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How Kari Lake Went From News Anchor to Outspoken Critic of the Press


A longtime former colleague in the television news business recounts that Kari Lake hates guns and practices Buddhism. Another former local news anchor, Stephanie Angelo, who did not work with Ms. Lake but later became a close friend of hers, described Ms. Lake back then as “a free-spirited person” and ” liberal to the core”.

“She said abortion was illegal – not at all,” Ms. Angelo said. “The Kari I know would never say that, and she wouldn’t believe it either.”

But in the course of running for governor of Arizona, Ms. Lake – a former broadcaster for the local Fox News – established herself as a defender of Donald Trump and a hardline Christian conservative, using her expertise to protect herself. his media as a weapon and turned his old industry into a banknote. In her final pitch to voters ahead of Tuesday’s election, Ms. Lake, 53, campaigned against the press as much as she did against Katie Hobbs, her Democratic opponent, The audience protested against the reporters in attendance, who she called “Fake News” and pledged to be the media’s “worst nightmare” if elected.

It was a far cry from the person many journalists she had worked with remember.

Seven former colleagues of Lake’s at her local Fox station in Phoenix, where she read the news for more than two decades, and two others who consider themselves old friends said Ms. Lake has expressed more liberal views. on topics including guns, drag queens and undocumented immigrants. They said that she once admired Barack and Michelle Obama, and pointed out that she was donate to Obama’s presidential campaign. Some requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press or feared retaliation from Ms. Lake or her supporters.

During a campaign stop with veterans in Scottsdale, Ariz., Wednesday, she called reporters “monsters” and said, “Let’s embarrass the press.” At another protest on Thursday night in Phoenix, she lashed out at the “media” more times than she mentioned Hobbs.

Her old industry attacks exploit trends that, in recent years, shows a serious decline in the face of Americans’ trust in television and newspapers – and that, most recently, amid fierce partisan battles over local school boards and pandemic restrictions, even accused of favoritism is increasing. against local newshas long been considered one of the most reliable sources of information.

They are also part of an old book: Mr. Trump, a former reality TV star, has criticized the networks for their ratings and the level of media coverage he dislikes throughout. time in the White House and his presidential campaigns. At his recent rallies, he still makes time to denounce news stories and reporters present. Republicans’ trust in traditional media continues to decline, with many preferring to rely on a thriving ecosystem of right-wing and partisan outlets.

At Ms. Lake’s events, some of her biggest applause and boos come when she mentions the news industry, although many reporters at her events are now increasingly including people from the right-wing media who amplified her message. In Scottsdale, many people raised their hands when she asked how many of them consumed little or no “fake news media.” In Phoenix, people cheered and whistled as she appeared indifferent to the negative news about her campaign. She asked them to look at the reporters placed on the windows standing in the back. “How many of you really don’t care what the big media say?” she said to clap.

Her supporters tend not to care or believe that she was once liberal. People who watched her news show regularly couldn’t cite the specific stories she did, but they did recall her charisma and edgy presentation. Now, they appreciate her well-regarded and niche television style.

That included Jeanine Eyman and her daughter, Joanna, who waited in line outside a sports park in Mesa, Ariz., in October to watch Ms. Lake speak at a Trump rally. They say they admire that she is a news insider and outsider. “Resigning when you don’t agree with the political situation that’s going on, I think that makes a huge statement for what she believes in and who she is,” Jeanine Eyman said.

Reece Peck, a media scholar and author of “Fox Populism: Branding Conservatism as Working Class,” classed Ms. Lake as an influential conservative class, including including former President Ronald Reagan: prominent Republicans with no political experience or an ideological core but quickly rose to prominence in politics because they came from the media world.

Ms. Lake was particularly effective as a candidate, he said, because she emerged from “credible and honest local news”. He added: “She was a student of mass tastes” and can now “speak to an audience on that mass list.”

Ms. Lake has declined to respond to many requests for interviews or criticism from her former colleagues.

Before she began her professional journalism career, she interned at the same radio station where Mr. Reagan used to work. She often recounts this fact on the trail, along with her admiration for Mr. Reagan, a conservative hero who she says motivated her to apply as a Republican as soon as she was 18.

