CNN has not had a great start to the year, which was especially evident as Jeff Zucker, head of the network, recently resigned in disgrace over a relationship with a staffer that he purposely chose not to disclose.
According to The Daily Wire, in the fallout from Zucker’s sudden exit, some CNN insiders are reportedly throwing flags on host Brian Stelter, CNN’s chief media correspondent, for not reporting on the story earlier. One of those insiders reportedly told the Daily Mail that the network should immediately fire Stelter for getting scooped on the biggest media story of the year.
“The network needs to step up and fire Brian Stelter,” a CNN employee reportedly told the British outlet.
“He is allegedly our top media reporter – yet he failed to report on the scoop that everyone in the office knew,” the unnamed insider added. “And if he wants to say he didn’t know, he is truly terrible at his job.”
Stelter gets torched
The news about Zucker’s relationship with Allison Gollust, CNN’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, reportedly caught the network’s attention during its probe into former primetime anchor Chris Cuomo, who also resigned in disgrace.
Stelter, who should have been on top of the story, given his position and title at CNN, seemingly chose to completely ignore it, or worse, helped to keep it quiet, at least in the opinion of some at the network and from within the cable news industry.
“Brian Stelter should be calling his agent to start looking for another job,” an unidentified cable news veteran reportedly said. “He’s been Jeff Zucker’s water boy for years and no one believes he didn’t know about all of this.”
The anonymous insider added: “He’s been sitting on his moral high horse doing Jeff’s bidding and ripping Fox [News] and every other media outlet that Jeff tells him to while his ratings crash and burn. Where was he on the biggest story at his own network after chastising everyone else?”
Notably, Stelter was the CNN anchor designated to break the news about Zucker’s shocking exit announcement. Many CNN anchors and reporters have defended Zucker in the wake of his departure.
Stelter scared of Rogan?
Joe Rogan, the mega-popular podcaster and comedian whose audience dwarfs that of CNN’s on any given day, has recently been in the crosshairs of desperate cable news anchors like Stelter, who recently tried to defend his employer against Rogan’s popularity.
“You think about major newsrooms like CNN that have health departments and deaths and operations that work hard on verifying information on COVID-19, and then you have talk show stars like Joe Rogan, who just swing it, who make it up as they go along,” Stelter said during a recent show.
What Stelter failed to appreciate is that millions of Americans trust Rogan because he asks questions, and he’s not affiliated with any political ideologies. Unlike CNN, he doesn’t craft narratives and force his viewers to believe only one side of the story, like CNN attempts to do on a daily basis.
