Probably one of the more uplifting stories I’ve seen in recent days was the one I saw via my Substack feed from Brian Stelter. For the non-subscribers out there (and you should rectify that ASAP), THE NEW YORK TIMES’ Benjamin Mullin let them in on the secret shortly after Stelter released it himself:
Brian Stelter, a media reporter and pundit who left CNN two years ago amid differences with the network’s previous leadership, is returning to the company as its chief media analyst and writer of its “Reliable Sources” newsletter.
Mr. Stelter, 39, announced his return to CNN on Tuesday in the newsletter he founded, saying he was back at the network in a somewhat different capacity.
“I loved my old life as the anchor of a Sunday morning show but, to borrow some lingo from my video game blogger days, I finished that level of the game,” Mr. Stelter said. “Time for new levels, new challenges.”
When Stelter fronted the video version of RELIABLE SOURCES, for me it was appointment viewing that even took me away from football pre-games and the Sunday morning broadcast panel shows. Stelter engaged with me a remarkably accurate grasp on the facts and specifics of media companies’ shenanigans and was unafraid to call out those he saw as making mistakes. When the show first started in 2013, it was far less political in scope. He knew the names and the backgrounds of those who were making decisions around Hollywood, New York and Washington and would at least try to include them in his reporting. But as time and years wore on and one obese orange reality star blurred the lines between the three enough to ascend to the highest office in the land, Stelter’s role as ombudsman to his industry took on a more urgent and, of course, polarizing tone. Naturally, that pissed off his competition, so much so that even their reporting of Stelter’s return could not hide the still-seething resentment of his actual “truthing”. Here’s what FOX NEWS’ Joseph Wulfsohn tossed in to his Tuesday story:
Throughout much of his nine-year stint at CNN, Stelter was widely seen as an on-air favorite of (short-term CNN leader Chris) Licht’s predecessor Jeff Zucker, who turned the “most trusted name in news” network into an anti-Trump media organization.
Stelter carried out Zucker’s mission as host of the Sunday media-centric program “Reliable Sources,” which spent much of its on-air time attacking Donald Trump before, during and after his presidency. He was also fixated on criticizing conservative media while avoiding major controversies in the legacy media, often even defending his liberal colleagues at other outlets.
For years, Stelter was derided by conservatives as the media’s “janitor” as a result. As host of “Reliable Sources,” Stelter hyped Russiagate, fawned over Andrew Cuomo’s coronavirus response, and in Oct. 2020 called the Hunter Biden laptop story a “manufactured scandal” peddled by the “right-wing media machine.” He even called disgraced anti-Trump lawyer Michael Avenatti a “serious” presidential contender going into the 2020 election cycle.
He sure did. And when Licht was tasked by his John Malone-puppeted boss David Zaslav to appeal to a wider audience, he looked no further than Stelter’s salary to make a dramatic statement that he knew would help his personal chances at sticking around. But when Licht couldn’t keep his own views out of news cycles, he quickly became too toxic for Yosemite Zas to stomach, either. The fact that Stelter is getting a second chance while Licht remains “in between gigs” is karma personified.
But it took a friend and former Turner colleague of mine who shared the blog of yet another ex-CNNer, Chris Cillizza’s SO WHAT?, to articulate exactly why I’m particularly giddy about this situation.
On Tuesday, Brian announced that he was returning to CNN in the role of “Chief Media Analyst.” Of his return, he wrote: The media industry has matured, CNN has evolved, and I have changed a lot since I signed off two years ago.
On the most basic level, this makes me happy. Brian is a friend and he will make CNN, a place where I still have a ton of friends, better. This is a good thing for journalism. On a deeper level, I think there are some lessons to be learned from Brian’s arc over the past two years.
The biggest lesson is this: Being laid off — or even fired — is rarely about you.
The tendency when a company tells you that they don’t want you to work there anymore is to internalize it — to spend days, weeks and sometimes even months trying to figure out what you did wrong and how you could have fixed it before it led to your departure. I know this from personal experience. I spent months re-litigating my time at CNN, trying to understand where I had turned from “rising star” to “person on the chopping block.”
What I eventually came to realize was that it wasn’t about me. Not really. I was a name on an Excel spreadsheet. The company needed to cut costs. I made good money. It made smart business sense.
I’ve gone through that exact same Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning quarterbacking process on many occasions, certainly since Sony parted ways with me practically as soon as they learned doing so wouldn’t trigger a fatal relapse to the illness that nearly killed me while my superiors never once even e-mailed me to see if I was still alive. I went through a similar process with Turner when a management change saw me replaced with an Atlanta-based “sales expert” who just happened to be personal friends with the new boss and her husband. I went through it earlier still when FOX eliminated my position soon after they did the same with my boss, ostensibly to avoid paying a California tax surcharge for keeping a corporate office in the state.
I spent five wonderful and rewarding years with FOX that first time around. My feelings about my Roman star trajectory were virtually identical to what Cilizza expressed. But thanks to a series of ensuing opportunities, I got my own second chance with a different division of FOX eight years after my dismissal–one that didn’t even exist when my first tour of duty ended. This time, I lasted twice as long, made more than twice as much in salary and was given far greater responsibility.
It’s difficult these days for me to have such a positive perspective considering where today finds me. But Cillizza’s heartfelt confession and Stelter’s confident declaration did at least impact me enough to dredge up such warm fuzzy memories of better days. And at least the spark of hope that something else might still be lurking out there. As he concluded the blog our mutual colleague shared:
I never know — going into it — how long it’s going to take to find that spot (or how good a spot it’s going to be) but I am certain I will find something.That’s the job process. You never know when that spot is going to open up. Or where. You have to just keep driving around. But you need to know a spot will eventually open up. And you will be there to grab it. Brian grabbed his spot. And showed, in the process, that getting fired or laid off isn’t the end. It’s only a new beginning.
And as proof, it should be noted that the program RELIABLE SOURCES isn’t returning to CNN’s regular schedule. But he will appear on air, more regularly than he has when he resurfaced during 2023 in a move that already had the FOX folks bitching and moaning. I kinda suspect Stelter will be on set Tuesday night. I only wish he had been around last night.
Regardless of what medium he may choose to express himself in, I’ll be eagerly watching for Stelter’s slants going forward. And hoping I can get some more of my own opportunities to do so as well.
Until next time…