Proudly ‘Fired’ Brian Stelter Speaks Out About CNN: Key Player in Network Ownership Said It ‘Should Be More Like Fox’
Former CNN host Brian Stelter discussed his high-profile firing at CNN last year on NewsNation’s Dan Abrams Live on Tuesday.
The former Reliable Sources host exited the company in August less than six months after Warner Bros. Discovery acquired the network. Stelter was one of several notable personalities ousted by new ownership.
Dan Abrams, who founded Mediaite, spoke with Stelter about Fox News’s settlement with Dominion Voting Systems earlier in the day before inquiring about his termination.
“They kind of pushed you out,” Abrams said.
“I’ve embraced the f-word,’ Dan,” Stelter replied. “Fired!”
“Why do you think you got fired?” Abrams asked.
“I don’t know,” came the reply.
“Really?” the host asked. “You really don’t know.”
“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.”
He went on to say these days CNN seems to be aiming to “lower the volume” and that he’s pulling for the network to succeed.
Abrams noted that CNN chief Chris Licht has been emphasizing news over opinion.
“Do you think you represented the kind of opinion – particularly from the left – that Chris Licht wanted to distance himself from?” Abrams inquired, adding he believes that’s why Stelter was canned.
“Well, I’m just gonna let you say it then,” he replied. “I think we were doing fantastic journalism at CNN for the CNN 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.”
He added Fox “enjoyed” targeting him.
Abrams asked if the attacks from Fox factored into the decision to fire him.
“That’s what I wonder,” Stelter responded. “But I don’t know.”
He added he’s “content not knowing” the reason.
Abrams pointed to comments Stelter made expressing concern on his old CNN show about billionaire John Malone, who is a large shareholder in Warner Bros. Discovery.
“I would like to see CNN evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with and actually have journalists, which would be unique and refreshing,” Malone said.
“Many CNN staffers found that to be offensive,” Stelter said on Reliable Sources in February 2022. “[Then-CEO] Jeff Zucker found that to be quite disturbing because he’s looking at that, thinking, what is Discovery’s key shareholder gonna do to CNN?”
Stelter said he doesn’t regret the comments.
“No, not at all,” he answered. “I think we were reporting what was going on. Malone was saying CNN should be more like Fox. And I think we see today more than ever before what Fox actually is.”
Watch above via NewsNation.
