On Sunday, CNN’s resident media hall monitor and lead Joe Biden apologist Brian Stelter brought on “Yahoo!” White House correspondent Brittany Shepherd to give her “assessment” of the “[Jen] Psaki era” of White House press briefings so far.
Not surprisingly, Shepherd’s take on Psaki pretty much mirrored Stelter’s “how refreshing” praise given to Psaki barely a week into her time as Biden’s lead spokesperson.
“Well, Brian, it’s been really refreshing to have briefings every day and to even know who the senior officials talking to Biden are,” she stated. “We were not getting that in any of the Trump years, especially in those waning days of the McEnany briefings.” Shepherd’s journalistic assessment also included comparing Psaki and McEnany by likening the latter to a “really bad ex-boyfriend”:
I do kind of put it towards like having a really bad ex-boyfriend. We were getting essentially abused by Kayleigh for so long, or at least she was calling us fake news and inciting her followers and followers of the president to not only harass us online, but obviously go to deadly ends for some people with death threats.
Not surprisingly, Stelter didn’t bother to push back on any of this because it’s fashionable in Democrat and media circles to, without evidence, accuse Republicans of inciting people to make threats or commit harm on someone. Not only that, but Stelter has shared similar biased viewpoints on McEnany on past episodes of his program.
Here’s the clip from Sunday’s “Reliable Sources” for those who missed it:
“We were getting essentially abused by Kayleigh for so long, or at least she was calling us fake news.”
Yahoo! correspondent @brittanys calls @JRPsaki‘s press briefings “refreshing,” and compares @kayleighmcenany‘s tenure to “having a really bad ex-boyfriend.” pic.twitter.com/5v5quk6QXr
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 7, 2021
Stelter’s failure to question Shepherd’s claims and instead nod along as she made them infuriated people who are fed up with him pretending to be an objective journalist and neutral observer of the goings-on in the media:
You see, @brianstelter is just an unbiased media anchor, and @brittanys is just an unbiased news reporter.
No one, including Donald Trump has done more to damage press credibility in this country than @brianstelter, not a single person in this country can compete with him. https://t.co/kSkdlsO7ZG
— Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) February 7, 2021
Reagan Battalion’s sharp criticism did not sit well with Stelter, who went from being a champion defender of the media to boiling down his journalism role as merely having a one hour program one day a week and nothing more:
I have a one hour show on the weekends. Check yourself before you wreck yourself.
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 7, 2021
Except it’s Stelter who may want to “check himself” (he wrecked himself long ago). As readers of this site know from our prior reporting, Stelter spends far more than one hour a week hosting a show about the state of journalism and the role it plays in politics:
You’re also on Twitter 24-7. Stop acting like your only contribution to journalism is one hour a week. https://t.co/0I0bQ3WC1B
— Sister Toldjah, VP of BS Detection 😁 (@sistertoldjah) February 8, 2021
From the guy who let a guest claim Trump killed more people than Hitler, Mao, and Stalin combined. He also let a guest claim McEnany press briefings had “deadly ends” for some in the press. “Facts first.”
What a 🤡 https://t.co/1R1UbddNMW— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 8, 2021
Stelter’s ridiculous response to the accusation he’d done a serious disservice to journalism essentially proved the point, although in fairness I will concede that he’s not the only one who has done great damage to press credibility over the years.
In addition to his liberal bias, the problem with Stelter is that when he’s confronted with his actions or statements, he can’t defend himself. Instead, he either attacks the person arguing the point, argues against a point that was never made (strawman), or tries to minimize the part he’s played in people not trusting the media. This only increases the distrust.
His denial that he’s played a big role in causing faith and trust in media to erode is not unique to Stelter, but it’s more notable and newsworthy because of the “gatekeeper” position he holds. You don’t get to portray yourself as a staunch firefighter for journalists, undercut your arguments daily by displaying an obvious left-wing bias, and then proclaim “not me!” when the chickens start coming home to roost.
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