But now she often says she left her job as a popular TV presenter in Phoenix in early 2021, amid the pandemic, as she believes the media is losing ground. promoting a “biased” and “immoral” agenda by refusing to include unproven Covid treatments and by echoing Dr. Anthony Fauci’s talking points.

She began her campaign for governor with a debut ad that featured her smashed television broadcasting the news with a sledgehammer. She has since called for Mr Fauci’s arrest, publicized unproven treatments for Covid and promoted Mr Trump’s lies that the 2020 presidential election was “false”.

She criticized drag queens and Transgender surgery, and she echoed Mr. Trump’s rhetoric against immigrants, promising to complete his border wall and declaring “invasion” on the nation’s southwestern border. She has presented herself as a staunch opponent of abortion and “a lifetime member“Of the National Rifle Association. And she called reporters “the Devil’s right hand”.

It was a metamorphosis that shocked her former colleagues and acquaintances.

Richard Stevens, who performed as the famous drag queen Barbra Seville, said Ms Lake once invited him as a news contributor to comment on LGBTQ issues. He recalls watching Ms. Lake argue in defense of undocumented immigrants on board. He said that she regularly went to his drag shows, and the two became close. He also performed like Miss Seville at her home, including in front of her children, he said.

“Kari isn’t afraid of the drag queens, Kari isn’t afraid of gays,” Mr Stevens said, calling Ms Lake “an opportunist”. “I have every reason to believe that she is as free as I am.”

The contradictions did not stop Ms. Lake’s motivation in the brainstorming race. “Everybody knows her,” said Angelo, a former local news anchor. “They’re familiar with her face, with her voice, and they trust her even though her position now stands in stark contrast to everything she stood for until last year.”

Brenda Roberts, 67, a retired legal secretary who was in the audience at the Phoenix rally, said she was initially skeptical of Ms. Lake but later turned back because the candidate appeared to believe it. on what she said. Ms Roberts said: “She embodies all that we are feeling – we are really upset about the border. “We are upset about inflation. We are really upset about the way Biden has destroyed the economy.”

Part of Ms. Lake’s ascent involved the way she applied Trump’s media books, sometimes with touches of her own. Some of her campaign videos resemble movie trailers and are embellished with cinematic sound effects. Her husband, Jeff Halperin, an independent cinematographer, often shoots events and her interactions with the press. She was also quick to call impromptu press conferences that seemed timed for the early evening news.

Ms Lake assembled one of those gags last month after a man was arrested in connection with a burglary at Ms Hobbs’ campaign headquarters. Pointing to a large billboard with a picture of a person in a chicken suit, Ms. Lake joked that someone had been caught rummaging through her campaign headquarters and that she had evidence to believe it was Ms. Hobbs herself. — a statement directed at Mrs. Hobbs, as well as the reporters, who she claims to have held that Operation Lake was responsible for the Hobbs heist.

“You like to smear Republicans,” Ms. Lake told reporters.

In a statement responding to Ms Lake’s press conference, Sarah Robinson, a spokeswoman for the Hobbs campaign, doubled down on Ms Hobbs’ earlier remarks, accusing Ms. Lake of fanning “the flame of the fire”. extremism and violence”. Ms Lake released another video on Thursday again criticizing Ms Hobbs and reporters for covering the theft.

Towards the end of her term, top Democrats, including Mr. Obama, stopped in Phoenix to urge people not to support Ms. Lake, because they saw the election as a battle. to preserve democracy. “If we don’t only If you vote for someone with a major degree that’s being shown on TV, you can see it’s possible to give it a shot,” Obama said to the laughter of the audience.

At her event in Phoenix, Ms. Lake argued that she wasn’t racing for fortune or fame – “I’m already famous – it’s overrated” – but for Arizonans.

She lamented the loss of her friends to her evolution and told supporters she didn’t believe her former TV colleagues would unjustly attack her like they did. did with Mr. Trump. “But I’ll tell you something: The patriotic American patriotic friends I’ve made will make up for any friends I’ve lost a million times over,” she said, as everyone joined in a circle. other cheers.

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