CNN staffer: Network reporters 'not actually asking questions' but 'leading' people they interview

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A CNN staffer has revealed the "art form" his reporter colleagues practice while interviewing people in the hope of "leading" them to the answer the network wants. 

In the second installment of the #ExposeCNN campaign released by the right-wing guerrilla news outlet Project Veritas Wednesday, technical director Charles Chester claimed to an undercover journalist that there's "no such thing as unbiased news" and that it "just doesn't exist" since "there are too many agendas.

"I think we bury the lede a lot," Chester said. 

"What's that mean?" the journalist asked. 

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"Listen to the way they ask questions. Because they're not actually asking questions," Chester said. 

"Who?" the journalist asked. 

"Any reporter on CNN," he responded. "What they're actually doing is they're telling the person what to say. It's an art form in there. There's an art form to it."

Chester then explained how CNN would frame questions by using a car accident as an example. 

"One of the reporters would be like ... 'That man clearly went through the intersection slamming into this car,' or whatever it was. 'And it really is unfortunate that, you know, our infrastructure of traffic lights and whatnot is falling apart in the city. How do you feel about the traffic lights and the infrastructure or whatnot?'" Chester said, imitating a CNN reporter. "We've led them to talk about how we want them to talk about it. It's always like leading them in a direction before they even open their mouths."

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Chester then added: "And the only people that we let on the air, for the most part, are people that have a proven track record of taking the bait."

The CNN staffer later referred to the method as an "art to manipulation," adding "I think when, like, you ever meet somebody that you feel like you're being gaslit by? Start to listen to how they word things... Inflection, saying things, like, twice, like there's little subtleties to how to manipulate people."

"I mean, it's enough to change the world, you know?" Chester said about his network manipulating its guests. 

"Isn't that the plan?" the journalist asked. 

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"It was a plan and I think this time it worked with, like, the Trump thing," Chester responded, alluding to his other comments about the network's apparent objective to remove President Trump from office. "But look at the other side, how devastated they were. So were we the good guys or the bad guys? It depends on which side you were looking at it from, you know?"

CNN did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.

The video released on Wednesday also showed Chester boasting about how the coronavirus pandemic resulted in "gangbusters" ratings for CNN. He also said that the "head of the network" demanded CNN's infamous death tracker be kept onscreen when programming was dull.

As part of a larger #ExposeCNN campaign, Project Veritas released footage of Chester admitting that CNN's "focus" was to get President Trump out of office during the 2020 presidential campaign, as well as that the network manufactured stories about the Republican's health in order to aid then-candidate Joe Biden.

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In another clip, Chester claimed that the network was pushing the scandals plaguing Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., because he's become "a problem for the Democratic Party."

The often-controversial Project Veritas, which frames itself as a whistleblower watchdog group, has previously released what it claims to be hidden camera footage of network news producers, politicians, and members of private political organizations making statements while unaware they are being recorded.

Fox News' Brian Flood contributed to this report.