Brian Stelter: Selective critic or bogeyman to conservatives?

Brian Stelter is leaving CNN after the programme he hosted, Reliable Sources, is being taken off air after the news organization’s parent company – Warner Bros – finished merging with Discovery. 

“We are proud of what Brian and his team accomplished over the years, and we’re confident their impact and influence will long outlive the show”, CNN said in a statement released Thursday. 

Stelter joined CNN in 2013 and has regularly put Fox News and people like Donald Trump under the microscope, earning a target on his back from conservatives who complained of CNN’s bias against them. “This is a terrible move by CNN. Brian Stelter was the symbol of a media establishment willing to question itself”, said Dan Froomkin, Press Watch editor. He added, “He was a flawed but essential voice in the national media. His firing is a win for all the wrong people.” 

The American news anchor, despite taking the fight to conservatives, had to fend off allegations that he didn’t explore controversies in his own workplace. So, was Stelter the bogeyman to the right or just a selective critic? 

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A Fox News story accused Stelter of not investigating in-house issues with the same rigour and called him a “left-wing lackey”. Parker Molloy, an American writer and blogger, said on Twitter “Brian Stelter was terrible at his job. Maybe it was because CNN pressured him to not cover in-house controversies. Maybe it was because he chose not to cover in-house controversies. But you cannot be an actual media critic without including the outlet you work for.” 

However, Stelter’s statements regarding CNN controversies or ongoings in the organization suggest otherwise. 

Speaking of the cancellation of CNN+ the nascent streaming service, Stelter said “This CNN+ service was doomed because of the timing of a merger and clashing streaming strategies. The new owner, Warner Brothers Discovery has big plans to combine multiple streaming platforms to make one big challenger for Netflix.” 

He also addressed the resignations of both network president Jeff Zucker and chief marketing officer Allison Gollust. They turned in their papers after the scandal concerning Chris Cuomo, the CNN anchor, who was accused of leveraging his position to help Andrew Cuomo, his brother and former NY governor who was mired in a sexual harassment allegation. 

Gollust, however, said that pre-interview discussions about what’ll be talked about on air are part of standard procedure and Stelter agrees. He noted, “I have spoken with multiple anchors who interviewed the governor here on CNN, and none of them saw signs of interference. This material about Gollust surprised them”.

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However, Stelter said of the former CNN employee, “Cuomo was continually causing headaches for management and for CNN writ large. And the headaches were certain to continue…”. 

Seeing Stelter’s track record in addressing issues within CNN, and his tweets and posts about the right-wing often making news suit their preset narratives, it is safe to say that the Reliable Sources host was a man whose voice wouldn’t be drowned out. 

In recent times, Stelter spoke of how Liz Cheney went from a paid Fox contributor to an enemy of the news outlet. He also posted how Fox cut into Cheney’s speech to feature guests who ridiculed her. 

“CNN and MSNBC stuck with the speech in full”, Stetler noted.