In yet another shakeup for CNN, the troubled network with sinking ratings and crumbling credibility rehired disinformation spreader Brian Stelter, who had previously been fired for being even more embarrassing to the company than its legal analyst and Zoom masturbator Jeffrey Toobin.
For decades, the network had been viewed as a typical leftist media outlet, but it became the very embodiment of fake news in the last decade as its hosts and reporters brazenly pushed Democrat narratives and uncritically regurgitated information operations from nefarious actors. In becoming the in-house propaganda shop of the anti-Donald Trump resistance, the network gained viewers but saw its credibility damaged beyond repair.
CNN helped launch and reliably laundered the “Russia collusion” hoax, a long-running information operation from the Hillary Clinton campaign and anti-Trump activists in the Department of Justice. The operation falsely accused Trump of stealing the 2016 election by colluding with Russia. CNN hired as analysts many of the federal law enforcement and intelligence officials who had run the election-interfering hoax against the American people.
CNN’s Democrat Party programming was not limited to the Russia collusion hoax, which was eventually debunked by real reporters. It also helped run the smear operations against high school student Nick Sandmann and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, platforming even the most outlandish accusations against them.
It actively participated in efforts to suppress discussion about the best ways to handle the Covid-19 outbreak. It downplayed the violence and damage caused by months of race riots in the lead-up to the 2020 election, and it worked with Democrats to gin up hysteria about the January 6 protest after that election.
Every step of the way, Stelter enabled and justified the spreading of fake news by his network and other left-wing media outlets, even as Americans lost trust in their media to report the news accurately and fairly. The situation for the network was so bad that when CNN launched a much-trumpeted streaming service, CNN was forced to close it after 21 days due to lack of interest and skyrocketing costs.
CNN’s top brass brought in Chris Licht, a previously successful television executive, to right the ship. He promised Republicans a reset, telling them he wanted to earn back their trust after years of the network going to war with them.
One of Licht’s first moves was to fire Stelter, a relentless defender of CNN’s laundering of left-wing information operations and propaganda. He had become a laughingstock for his willingness to debase himself in service of any and all Democrat narratives.
Shrill Democrat activist John Harwood was also fired. “Reliable Sources,” the left-wing media show Stelter had hosted for nine years, ended its run. A few other CNN staff were also fired, but not enough to improve the reputation of the company. In fact, Stelter’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter was taken over by Oliver Darcy, a less intelligent but more rabid anti-speech activist than Stelter.
Licht was pushed out of the company, in part by employees who never forgave him for trying to return the network to any semblance of a news organization. CNN employees openly criticized Licht for hosting a town hall with the frontrunner for the GOP nomination for president, something that journalists at any real news organization would have been thrilled by.
Licht was replaced by former New York Times CEO Mark Thompson, who has also tried to get the company to be ever-so-slightly less left-wing. But its ratings and finances have struggled compared to MSNBC, which openly embraces its role as a Democrat propaganda outlet.
The meager efforts weren’t convincing anyone anyway. A few weeks ago, Stephen Colbert hosted CNN host Kaitlan Collins, most memorable for moderating that May 2023 town hall with Trump. Colbert said during the interview that CNN “reports the news as it is” and “I know you guys are objective over there.”
The studio audience erupted in laughter at the idea that CNN is even remotely objective.
“Is that supposed to be a laugh line?” Collins asked. “It wasn’t supposed to be,” Colbert answered, “but I guess it is.”
Stelter’s return is an indication that the flailing CNN is trying to compete against MSNBC by more openly embracing the role of propaganda outlet.
Stelter returns to the network as chief media analyst, where he plans to resume covering up the damage wrought by the country’s left-wing propaganda press and instead focus solely on out-of-context clips from the opinion programs of non-leftist media outlets such as Fox News (where this reporter is a contributor). Unlike MSNBC and CNN, Fox News retains a clear division between its news and opinion programming.
Stelter was known for being an obsessive promoter of the Russia collusion hoax and a supporter of anti-speech efforts from both the government and Big Tech firms. He falsely claimed that the Steele dossier, which was full of unverified and unverifiable allegations against Trump, had been verified. He also accused Trump advisor Kellyanne Conway of spreading misinformation by speaking the truth about it.
Stelter falsely claimed that the corporate media had not reported that the Hunter Biden laptop was Russian disinformation. In fact, Stelter was one of the worst offenders in that censorship-industrial-complex operation.
Just weeks before Joe Biden was forced out of the presidential race by the corporate media and other Democrat operatives worried he’d lose the 2024 election, Stelter said Republican focus on Biden’s mental decline was an example of disinformation. His only criticism of the Biden presidency was when it ostensibly ceased one of its censorship programs at Homeland Security. Stelter regularly asserts without even an attempt at substantiation that Democrats speak the truth while Republicans lie.
It took a University of Chicago student to confront Stelter over his support for CNN’s disinformation operations. The government powers Stelter bootlicked rewarded him for his propaganda work, having him host a “disinformation” panel at the World Economic Forum.
The return of Stelter to CNN may or may not help the troubled company’s ratings and finances. But it definitely won’t help the country deal with the scourge of a propaganda press and the lies it spews.
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