This past weekend saw the last day of CNN’s Reliable Sources, a thirty-year-old public affairs program most recently hosted by Brian Stelter. Some things were built to last, but just about nothing on CNN will, especially now that they have been taken over by reality-teevee focused Discovery who is trying to cut their way to profitability.
“It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues,” he said. “It’s required. It’s patriotic. We must make sure we don’t give platforms to those who are lying to our faces. But we also must make sure we are representing the total spectrum of debate and representing what’s going on in the country and the world.”
We kick CNN pretty hard most of the time, and they give us so much to work with, what with their Powerhouse Panels and general awfulness. As much as MPS criticizes CNN and Brian Stelter, his media beat is very important. The media needs more scrutiny, not less. The execrable Howie Kurtz on Fox all that is left, and it’s incredible to believe that Howie would be the last man standing. Stelter might not be the best, but he is so much better than Kurtz.
Stelter might not be a trained journalist, but he was a terrific college blogger in the early days of the internet. He found his niche reporting on the media that no one was doing at that time. BTW, Stelter sold the blog for a fortune (which became TVNewser, which is to the media what Politico is to the politics), and that’s not a bad legacy for any blogger.
Stelter rode the tiger to the NYTimes and then to CNN. The Reliable Sources daily newsletter is probably one of the most well-read emails in all the media. Again, that’s not a bad legacy for any blogger.
I am not Stelter’s agent, but if I was, I’d get him back on a platform like Substack, sell the eff out of the subscriptions, and let him rip without his having to toe any company line. Stelter unplugged, y’all. He’s a free agent now and he has probably one of the most valuable email lists in all of the media, and he has a Rolodex* that is second to none, and I would wager that when Stelter calls the C-Suites at all the media outlets, they will answer the phone. Stelter is already an established brand.
They say that there are no second acts in Americans' lives, and Stelter’s career shows us what a filthy lie that is. What I am saying is, if he wants it, Stelter could have a second/third/fourth act. He’s a young man, I think there’s more to come.
*I’m an old, rolodex sounds more like a journalist that to say his iPhone contacts.
Republished with permission from Mock Paper Scissors.
