CNN "Needs To Step Up And Fire Brian Stelter": CNN Insider

[Ubiquitous]

CNN should fire Brian Stelter as its chief media correspondent for
failing to report on network president Jeffrey Zucker’s longstanding
affair with a co-worker, a network insider told a British newspaper.

“The network needs to step up and fire Brian Stelter,” the CNN employee
told The Daily Mail.

The employee said it’s unconscionable that Stelter allowed himself to
get scooped on the story of Zucker’s intimate relationship with Allison
Gollust, CNN’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

“He is allegedly our top media reporter – yet he failed to report on
the scoop that everyone in the office knew,” said the CNN insider. “And
if he wants to say he didn’t know, he is truly terrible at his job.”

Zucker, who has held the office of president of CNN Worldwide since
2013 and has been chairman of WarnerMedia News and Sports, resigned
Wednesday after admitting to a “consensual relationship” with a close
colleague. The couple have worked together closely for 20 years at
multiple networks. Katie Couric described the couple as “joined at the
hip” in her 2021 memoir. One source told the Daily Mail their
relationship, which the source says began much earlier than they let on
to the public, was “an open secret.”

“Brian Stelter should be calling his agent to start looking for another
job,” said an individual the newspaper identified only as “a cable news
veteran” who wished to remain anonymous. “He’s been Jeff Zucker’s water
boy for years and no one believes he didn’t know about all of this.”

“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?” the veteran asked.

The affair reportedly came to the network’s attention during its probe
of Chris Cuomo, whom the network let go following allegations that he
had advised his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and
that the CNN host had been accused of sexual harassment in his own
right. Rolling Stone reported that “Zucker and Gollust were advising
the governor at the beginning of the Covid pandemic in ways not
dissimilar to what led to Chris Cuomo’s dismissal.” Jake Tapper
suspected that Chris Cuomo or his legal team had reason to leak word
about Zucker’s relationship if CNN refused to pay the remaining $18
million of Cuomo’s contract, according to the Wall Street Journal. AT&T
reportedly negotiated with Zucker to resign in exchange for settling
Cuomo’s contractual obligations for $9 million, reported the New York
Post.

In Zucker’s resignation memo, which was shared by Stelter, the CNN boss
referred to his nine years with the network as “an amazing run,”
although the network continually lost viewers during his tenure, with
the exception of one day last January.

Stelter, the host of “Reliable Sources,” has downplayed the network’s
pronounced ratings slide, saying that “misleading ratings #’s get
weaponized by Trumpworld.” Yet Stelter has felt the brunt of falling
ratings and diminishing audience trust. “In December overall, according
to Nielsen ratings, “Reliable Sources” averaged 693,000 viewers with
152,000 in the demo. Fox News’ 11 a.m. ET competitor, “Media Buzz,”
averaged 1.460 million viewers, of which 217,000 were in the demo,”
reported The Wrap.

Last Sunday, Stelter lamented the fact that podcaster Joe Rogan
inspired greater confidence in his listeners than CNN. “Not all
opinions are created equal,” Stelter told his audience. “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. And because figures like Rogan are trusted
by people that don’t trust real newsrooms, we have a tension.”

--
Let's go Brandon!

[BTR1701]

In article <V_adnVnpY-cd8p3_...@giganews.com>,

Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:

> CNN should fire Brian Stelter as its chief media correspondent for
> failing to report on network president Jeffrey Zucker's longstanding
> affair with a co-worker, a network insider told a British newspaper.
>
> "The network needs to step up and fire Brian Stelter," the CNN employee
> told The Daily Mail.
>
> The employee said it’s unconscionable that Stelter allowed himself to
> get scooped on the story of Zucker’s intimate relationship with Allison
> Gollust, CNN's executive vice president and chief marketing officer.

A potato's gonna potate. What can you do?