(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) CNN’s Brian Stelter said Sunday that fear about billionaire Elon Musk buying MSNBC and making the cable news network favorable to President-elect Donald Trump is on the rise.
After Comcast announced its plans to separate NBC News from MSNBC by spinning off the Trump-bashing network into a new company, Musk entertained X users Friday by teasing his potential acquisition of struggling MSNBC.
The most entertaining outcome, especially if ironic, is most likely 😂 https://t.co/YX2EznXfoF
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 22, 2024
Stelter speculated that Musk’s posts about a potential MSNBC buyout were attempts at trolling the Left.
However, Stelter and the CNN anchor did note Musk questioned how much MSNBC cost, harking back to the casual interaction that catapulted his acquisition of Twitter, rebranded as X.
“It seems he’s just trying to troll, Comcast is not making MSNBC up for sale right now, but maybe something will change in a few years,” Stelter said. “But those tweets, those posts from Musk, those memes that he’s posting, it just speaks to his power, his center of power throughout this incoming administration.”
Some MSNBC insiders are worried about Musk buying the network, Stelter revealed.
“Some inside MSNBC are taking Musk’s comments seriously, whether he’s trolling or not,” he told the CNN anchor.
CNN’s Brian Stelter said it would be “pretty ironic” if Elon Musk buys MSNBC and makes it “friendly” to Trump. pic.twitter.com/geHB0UQH5X
— Julianna Frieman (@JuliannaFrieman) November 25, 2024
Stelter compared a potential buyout of MSNBC by Musk to countries that have seen “democratic backslide” commandeering the media.
“An ally of the leader like Musk comes in and buys a media outlet that is viewed as oppositional, and then he turns the content and makes it more friendly to the person in power,” he said. “That has happened before in other countries. That’s part of the concern, even if Elon Musk is just joking. That’s part of the concern here when it comes to MSNBC.”
Comcast’s move to spin off MSNBC will take approximately one year to complete, according to Stelter. He reiterated that an immediate sale of MSNBC is not planned.
“But the idea that Musk talks about it. He likes to say, ‘The most ironic outcome is the most likely.’ And in this case, it would be pretty ironic if he controlled MSNBC,” Stelter said.
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and The American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
