“Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter – screen grab via CNN.

As I wrote last week, CNN’s Brian Stelter was busy clutching pearls and feigning outrage after Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) tweeted out an inconvenient truth about how the press “are giddy with glee” when there is economic bad news under Trump, which has been the case over the last several weeks.

Understandably, Cruz didn’t seem to interested in responding to Stelter’s criticism of his remarks, because the Glenn Kessler tweets Cruz referenced proved his point on their own merits.

Fast forward to today, and it’s clear Stelter is still seething over what the Senator said, as was evidenced by his attempted dunk on him over a tweet Cruz retweeted that showed a picture of what looked like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) signing an executive order mandating social distancing while surrounded by people standing shoulder to shoulder.

This is the image, which was widely shared on social media by a lot of people, including Cruz:

@GovWhitmer so are you gonna pay th fine for you little gathering that goes against social distancing or is that just for us tax payer to get hit with? pic.twitter.com/j2OZTOK2Tu

— H3adl3ssCorpse (@kidhalogamer) April 9, 2020

As you can see, the photo in that tweet was taken from a video shown on TV from what appears to be a news broadcast. Keep that in mind as we go on.

Stelter tweeted out a screen grab of Cruz’s original tweet, with the comment “Why senators shouldn’t rush to dunk on others based on a too-good-to-be-true tweet. @TedCruz deleted his shot after @GovWhitmer corrected him”:

Why senators shouldn't rush to dunk on others based on a too-good-to-be-true tweet. @TedCruz deleted his shot after @GovWhitmer corrected him pic.twitter.com/n2SiLmnb4U

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) April 13, 2020

The only problem there is that the photo was not “too good to be true” It was an actual screen grab of a video clip used used by Detroit’s WXYZ. As it turns out, the video clip and chyron did not match. It was old footage from another signing ceremony used in their current reporting on Whitmer’s social distancing rules.

The network admitted their goof, which they apologized for:

We recognize the decision to use the video has caused confusion, and we have had talks with the entire team to be more careful about the video we use with stories in the future of this outbreak.

— WXYZ Detroit (@wxyzdetroit) April 13, 2020

But instead of criticizing the local ABC affiliate, which caused the confusion in the first place, Stelter – CNN’s chief media correspondent- took aim at Cruz. And the reason why was crystal clear, as Cruz pointed out:

I RT’ed a former LA Times reporter who had tweeted pics that mistakenly ran on the ABC local news broadcast. When I found out the story was erroneous, I deleted the tweet. Gosh, Brian, why does your tweet omit the MSM error that started it? Or does CNN only exist to attack GOP? https://t.co/ehvPHPMrGh

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 13, 2020

3/3 Your job title is literally “chief media correspondent” for CNN. And yet you ignore the MSM culpability. I simply believed their reporting was accurate. It’s almost as if your real job title is “chief of rapid response, DNC.”

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 13, 2020

In other words, Stelter’s attempted “gotcha” ended up being a very revealing self-own.

Oops!

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