Former CNN host Brian Stelter’s newly released book about Fox News has flopped.
Stelter promoted his book, “Network of Lies,” with the expectation of achieving great success among critics of Fox News, but the book’s sales have turned out to be a disappointment. with less than 4,000 sold copies in its first week, according to Mediaite. The 3,807 copies sold thus far is significantly lower than the sales of his previous book, “Hoax,” which witnessed a whopping 20,832 sales in its first week of publication.
His new book gathers together text messages, emails and other sources to dive into the “chilling story” of former President Donald Trump’s election fraud claims and Fox News’ role in spreading the allegations, according to Simon & Schuster, the book’s publisher.
Brian Stelter’s Fox News Book ‘Network of Lies’ Has Terrible Sales in First Week https://t.co/sjlKvVhdRb
— Jon Nicosia (@NewsPolitics) November 27, 2023
“In Network of Lies, New York Times bestselling author Brian Stelter answers these questions by weaving together private texts, unpublished emails, depositions, and other primary sources to tell the chilling story of Trump’s alleged conspiracy to steal the 2020 election, and the right-wing media’s mission to put him back in office in 2024,” the book’s summary reads. (RELATED: CNN Host Absurdly Judges The Mental Health Of Fox News)
“Trump couldn’t have convinced millions of Americans of the Big Lie without Fox News,” it continues. “From the moment Joe Biden became president-elect in 2020, Fox hosts fueled a fire of misinformation and violence by spreading Trump’s tales of election fraud and suppressing the truth. Come January, Sean Hannity insisted Trump needed to stop listening to ‘crazy people’ who swore he could stay in power, but it was too late—thousands of Trump’s deluded followers had stormed the Capitol and Trump operatives had breached Dominion Voting Systems’ voting machines in Georgia.”
The book will not make The New York Times’ bestseller list, according to Mediaite. “Network of Lies” was the 7,077th best-selling title on Amazon, as of press time.
Stelter’s newest book still managed to outsell Michael Wolff’s anti-Fox book, “The Fall: The End of Fox News and the Murdoch Dynasty,” which only sold 3,219 in its first week when it released in September, according to Mediaite.
Stelter said during a Nov. 14 interview with “Fourth Watch” host Steve Krakauer that he used to be a “big fan” of Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson. He also praised Carlson for disputing former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell’s stolen election claims.
CNN fired Stelter in Aug. 2022 after then-President Chris Licht canceled his show, “Reliable Sources.”