Brian Stelter

"Reliable Sources" host Brian Stelter exited CNN on Sunday with about accountability: "It's not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy."

It's not partisan to stand up to demagogues," he said. "I know it's not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue. "Will CNN have the courage to do that?"

Brian Stelter signed off from CNN on Sunday with the final edition of Reliable Sources, telling viewers that "CNN must remain strong," while his guests ...

We need to be free to call out when someone breaks the law, when someone breaks norms, when someone introduces prejudice and stereotypes into the public debate.” They do need free and fearless exploration, even when you have to look hard at a political party, or look hard at a political candidate and say this person is breaking the law or breaking norms. After thanking his family and the network staff and executives, told viewers, “This show is going away but there’s going to be so many more. The hour was devoted to the theme of change in the media, but some of the discussion was seemingly directed at Warner Bros. I hope what we’re not going to see CNN do is institute some sort of false equivalence, where the extremism of one party is balanced with the regular dysfunction of another party. You have to be willing to lose friends.” Malone’s desire for a more centrist network, for instance, may bring neutral coverage, but it’s also the type of “both sides” journalism insufficient in an era of rampant misinformation. He opened by noting that Reliable Sources was one of CNN’s the highest rated weekend shows and that it “punched above its weight for so many years. In an email to The New York Times, Malone denied that he influenced the decision, while the network said that the change was motivated by a desire to program a show for a broader audience, rather than a show focused on the media itself. But from the start of the show, Stelter made the case for Reliable Sources and its 30-year existence. “It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues. “I know it’s not partisan to stand up for decency and democracy and dialogue,” Stelter said at the end of the show.

Stelter's low-rated “Reliable Sources” was canceled Thursday, marking the end of CNN's longest running show.

I wish him all the best on his new venture,” he said. “I really appreciate all that Brian has done to build the media beat for CNN. “It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues,” he said.

One name, aside from Trump's, loomed especially large in reporting on Stelter's exit: that of John Malone, a libertarian and key Warner Bros. Discovery ...

They [have now expressed a lack of confidence in the magazine’s management](https://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/la-sdj-de-paris-match-vote-une-motion-de-defiance-apres-le-depart-de-bruno-jeudy-20220821). [about coverage of climate disasters in the Pacific region](https://www.cjr.org/covering_climate_now/samoa-pacific-islands-climate-change.php). [Agence France-Presse reports](https://www.lemonde.fr/actualite-medias/article/2022/08/18/le-journaliste-bruno-jeudy-quitte-paris-match-un-mois-apres-une-une-controversee_6138392_3236.html?xtor=EPR-32280629-%5ba-la-une%5d-20220819-%5bzone_edito_2_titre_3%5d&M_BT=46709384160081), after he pushed back on the decision of the publication’s owners to put Robert Sarah, an ultraconservative cardinal, on its cover. On Friday, a French government spokesperson [said that the country’s recent withdrawal of an anti-jihadist army mission based in Mali would not affect its efforts to free Dubois](https://www.france24.com/en/africa/20220821-france-committed-to-securing-olivier-dubois-release-500-days-after-mali-abduction). [experts have questioned](https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/08/21/world/ukraine-russia-news-war/daria-dugina-putin-ally-killed?smid=url-share)the extent of Dugin’s influence with Vladimir Putin). (CJR’s Paroma Soni [wrote in April about press threats in Mexico](https://www.cjr.org/special_report/journalism-mexico-margarito-martinez-lourdes-maldonado.php).) [on the US-Mexico border](https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/biden_press_freedom_israel_saudi.php). [she published her final column and issued a warning to the press](https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/08/21/margaret-sullivan-last-column-trump-2024-media/?pwapi_token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWJpZCI6IjIyNzQyMTIiLCJyZWFzb24iOiJnaWZ0IiwibmJmIjoxNjYxMDgxMzU4LCJpc3MiOiJzdWJzY3JpcHRpb25zIiwiZXhwIjoxNjYyMjkwOTU4LCJpYXQiOjE2NjEwODEzNTgsImp0aSI6IjM4MjJhZTU1LWEwNTMtNDJkYS04MzEyLWNkMDVmZTIwNDI4MSIsInVybCI6Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9tZWRpYS8yMDIyLzA4LzIxL21hcmdhcmV0LXN1bGxpdmFuLWxhc3QtY29sdW1uLXRydW1wLTIwMjQtbWVkaWEvIn0.PMi8RvEAFFgOmeLyw64iNtZz1A1yMU92CRAodVeRl3U)as it prepares to cover the 2024 election. Dugina “followed in her father’s footsteps as a commentator who combined hawkish, imperialist views with jargon-laden political philosophy,” Anton Troianovski [writes for the Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/21/world/europe/daria-dugina-russia-politics.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare), with the US and the UK sanctioning her for pushing disinformation about the war in Russia’s media. “If I watched CNN via Fox News, I would hate CNN, too.”) Malone denied any direct involvement in Stelter’s ouster—though he also volunteered, [to the New York Times’s Benjamin Mullin](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/business/media/cnn-brian-stelter-reliable-sources.html), that he wants “the ‘news’ portion of CNN to be more centrist.” A source told Deadline’s Dominic Patten and Ted Johnson [that even if Malone didn’t order Stelter’s ouster](https://deadline.com/2022/08/cnn-firings-brian-stelter-chris-licht-john-malone-warner-bros-discovery-1235096292/), “it sure represents his thinking.” [the context](https://www.cjr.org/the_media_today/chris_licht_cnn_partisanship.php) and manner in which it has rolled out have at least allowed for the impression that it’s a sop to those who view holding Trump strongly accountable as too close to a form of partisanship that has no place in balanced journalism. “I don’t want to waste a show, I don’t want to waste a newsletter edition, I don’t want to waste a day.”