CNN host says she studies 'conspiracy theories' to effectively talk with conservatives

CNN host Abby Phillip and former MSNBC host Joy Reid said Tuesday that conservatives live in their own information bubble during Reid’s podcast.

Both media personalities discussed how hard it is to converse with right-leaning Americans because, they said, conservatives rely on an alternative set of "facts" compared to liberals. 

"Look, I think that we are in this insanely siloed media ecosystem where conservatives are living in a completely different information world than liberals," Phillip said.

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Phillip told Reid this week that she believes conservatives are prone to living in media silos. (Jemal Countess/Getty)

Reid asked the "CNN NewsNight" anchor how she handles people with what she described as "false" beliefs as a journalist.

"So, talk to me a little bit about kind of your take as how journalism is managing this world in which, as you said, you have large percentages of people who believe completely false things and who believe it with their full chest, and they believe it, and it's very hard to talk them down from it," Reid said.

Talking about President Donald Trump’s supporters, Reid added, "And as you said, you put them in the table they're just going to say the election was stolen. There's nothing you can do. How is journalism helping?"

Phillip replied that being familiar with certain "conspiracy" theories helps her communicate with conservatives.

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Joy Reid speaks during an appearance on "Piers Morgan Uncensored" over the summer. (Piers Morgan Uncensored/YouTube)

"I mean, half my job sometimes is knowing what the latest conspiracy is. Yeah. So that if it comes up, I'm ready to address it. Because it happens a lot where people don't even know that what they're saying or what they've seen and believe is not true," Phillip said.

Phillip added that some conservatives who engage with her may be hearing the truth for the "very first time."

"And so again, the siloing of our information landscapes is one of the biggest problems in media today," she said. "And it is not going to resolve all of our political problems or differences, but less siloing is better than more."

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CNN host Abby Phillip during an episode of her show on the liberal network. (Screenshot/CNN)

Phillip made similar points during an interview on "Pod Save America" earlier this month, where she accused Trump supporters of being in media silos. 

"I talk to tried-and-true, dyed-in-the-wool MAGA people every single day and, so yeah, I understand where they come from," Phillip said. "I understand the information silos that they're in that make it hard to see outside of it, and it's not that complicated. I mean, I think that they like winning, and Trump is winning in their minds."

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Phillip admitted earlier in the interview that Democrats could also be guilty of being closed-minded, although she argued that the Republicans' information silo "is probably more enclosed off."