Brian Stelter seems to have come to terms with the realization that he was fired by CNN, and while he claims he has no clue why that happened, in the same breath Stelter blamed Fox News for making him “a target.”
The ousted CNN chief media correspondent appeared on Dan Abrams’ NewsNation show Tuesday evening and Abrams asked Stelter about leaving the network while suggesting CNN “kind of pushed you out.”
“I’ve embraced the f-word,’ Dan,” Stelter answered, with a chuckle. “Fired!”
“Why do you think you got fired?” Abrams asked.
“I don’t know,” his guest replied, prompting Abrams to press.
Brian Stelter says he has no idea why he was fired from CNN:
“I think we were doing fantastic journalism at CNN for the nine years that I was there.” pic.twitter.com/5dtDmXkHo5
— Media Research Center (@theMRC) April 19, 2023
“I really, truly don’t know,” Stelter insisted. “I know I had a popular show by CNN standards and I know that it was pretty cheap to produce. But I also know every show gets canceled eventually.”
It’s noteworthy that Stelter used the term “by CNN standards” when talking about the popularity of his show — the network was regularly trounced by Fox News in the ratings game.
Abrams then threw out a possible reason, which was Stelter’s left-leaning politics.
“Do you think you represented the kind of opinion – particularly from the left – that Chris Licht wanted to distance himself from? Because I think that’s why he ended up letting you go,” he said.
“Well, I’m just gonna let you say it then,” Stelter said in response. “I think we were doing fantastic journalism at CNN for the nine years that I was there. And I also think Fox News really enjoyed making me a target and using horrible names about me and all that sort of stuff that happens in the cable news wars.”
“I appreciate that shows like yours rise above that,” he added. “But Fox, they often take the low road. They enjoyed making me into a target and I think they enjoyed seeing me leave CNN.”
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Tom Tillison grew up in Maryland before moving to Central Florida as a young teen. It is in the Sunshine State that he honed both his passion for politics and his writing skills. Tillison also contributes to BizPac Review.
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