Actor and comedian Patton Oswalt said the quiet part out loud on Tuesday when he admitted that what most people were consuming on a daily basis was not “the news,” but rather “the news business.”
Oswalt made the comments during an appearance on ABC’s midday talk show “The View,” where he also noted that a lot of the heightened dramatics of “the news” were designed to attract viewers rather than to tell them the truth.
WATCH:
Patton Oswalt admits that "you are being exposed to the news business rather than the news" and we're not as close to "the brink" as the media would have us believe:
"We have been way closer to the brink than we are now." pic.twitter.com/Ibl50w7OyF— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) March 12, 2024
Oswalt has been promoting his new show “Manhunt,” which digs into the aftermath of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and the search for his killer, and he joined the hosts of “The View” to discuss it.
“Here’s what’s kind of reassuring about watching a show like ‘Manhunt,’ is that — we have been way closer to the brink than we are now,” Oswalt began. “I think that right now that the news portrays things — because a lot of times, you are being exposed to the news business rather than the news.”
Several of the cohosts voiced their agreement with Oswalt’s assessment before he continued: “The business is about getting eyes on that screen. So they do have to make it seem like ‘there’s no way back from this.'”
“But we’ve been way closer, leaning over the abyss, and we’ve pulled ourselves back with way less technology and knowledge than we have now,” Oswalt added.
Cohost Joy Behar interrupted then, arguing that technology could be part of the problem.
“Any technology has its good use, its malign use, and then, ‘Oh, whoops’ — you know, you can use an ax to cut wood and build a fire, you can also drop it and cut your toe off, and you can murder someone with it,” Oswalt replied, arguing that technology was just the tool and the hand wielding it determined whether its use would be for good or bad. “So it depends on how you use that technology.”