Following a brutal week for CNN over network president’s Jeff Zucker’s forced resignation and internal strife, media correspondent Brian Stelter responded to critics with a full-throated defense for his employer.
On Sunday’s “Reliable Sources,” the left-wing pundit dedicated much of the program to the turmoil CNN has faced following the departure of Zucker, who admitted to not acknowledging a relationship he had with Allison Gollust, a deputy executive at the network.
Stelter ended his show with a monologue firing back at naysayers who’ve accused CNN of losing its way as a news organization over the years, warning viewers he was “gonna go a little bit rogue.”
CNN’s Brian Stelter fired back at critics who say his network "lacks journalism."
(CNN)
“Jeff Zucker’s departure was shocking to the staff of CNN. But CNN was not built by just one man, not by only Ted Turner, and it was not led only by Jeff Zucker,” Stelter began. “CNN is so much bigger than any single individual. It is about teams and teams of people, thousands of individuals who make up CNN.”
“This place is not perfect. It will never be perfect. We will always have flaws, we will always screw up, we will always have to run corrections, we will always have to keep working to make it better and better and better every single day. That is the goal,” Stelter said. “But people who say we’re lacking journalism, that we’ve become an all-talk channel, that we’ve run off, and we’re our opinions all the time, that Jeff Zucker led us astray, those people aren’t watching CNN. They’re not watching CNN. They’re watching complaints about CNN on other channels that don’t know what they’re talking about. That’s the truth.”
The low-rated Stelter often serves as a de facto spokesman for CNN, although he has denied serving in that capacity. He boasted over the “135 reporters” that went on-air and the “215 stories” on its website that took place the day of Zucker’s resignation, calling it “hell of a lot of news” and “hell of a lot of journalism.”
“Do some of the anchors say provocative things? Yes,” Stelter acknowledged. “Do some of those clips get played over and over again on other channels and mislead people about what CNN actually is? Yes. CNN is the reporters, and the producers, and the production assistants, and the writers, and the editors and the technical directors. CNN is the executives, and it’s the interns and everybody in between who keeps this place running 24/7, so when something horrible happens in the world or when something wonderful happens in the world, you know where to turn. That’s what CNN is.”
“We lost our leader this week, but we’re not going anywhere,” Stelter vowed.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 22: Brian Stelter, Chief Media Correspondent for CNN speaks onstage during ‘Discovery Gets Cooking’ at Vanity Fair’s 6th Annual New Establishment Summit at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on October 22, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
(Â Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
CNN has been under intense scrutiny following Zucker’s resignation, which sent shock waves throughout the media industry.
Statements from both Zucker and Gollust suggest their relationship began during COVID despite new reporting that alleges the CNN lovebirds became an item in 1996 while working at NBC when he served as the executive producer of “Today” and she was a trainee in the communications department.
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Reports also claim Zucker and Gollust gave “talking points” to her former boss, now-ousted Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, in the early months of the pandemic to combat then-President Trump and were directly involved in orchestrating the infamous Chris Cuomo-Andrew Cuomo interviews.
Critics have also targeted Stelter himself in the wake of the Zucker scandal as the ex-CNN president’s affair with Gollust was widely seen in the industry as an “open secret,” fueling questions over whether CNN’s chief media correspondent knew about the affair before Zucker’s resignation.
Stelter has so far refused to answer.