Brian Stelter, host of the ironically titled “Reliable Sources” on CNN, was a guest on New Day Thursday morning to talk about other news networks that he wishes would be taken off the air.
While normally Stelter focuses his vitriol and contempt at Fox News, which leads the nation in cable news viewership, this time he targeted One America News, or OAN: “OAN makes Fox News look liberal…It’s some of the worst of the worst content out there…Even saying the word News with One America doesn’t really seem fair. This is a opinion channel with extremist content.”
However, rather than actually address the disagreements he has with specific OAN segments, Stelter bashed AT&T (CNN’s parent company) for covering the network and for paying its carriage fees – which AT&T does for CNN as well.
AT&T responded to the original reporting from Reuters by explaining that it does not fund OAN and does pay carriage fees for OAN, along with numerous other channels. This explanation wasn’t good enough for Stelter, who expressed outrage that OAN has been allowed to continue to air:
They’re taking a, they’re making a choice about content. Obviously competition is a good thing. It's great to have more and more channels, but, that’s not true – there’s a limit to that when we’re talking about channels that spread hate and misinformation. This is not just a conservative channel. It's a conspiracy channel, and there's a big difference.
Stelter and New Day host John Berman clarified that AT&T is not forced to carry OAN on its platform; it is a corporate choice to do so. This choice, according to the predictably liberal Stelter, is problematic: “There is a difference between real news and conspiracy crap,” he said. Undoubtedly, Stelter would consider his own show to be “real news,” while calling for the deplatforming of news on the other side of the aisle.
To top off this conservative news-bashing session, Stelter and Berman had a pat-on-the-back moment, where Berman recounted overhearing people at a restaurant complimenting Stelter:
BERMAN: They were talking about how awesome he is. They were literally talking about how -- it was not, it was not, it was not mom. It was not mom.
STELTER: It was clearly my relatives. Clearly my relatives.
BERMAN: No, they were talking about how "Reliable Sources" is basically a textbook, they say, for journalism in all things journalistic. So, true story.
KEILAR: Aw, that's lovely.
BERMAN: Yeah. At first I just had the rest of my beer –
STELTER: Maybe OAN should simulcast it. First time for everything, John.
BERMAN: Anyway, Brian, congratulations to you on everything you've done. And thanks for being with us.
Just another day in the life for reliably-anti-conservative Brian Stelter.
This segment was sponsored by T-Mobile and Sleep Number.
You can read the full segment transcript below by clicking Expand.
10/07/21
6:54:17 AM ETJOHN BERMAN: So, court documents reviewed by CNN reveal that AT&T was instrumental in the creation of the far-right conspiracy network One America News or OAN. We should note that AT&T is CNN's parent company. I want to bring in Brian Stelter, CNN chief media correspondent and anchor of "Reliable Sources". And if people don’t know what OAN is, this is a network that traffics in some of the most dangerous conspiracy theories out there.
BRIAN STELTER: Yeah. OAN makes Fox News look liberal. It is conspiracy laden, in denial about the riot, sometimes pretending Donald Trump is still president. It’s some of the worst of the worst content out there. This reporting first reported by Reuters, now matched by CNN shows how AT&T played a pivotal role in the origins of One America News. Even saying the word News with One America doesn’t really seem fair. This is a opinion channel with extremist content. But according to these court documents, let me put up on the screen what the, the court documents show, OAN's founder saying, crediting AT&T saying “They told us they wanted a conservative network. They only had one, which was Fox News, and they had seven others on the other side. When they said that, I jumped to it and I built one.” So in other words, the founder of OAN giving AT&T credit, saying, thank you AT&T for the inspiration for giving us space on your lineup for our channel. Of course, as the years have gone by, OAN’s become more and more conspiracy laden, become more and more of a problem, frankly, within the media universe, full of disinformation. And this story now confirmed by CNN points out AT&T not only helped inspire OAN to launch but also has bankrolled it through carriage fees. Now, AT&T pays carriage fees for lots of channels: CNN, Fox, et cetera. That's how the cable business works. But, there’s not a lot of other providers carrying OAN. So essentially, AT&T is the one that is subsidizing or funding the channel.
BERMAN: And again, just so people know, the things that OAN says, the theories that it propagates, just deeply corrosive to society. How is AT&T responding?
STELTER: Well, here’s the statement from the network, from the company that I obtained last night. They said: “AT&T has never had a financial interest in OAN's success and does not ‘fund’ OAN. When AT&T acquired DIRECTV, we refused to carry the channel on that platform, and OAN sued DIRECTV as a result.” So they’re basically saying they were forced to carry the channel. Then they continue to say: “Four years ago, DIRECTV reached a commercial carriage agreement with OAN, as it has with hundreds of other channels and as OAN has done with the other TV providers that carry its programming.” So AT&T is saying, there’s nothing to see here. This is just a normal carriage deal the way we have with lots of other channels. But, you know what, there’s maybe a reason why Comcast and Charter and other big cable providers, some of the ones people are watching us on right now, there's a reason why they don't carry this conspiracy network. There's a reason why they don’t provide carriage fees to OAN. They’re taking a, they’re making a choice about content. Obviously competition is a good thing. It's great to have more and more channels, but, that’s not true – there’s a limit to that when we’re talking about channels that spread hate and misinformation. This is not just a conservative channel. It's a conspiracy channel, and there's a big difference, and that's why AT&T has come under some very harsh scrutiny as people ask, why is AT&T essentially providing the support for this channel?
BERMAN: There's no rule, there’s no law that says AT&T has to carry it?
STELTER: This is the cable version of the Wild Wild West. There are lots of government regulations involving broadcast TV, but almost none about cable or satellite. So ultimately this is a corporate decision, a business decision, and the Texas-based AT&T, which as I said owns CNN, right now is working on a deal to sell WarnerMedia and CNN off into a merger with Discovery, but at the moment, owns CNN. And, you know, you can imagine maybe some of the conservative executives or board members at AT&T saying, well, we have CNN, we need to have an alternative. But again, there is a difference between real news and conspiracy crap, and OAN doesn't have bureaus around the world. It doesn’t have reporters in dangerous locales. It goes on the air and lies to people who, for some reason, want the lies. You were talking about the horrible effects of vaccine disinformation. That’s the effect, and something like OAN is the cause.
BERMAN: And again, it’s a choice. It’s a choice to allow it to be broadcast on your platforms. One story, Brianna Keilar, at a restaurant last night eating. At the table behind me, the two people were having a discussion about Brian Stelter. It's true.
STELTER: What?
BERMAN: Just out there eating, minding my own business, and the people right next to me talking about Brian Stelter. That's how much of a big deal –
STELTER: Wow.
BERMAN: - you are, Brian. So thank you.
BRIANNA KEILAR: What were they saying?
BERMAN: They were talking about how awesome he is. They were literally talking about how -- it was not, it was not, it was not mom. It was not mom.
STELTER: It was clearly my relatives. Clearly my relatives.
BERMAN: No, they were talking about how "Reliable Sources" is basically a textbook, they say, for journalism in all things journalistic. So, true story.
KEILAR: Aw, that's lovely.
BERMAN: Yeah. At first I just had the rest of my beer –
STELTER: Maybe OAN should simulcast it. First time for everything, John.
BERMAN: Anyway, Brian, congratulations to you on everything you've done. And thanks for being with us.
STELTER: Thanks.
BERMAN: "New Day" continues right now.
