent Susan Ferrechio tangled on BBC radio on Wednesday during a discussion about how conservative media have hyped a political attack on Joe Biden's son.
During a panel discussion that included the corruption allegations against Biden and his son, Ferrechio complained that most mainstream media outlets have not publicized the report, which was first published by the New York Post.
"The bottom line is it deserves scrutiny by all media outlets," Ferrechio said. "And if they pick and choose this and decide it's not worth their time, I think that's showing real bias."
Stelter argued that it was not clear "what is real and what is fake" in the New York Post report.
"That didn't stop anyone from reporting the Mueller and the dossier and all that stuff!" Ferrechio shouted in response.
"I understand you have a lot of resentment," Stelter noted.
"Now we have ethics!" Ferrechio continued. "Okay, now we have ethics."
"Don't you dare!" Stelter exclaimed. "Don't you dare act like newsrooms didn't have ethics in 2017 and 2018."
"You can 'don't dare me' all you want," Ferrechio shot back. "I've been doing this for 30 years. So say whatever you want. It's my view. And I have a right to say it."
"No one looked through the forest for the trees with the president," she added. "I mean, it's always one-sided! Now it's time to look at the forest. All I'm saying is let's do it universally."
Ferrechio insisted that she had "real reason" to doubt Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election interference.
"A lot of it was a bunch of bunk!" she remarked.
Stelter responded by pointing out that there are "a lot of people in prison" as a result of the Mueller investigation.
"I agree with you, it should not be ignored," Stelter said of the Hunter Biden allegations. "But I think there's a difference between reporters looking at it in their newsrooms vs. going on the air with it when it's unvetted."
"You never do that with Trump stuff," Ferrechio charged.
"It's grievance politics," Stelter observed. "It comes from the right. It happens every day."
Listen to the audio clip below from BBC 4.
