News/Commentary

Fired CNN host Brian Stelter running for school board in New Jersey – as a Republican!

February 25, 2024 | | Print Article

Political plans for a fired CNN host set “Republican” ambitions at the local level toward “guiding and teaching the next generation.”

When CNN’s then-CEO Chris Licht had taken a hatchet to the ranks of the network struggling to find an upward trajectory for ratings, “Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter’s ousting included his landing a gig as a Harvard fellow. Following that stint in academic circles, the former on-air personality reportedly set his sights on impacting classrooms in the Garden State on a local school board — as a Republican.

One-time freelance reporter Shlomo Schorr posted to X recently that, according to the editor of The New Jersey Globe, David Wildstein, Stelter was seeking an elected position in Hunterdon County.

“Former CNN reporter Brian Stelter is seeking a seat on the Readington Township, New Jersey school board, @wildstein is reporting. The former host of Reliable Sources is one of six candidates interviewing to fill a vacant seat caused by the resignation of Christina Napoli,” wrote Schorr.

Reports indicated that the former host had been registered as a Republican since 2022 prompting some to suspect the affiliation was either a ruse or a result of a crowded field of Democratic Party contenders looking to fill the same spot.

The reasoning behind the alleged run didn’t need to be known for social media users to find the premise hilarious.

Stelter had boasted ahead of his 2022 CNN departure that his program was used in lesson plans around the world. “It’s part of journalism school curriculum. Teachers across the country, and in other countries outside the U.S., teachers use segments from this show all the time in classrooms, lessons, guiding and teaching the next generation.”

Meanwhile, he wasn’t alone in being a former CNN personality supposedly seeking a new position in elected office as Axios had reported that departed anchor John Avlon had officially launched his bid for Congress in New York’s 1st Congressional District this week.

“Right now, our democracy’s in danger,” the Democratic primary contender said in a launch video that wasted no time picking up on the party narrative.

Avlon had only recently left the network and his announcement was met with a statement from National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Savannah Viar that read, “We look forward to litigating this smug, liberal hack’s past.”

As Viar anticipated covering Avlon’s past, others were reminded of Stelter’s own experiences around students, particularly one college student who called him out during a conference on “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy.”

“You’ve all spoken extensively about Fox News being a purveyor of disinformation but CNN is right up there with them,” said then-freshman Christopher Phillips in spring 2022. He went on to add, “With mainstream corporate journalists becoming little more than apologists and cheerleaders for the regime, is it time to finally declare that the canon of journalistic ethics is dead or no longer operative?”

“All the mistakes of the mainstream media, and CNN in particular, seem to magically all go in one direction,” noted Phillips, “are we expected to believe that this is all just some sort of random coincidence or is there something else behind it?”

Stelter had infamously replied, “Too bad, time for lunch,” before claiming he would talk to the young man in detail about the issue after the conference.

Kevin Haggerty
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