Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth

Written by Brian Stelter

Narrated by Brian Stelter

The instant New York Times bestseller that reveals the collusion between Fox News and Donald Trump—with explosive new reporting covering the election and the January 6 riot.

As the nation recovers from the Trump presidency, many questions remain: Why was the COVID-19 pandemic so grossly mishandled? How did we get so politically polarized? What caused white nationalist groups to come out of the shadows, and are they here to stay?

The answers lie the twisted story of the relationship between Donald Trump and Fox News. Through firsthand accounts from over 250 current and former Fox insiders, CNN anchor and chief media correspondent Brian Stelter unlocks the inner workings of Rupert Murdoch’s multibillion-dollar media empire. The confessions are shocking: “We don’t really believe all this stuff,” a producer says. “We just tell other people to believe it.”

Stelter completes the story of the Trump years and looks toward the future of the network that made him. Hoax is a book for anyone who reads the news and wonders how we got here, and what happens next.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio
• Release date: Aug 25, 2020
• ISBN: 9781797106366

Brian Stelter

Brian Stelter is the New York Times bestselling author of three books: Top of the Morning, Hoax, and Network of Lies. Previously, Stelter was a media reporter at The New York Times, the chief media correspondent for CNN Worldwide, and the anchor of Reliable Sources. He is currently a special correspondent for Vanity Fair and a Walter Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy. Stelter is a producer on the Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, which is inspired by his first book Top of the Morning. He also executive produced the HBO documentary After Truth: Disinformation and the Cost of Fake News. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children. Follow him on Twitter @BrianStelter.

Reviews for Hoax

[Edvh · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Informative and seems (as far as an outsider can tell) very well sourced. Energetically narrated. I listened to this because it was on NPR's list of top books in 2020, and I'm glad.

[Gábor Tállai · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unbelieveable insight into the dark unreality of trumpism's insanity.
Great America - pls do not - Make Again!

[Don Lynch · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Not even a good read.
And the amount of wrong information is staggering.
Do they think everyone is completely uninformed?!?

[Will Haverkorn · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Absolutely garbage, written by a political hack with no brain cells left.

[randypanther · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It’s hard to believe that all these things happened but yet they did. This book will serve to remind us….

[C.C. Silsbee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent! Explain so much about Trumpism cult & how fox built this monster PresiNAZI.

[Fortune Investors · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

An interesting look at the Foxitis disease that has hijacked the networks news division to become nothing more than a network of opinions.

[Steven Stankevitz · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

All Americans should read this book. I was so amazed at the contents

[Pekka Abrahamsson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I appreciated to have the author as the narrator. Very detailed look at the FOX reality. I started to feel sorry for the FOX audience.

[vladimiro sousa · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I liked it. Read it nicely and easy. Its very informative. Also raises important questions about the separation of power between politics and news. I do feel that commentary is on the rising, not just in USA, and that commentors have agendas and little or no principles. Journalism is in crisis, all over the world, and in this world of social media that which use to be information is each time more a misused word, for is being replace by propaganda. Personally, I believe the problem is not in the content of information/ propaganda but in education, because an independent mind is not about what you thing, but how you think.

[Diane Eckert · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Drink some more of that Kool-Aid. Judge things for yourselves people and don’t rely on biased authors trying to make a fast buck with popular opinions.

[Ivan Miskelic · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Quite a bit of detail in here that can't be made up. Brian understands the business of Fox media and how it makes money, and once you read this book you figure out how the modern world is broken. He doesn't offer solutions or try to be smart, he just documents stuff.

[Dax · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Sanctimonious fools don't mind being fed propaganda and lies. In fact, they need it to keep their delusions going. Sadly, anyone that enjoys this tripe is no longer capable of hinest self reflection, if they ever were.

[Gage Pittavino · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

It’s mind boggling to me that a book written by a pathetically smug, hypocritical, and “disinformation” peddling toad (despite the fact that CNN’s most frequently used word to describe other networks/journalists that they disagree with as “disinformation” outlets) is hilarious! I don’t see how this drivel could remotely convince a single free thinking person that this self absorbed buffoon has an ounce of credibility But kudos to you Stelter!! Unfortunately for you though, there’s absolutely not a chance in hell you’re going to get Fredo’s 9:00 gig. More people watch Golden Girls reruns than your (un)Reliable Sources time slot. Bummer….??‍

[Russell Almeida · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although it was apparent Trump was mirroring Fox opinion hosts during his administration, I was not aware Fox hosts, in particular Hannity was the reason Trump was making so many decisions based on conspiracies instead of using fact based evidence he could have obtained from his own administration.