How did we get to this stage of a media morass? Brian Stelter displays it all in a one-man show.

Brian Stelter at CNN is supposed to be one person who monitors the press and holds it accountable while reporting on the actions in the media industry. What he does in actuality is obsessively focus on Fox News, all while excusing the blatant flaws and errors perpetrated by the journalism complex in this country, specifically his own network.

The arrival of the Mueller report this morning has Brian acting in a rather imbalanced fashion. The man is at once both clearly giddy over the release, and frantic to working on framing any details in the most positive fashion for the press and his network.

Brian began his Mueller Day in this fashion:

My humble, naive hope for today:

That everyone pays attention to what the Mueller report actually says, not what partisans SAY it says…https://t.co/GRUnG6JdnB

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 18, 2019

The level of delusion at play is remarkably high. The past two-plus years have been about nothing but partisan coverage of the investigation with barely any focus on actual evidence of wrongdoing. Even as Brian called for calm and sober coverage his own network defied his plea. CNN convened a panel of over half a dozen pundits to speculate and theorize on the report that none of them had yet to see.

It was with complete obliviousness that Stelter also retweeted this piece from Harvard’s Nieman Lab.

Something to keep in mind when the Mueller report hits: https://t.co/B7xDTs9XFr

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 18, 2019

Considering his network is the biggest practitioner of misinformation, to the extent it could be considered its mission statement, this tweet almost sounds like he is bragging.

Hilariously last night Stelter unintentionally displayed the blind spot many in the press have had regarding this Mueller process — aided by his own myopia regarding Fox News. The press has displayed a glaring lack of objectivity on this investigation, operating from the perspective that collusion was a given. Stelter showed this in grand fashion.

In responding to a segment that Sean Hannity had on his show last night Stelter mocked the Fox host for a piece of news delivered. Hannity declared on his program that he spoke with numerous sources who informed him there would be a minimal amount of redactions in the released report. Brian was less than impressed, saying, Sean Hannity has sources! And he says they’re “telling us tonight” that the Mueller report will have “minimal redactions.

So the question is this: Is Stelter mocking Hannity over the content here, or is he mocking his use of sources for said content? The reason for this line of questioning is that in his morning newsletter from Reliable Sources Stelter provides the exact same information that Hannity reported, and it was attributed to the same origin — “sources”.

A reporter from his own network says the EXACT – SAME – THING that Hannity detailed the night before, and it becomes a golden news item. The obliviousness behind this is remarkable.

Deeper in the letter Brian gives us a window into his private life. He settled in with some dinner and watched the Sean Hannity broadcast. Brian had critical words (of course) over Sean’s coverage, culminating with this lecturing summation. “Don’t underestimate the power of the twisted story he’s telling. Untold millions of people buy it. Here’s another example of the pro-Trump media in action…

It seems to a pragmatic thinker that if you criticize someone over a detail and its origins, and then turn around and provide that exact same detail as news while giving even less sourcing than that of which you criticized, then you are the one who is twisting the story. Of course, in Stelter’s stilted industry view, information is not judged on facts and accuracy but instead on from where it derives.

A CNN reporter’s version is gospel, but if the identical report is made on Fox it becomes worthy of journalistic derision. Stelter manages to be the avatar who typifies all of the media dysfunction over the past few years. The best is that the media watchdog fails to see this himself.

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