Licht Fires Stelter, Cancels *Reliable Sources*

[PGage]

“CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter is leaving the company, and the network will cancel the 30-year-old weekly media news show that he has hosted since 2013.
Sunday’s episode of “Reliable Sources” will be the last… The cancellation news, which was first reported by NPR, is the first major programming shake-up under the management of new network boss Chris Licht.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/08/18/brian-stelter-cnn-reliable-sources-licht/

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[Joe Hass]

Chris Licht can go fornicate himself with a rusty iron stick for this one.

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[PGage]

(Apologies for replying to myself; I hit send prematurely).

I keep seeing this news categorized as part of WBD’s attempt to move CNN to the “middle”. Maybe, though, as a resident of the “left” it does not really feel that way to me. CNN is a couple of things, some bad, some good, but none particularly liberal. 

They have been very personality driven, which includes opinion. To the extent that Licht and his masters are trying to wring that out of their newscasts, that would be good IMO. Anderson a Cooper is probably their best asset, yet I find him almost unwatchable given his history of making major stories about himself. Less if that please.

Over the last decade or so they have not so much been liberal as willing to push back against Trump. As we have seen, challenging Trump does not make you a liberal. In the Zucker era though, it did reek of opportunism, as Trump outrage made for good ratings (something Trump himself is proud of). Stelter gets accused of this a lot, and is maybe guilty of it some significant though still minor fraction of the time. 

I can see the value in trying to start with a clean slate, getting rid of voices that were too associated with a kind of self promoting anti-Trumpism so that the critical and skeptical journalistic voice, cutting in all directions equally, can more credibility come through. If that is what Licht is up to, then fine. But if Licht/Zaz are on a mission to de-controversialize CNN, to rid their network of voices perceived by the Trump Right to be biased against them, then we are seeing the worst nightmare of corporate, Stock Market culture sucking the substance and power out of any attempt to do News. In this sense, the bigger news is not the firing of Stelter, but the cancellation of Reliable Sources. In an age in which television news is dominated by what goes on at Fox, a Media Beat will inevitably lead to a critical eye cast on conservative media (liberal media too, though I doubt Zaz and his Wall Street pals sweat that part very much). Of course, in the immediate climate, a Media Beat will almost certainly be casting a critical eye on Zaslov and WBD itself. The willingness and ability to cast that self critical glance is one of the definitions of credible journalism.

If Licht schedules a new Media show and names a new correspondent to that Beat with full portfolio, then I will take all this a step in a positive direction. If what follows is silence in the coverage of the media, then it will signal something very ugly. There is something worse than the histrionic, self indulgent personality shit show that we have been exposed to at CNN for ten years, and it is the well behaved, inoffensive propaganda of the corporate shill.

On Thu, 18 Aug 2022 at 3:43 PM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

“CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter is leaving the company, and the network will cancel the 30-year-old weekly media news show that he has hosted since 2013.Sunday’s episode of “Reliable Sources” will be the last… The cancellation news, which was first reported by NPR, is the first major programming shake-up under the management of new network boss Chris Licht.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/08/18/brian-stelter-cnn-reliable-sources-licht/

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[Kevin M.]

This show seems among the tamest to remove, which again leaves me skeptical of their claims to focus less on the politicization of the news. When they drop-kick the aforementioned Cooper or (please God) Don Lemon, I might begin to believe that the network is trying to change for the better. Stelter was largely forgettable… not necessarily bad at his job, but not enough people will give enough of a crap about his leaving (or even notice) to make any perceptible difference. At best this is a symbolic move, but only to a smattering of people who bother to pay attention.

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Kevin M. (RPCV)

[Jon Delfin]

I guess the annual appearance of a progressive journalist was too much for Licht.  

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[Mark Jeffries]

Every time I watch on YouTube the Australian ABC's "Media Watch," I ask why PBS in the United States cannot do a similar program--a show that week after week eviscerates the media for genuine errors and missteps (including, it will be noted, the ABC itself, although the most frequent target is Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, website and cable channel--Sky News Australia, not Fox News--because).  Their slogan says it all--"Everybody loves it until they're on it."

The reason that PBS doesn't do this kind of program, of course, is because nobody will fund it.  If the ABC had to rely on pledge drives in Australia, they wouldn't do it either.

Mark Jeffries

spotl...@gmail.com

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[PGage]

 

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[PGage]

Stelter went out well, making the obvious point articulately, as did most of his guests. As I said originally, if Licht/Zaz just want to get a less bruised messenger to deliver the same message, then fine. But if this is, as frankly it appears to be, a flinching in the face of the mob, it will bring everlasting shame on CNN.

****

NEW YORK (AP) — “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter insisted Sunday that he’ll still be rooting for CNN even after his show was canceled this week, but stressed that it was important for the network and others to hold the media accountable…

Stelter said that it was not partisan to stand up for decency, democracy and dialogue.

“It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues,” he said. “It’s required. It’s patriotic. We must make sure we don’t give platforms to those who are lying to our faces. But we also must make sure we are representing the total spectrum of debate and representing what’s going on in the country and the world.”

****

https://apnews.com/article/102e9f1c205d0f190799fe6524fa4a48

On Thu, 18 Aug 2022 at 3:43 PM PGage <pga...@gmail.com> wrote:

“CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter is leaving the company, and the network will cancel the 30-year-old weekly media news show that he has hosted since 2013.Sunday’s episode of “Reliable Sources” will be the last… The cancellation news, which was first reported by NPR, is the first major programming shake-up under the management of new network boss Chris Licht.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/08/18/brian-stelter-cnn-reliable-sources-licht/

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[Steve Timko]

This was a good piece. Lots of perspective.

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2022/final-edition-of-reliable-sources-raises-questions-about-cnns-future/

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[Bob Jersey]

Licht's successor at CBS, Ryan Kadro, has now joined him... in, Deadline's Ted Johnson said, " a role that is expected to include a new or revamped morning show, according to a source familiar with the plans. "   https://deadline.com/2022/08/ryan-kadro-cnn-content-strategy-1235095805/ (link)     B

Steve Timko, to PGage, Aug 22nd:

This was a good piece. Lots of perspective.

https://www.poynter.org/commentary/2022/final-edition-of-reliable-sources-raises-questions-about-cnns-future/

Stelter went out well, making the obvious point articulately, as did most of his guests. As I said originally, if Licht/Zaz just want to get a less bruised messenger to deliver the same message, then fine. But if this is, as frankly it appears to be, a flinching in the face of the mob, it will bring everlasting shame on CNN.

[Bob Jersey]

The breakfast show doesn't have a name or set yet, but it now has anchors: Don Lemon, Poppy Harlow and Kaitlan Collins...
https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2022/09/15/don-lemon-poppy-harlow-kaitlan-collins-cnn-morning-show/ or
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/15/business/media/cnn-overhauls-its-morning-show.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare (links)
B

Moi, Aug 22nd:

[PGage]

Don’t know what Lemon has on CNN to make them invest in him so much, but it must be a doozy. Perhaps this is Licht’s way of hiding Lemon in a slot where almost nobody will see him, while giving him 2 prime time hours to fill with Joe Scarborough clones.

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