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Brian Stelter Unaware of Why He Was Fired But He Is Sure Fox News Is to Blame

Brad Slager
Brad Slager  |  Apr 19, 2023
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

04.19.23

Low Octane Gas Lighting – NEWS NATION

  • You would think a media expert would have a better grasp on getting the facts.

Tuesday was a tough result for Brian Stelter. The announcement that the Fox News-Dominion defamation suit was settled just as it began means the man who set up a new column at Vanity Fair, a podcast, and a new book deal centered on the trial was now going to struggle for content. On the heels of this decision, Stelter sat in with Dan Abrams on NewsNation, and while facing questions regarding his departure from the network, Stelter opted for either denial, deflection, or delusion. It was remarkable avoidance of facts.

ABRAMS "Why do you think you got fired?

STELTER "I don't know. I really, truly don't know. I know that I had a popular show by CNN standards, and I know it was pretty cheap to produce." 

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[His ratings were eroding to such a level that had not been seen for a decade.]

ABRAMS "The CEO, Chris Licht, has talked about how he wants to emphasize news over opinion. Do you think you represented the kind of opinion - particularly from the left - that Chris Licht wants to distance himself from?" 

STELTER "Well, I'm just going to let you say it then."

[Quite a tacit admission made by Stelter that he does, in fact, operate from the left.]

STELTER "I also think Fox News really enjoyed making me a target. Using horrible names about me and all that sort of stuff that happens in the cable news world. But Fox, they often take the low road; they enjoyed making me a target." 

[This is rich coming from the man who subsisted on making Fox his target.] 

ABRAMS "Do you think, though, that the Fox criticism was part of the reason that they let you go? Because some of your defenders said, 'We think that part of the reason that he got let go was because that Fox News was constantly making fun of him.'"

STELTER "That's something that I wonder…but I'm very happy and content not knowing." 

[Poor Brian was picked on while daily calling Fox liars, manipulators, etc.]

Really now? So we are to believe that Fox got Brian fired by using harsh nicknames, and it was not due to Stelter having an imbalanced focus on one network? This is the exact lack of analysis that actually led to his dismissal.

Both Kinds of Standards – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • When the only thing worse than politicizing a shooting is having to come up with new ways of politicizing different shootings.

It has become commonplace to expect particular reactions from the press regarding shootings. If it can be slanted as racial, that is the lede; otherwise, it will be the guns being blamed. UNLESS it is a black-on-black shooting (such as seen in the 32 shot in Alabama), in which case there will be as little coverage as possible.

What makes this all the worse is when these differing approaches take place within days of each other – and what makes it unbearable is when we see it committed by the same person. Mara Gay displays this dichotomy but committed the error of doing so within the span of a week, 

Gilded Reframe – WASHINGTON POST

  • Well, apart from that small detail, the rest of their coverage is well worth following.

On the subject of the Ralph Yarl shooting incident, the Washington Post had to send out a correction following the release of their newsletter discussing the matter. We can be certain that all the other facts related to this story were spot-on and accurate, no doubt.

DNC PR Firm – THE NEW YORK TIMES

  • Some might say that lobbying a corporation against a particular politician is somewhat activist in your bias.

It is always a point of amusement when stunted dolts like Keith Olbermann come out loudly to lobby Disney to pull up its theme parks and move out of Florida in the name of sticking it to Ron DeSantis. The very idea that a place larger than Manhattan with billions in infrastructure can uproot itself to a new location like it is a traveling carnival is as dumb as it gets, but when a New York Times opinion columnist joins in on this type of discussion – well, it only manages to sound dumber.

Just adding to the indolence here is that Florida is not only drawing in businesses at a high rate, but a recent study showed NON-job-killing figures for the state, with four of the five cities with the smallest unemployment numbers being in Florida.

It is downright impressive how many ways Manjoo managed to be incorrect within a single sentence.

Reporting on the Mirror – NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO

  • When the man calling himself "reliable" cannot get the facts straight about his own outlet.

Yesterday, we covered NPR television guy Eric Deggans getting a Disney story wrong on multiple levels, and now there is possibly the biggest star at the network also showing he should have followed NPR's lead and left Twitter. OR DID THEY?

In delivering commentary on the NPR exit from the social media platform, Steve Inskeep had words for their critics, all while stating he would remain, offering up his dependable reporting as a reason to follow his sage words.

We are left wondering what is more amazing; is it that Inskeep was so monumentally incorrect about what NPR pledges to do, or that he described himself as "reliable" while delivering blatant misinformation?

It can be clearly shown that NPR did, in fact, declare it was leaving Twitter. This would be based on reporting stating such – found at NPR. 

Demo-lition Project – CNN

  • Meanwhile, the Stelter-free network continues to struggle.

On Sunday, CNN brought out a new show with Anderson Cooper at the helm called "The Whole Story." It is safe to say this did not exactly move the needle, as it drew less than 500K in viewers. 

Not only did this trail Fox News and MSNBC, but Cooper's new show fell behind a few syndicated reruns on other channels:

The show was beaten by a rerun of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” the “Golden Girls” and “Mike and Molly.