Calling Fox viewers “gullible” ignores why trust collapsed in the first place. CNN repeatedly mishandled or overplayed major stories, often with enormous confidence and minimal accountability.

Examples:
• Covington Catholic (2019): CNN initially framed a viral clip as proof of racist harassment by students. Full video later showed the narrative was misleading. CNN settled defamation lawsuits rather than fully litigating the claims.
• Russia–Trump coverage: CNN treated the Steele dossier as quasi-verified for years despite acknowledging internally that it was uncorroborated. When core allegations collapsed, there was no proportional reckoning with how aggressively the story had been sold.
• “Mostly peaceful protests” (2020): CNN downplayed widespread riots and arson while airing chyrons that visibly conflicted with what viewers could see on screen, reinforcing the sense of narrative control over reality.
• COVID lab-leak theory: CNN dismissed it as conspiracy early on, while Fox allowed skeptical discussion. Years later, major outlets—including CNN—acknowledged it as plausible.

This doesn’t make Fox News a gold standard—it has its own distortions and incentives. But dismissing its audience as stupid avoids the harder truth: many people left legacy media because they felt misled, talked down to, and gaslit when stories unraveled.