Brian Stelter, Glenn Greenwald Get Into Fiery Twitter Feud: ‘Your Vitriol Can’t Hide Your Ignorance’
Chief CNN media correspondent and host of Reliable Sources Brian Stelter got into a war of words on Twitter with Intercept co-founder Glenn Greenwald on Wednesday, after Stelter linked to a Daily Beast story that asked whether Greenwald is the “new master” of right-wing media.
The Intercept EIC @betsyreed2 talking about Intercept founding co-founder, now critic, @ggreenwald: “He’s become a practitioner of manufactured controversy in the service of the hard right in this country.” https://t.co/qyOVegCn9C
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 2, 2021
“The Intercept EIC @betsyreed2 talking about Intercept founding co-founder, now critic, @ggreenwald: ‘He’s become a practitioner of manufactured controversy in the service of the hard right in this country,’” Stelter wrote shortly before 5 p.m.
Within minutes, Greenwald – who has been highly critical of his former media home (and other things) since his dramatic departure in October – replied to Stelter.
The only ones with a smaller audience than CNN is the Intercept. This won’t help, Brian. https://t.co/oy6RQFodCT
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 2, 2021
“The only ones with a smaller audience than CNN is the Intercept. This won’t help, Brian,” Greenwald replied – and he didn’t stop there.
If I were @brianstelter and hosted a weekend show that has fewer viewers than the average Manhattan street — all while watching my network collapse — I’d guess I’d also be doing things like tweeting random insults about me from obscure Intercept editors. Have to numb the pain.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 2, 2021
“If I were @brianstelter and hosted a weekend show that has fewer viewers than the average Manhattan street – all while watching my network collapse – I’d guess I’d also be doing things like tweeting random insults about me from obscure Intercept editors. Have to numb the pain,” Greenwald posted.
(While Mediaite is unable to fact-check whether Reliable Sources really does have fewer viewers than the “average Manhattan street,” CNN’s ratings have declined significantly since reaching historic post-election highs, while MSNBC and Fox News have seen less drastic viewership drop-off.)
Stelter responded, and the volley of insults continued.
You know very little about television ratings. @ReliableSources had more than 900,000 viewers via TV last Sunday, according to Nielsen, and an even greater total when adding up online views. So don’t worry about my weekend show.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 2, 2021
They’re all captive viewers in nursing homes, which is fine: they need to be entertained, too. But your network is a collapsing failure because you don’t have Trump to talk about any more – he saved all your jobs, and you know that. I mean this is humiliating: pic.twitter.com/ubXmVlQTdf
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 2, 2021
Your vitriol can’t hide your ignorance about the TV business. Ratings rise and fall in cable news. It’s been this way for decades. It’s normal. Only crazed partisans claim otherwise.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 2, 2021
LOL. OK, whatever you need to tell yourself. Your DNC network can’t even get 1 million overall to watch in prime-time. Here are the well-known crazed partisans of the Washington Post laying bare what a disaster your network faces:https://t.co/k0FyTBznuL pic.twitter.com/0zQgsnqmGR
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 2, 2021
At this point, the Insult Olympics appear to have paused, as Stelter had not yet responded to this tweet (at least, not at the time of publication of this story).
But seeing as neither Greenwald nor Stelter have been particularly shy about engaging in Twitter feuds, this fight may not yet be over. Stay tuned.
