Former chief media correspondent for CNN, Brian Stelter, joined MSNBC’s Ari Melber on Friday’s edition of The Beat to talk about his old employer, the media as a whole, and to proclaim that the industry’s job is to be “louder than the liars” who attack them.
Melber wondered, “So, has CNN, in your view, lost its way? And were they wrong in some of the programming decisions they made, including regarding yours?”
Stelter replied that he didn’t think so because, “there's a big difference between a management regime versus CNN as an institution. And that's true for lots of media companies. When you're reading the newspaper, you’re reading a website, you hate an article, you hate a column, judge that one column. Don't judge the entire institution and that's what I would say about CNN or any other big media brand.”
That would make more sense if you were talking about the op-ed pages or an opinion-based publication, but not for the allegedly straight-news outlets like CNN or MSNBC. When the news section repeatedly makes the same mistakes, blaming individuals covers up systemic problems.
Stelter, however, was not referring to issues of liberal or progressive bias, but how the media should discuss Donald Trump, “But when it came to me, I think CNN was and maybe still is struggling about what to do about Donald Trump. That's a problem that's been going on for almost a decade and it's not unique to CNN. This is the challenge every journalist in America is facing. Some might want to avoid it, might want to pretend it's not a problem, might want to pretend they figured it out, but it's an incredibly hard problem to solve.”
As for attacks on the media, “This torrent of lies directed at an institution that's trying to get to the truth and, Ari, that's why we need this kind of coverage all the time to try to figure out the best path to being louder than the liars. That's our job. We are supposed to be louder than the liars.”
That also contradicts Stelter’s earlier statement. On one hand, Stelter wants people to criticize individuals, not outlets, but here he is urging the entire industry to adopt certain standards. At the same time that standard of claiming something is true simply because the media said it is, is why the industry is facing a “torrent” of criticism.
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Here is a transcript for the September 15 show:
MSNBC The Beat with Ari Melber
9/15/2023
6:34 PM ET
ARI MELBER: Okay. So, has CNN, in your view, lost its way? And were they wrong in some of the programming decisions they made, including regarding yours?
BRIAN STELTER: No, I think there's a big difference between a management regime versus CNN as an institution. And that's true for lots of media companies. When you're reading the newspaper, you’re reading a website, you hate an article, you hate a column, judge that one column. Don't judge the entire institution and that's what I would say about CNN or any other big media brand.
But when it came to me, I think CNN was and maybe still is struggling about what to do about Donald Trump. That's a problem that's been going on for almost a decade and it's not unique to CNN. This is the challenge every journalist in America is facing. Some might want to avoid it, might want to pretend it's not a problem, might want to pretend they figured it out, but it's an incredibly hard problem to solve.
This torrent of lies directed at an institution that's trying to get to the truth and, Ari, that's why we need this kind of coverage all the time to try to figure out the best path to being louder than the liars. That's our job. We are supposed to be louder than the liars.
MELBER: Well, you mentioned lies. That's full circle to where we started, having you on about some of those cases. Brian, I do appreciate you coming on and taking all the questions. We'll see you again, sir.
