CNN’s chief media correspondent, Brian Stelter, called on a rival network to ‘cancel’ one of its top prime-time commentators for expressing a controversial opinion.
In an op-ed that also happened to promote his new FOX News-bashing book, Stelter complained that FOX host Tucker Carlson had dared to speak his mind with impunity in response to recent race-riots in Kenosha, Wisc.
After a 17-year-old boy shot and killed two of the rioters in what is believed to have been self-defense, Carlson asked, “Are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder?”
His point more broadly called to task the state’s Democrat governor, Tony Evers, who—much like the governors of Washington and Oregon—initially declined federal support to maintain order amid the escalating tensions.
But Stelter claimed, without evidence, that Carlson was seeking to “justify the killing” through his condemnation of the leftist authorities.
“[I]f history is any guide, there will be no internal fallout as a result of his latest shocking statement,” Stelter griped.
Stelter has increasingly heeded the call of his own network’s executives to promote an alternative, Trump-bashing reality.
But in addition to following top boss Jeff Zucker‘s marching orders to push his personal vendetta against President Donald Trump over the airwaves, Stelter’s robust appetites for fame and fortune are now leading him to sell out his fellow journalists.
Carlson first rose to national prominence in the early 2000s as a CNN commentator and co-host of its bipartisan “Crossfire” before going on to co-found the Daily Caller and gravitating to FOX.
Stelter’s book Hoax—bizarrely labeled by the leftist New York Times as nonfiction—advances his conspiracy theories that Trump is colluding with the right-leaning, rival network.
It is not the first time Stelter’s ironic lack of self-awareness has been on full-display.
In fact, he was called out in 2018 by broadcast legend Ted Koppel, who suggested that CNN’s fixation on Trump was largely a ratings gimmick, flustering the portly pundit.
Even so, Stelter echoed the same claims about Carlson’s mutual understanding with FOX.
He dismissed the possibility that FOX executives’ decision to stand by Carlson in the face of frequent pressure campaigns and boycott attempts from the Left might have something to do with the network’s support for free speech.
“Carlson is the right-wing equivalent of must-see-TV,” Stelter insisted. “As a result, he has the backing of Fox Corporation CEO Lachlan Murdoch and a huge amount of autonomy.”
FOX executives offered him a straightforward response that directly refuted such claims during his book research.
But Stelter, in true sensationalist form, pretended that he had been privy to some secret acknowledgment of a shameful, ulterior motive: “‘We don’t hang talent out to dry,’ an executive told me in a moment of candor, ‘because once you cave to these lunatics, you won’t have any shows left.'”
Despite the executive’s statement, FOX has caved to several of the Left’s past boycott campaigns, forcing out—among others—former top executive Roger Ailes and former top host Bill O’Reilly, both of whom faced allegations of sexual harassment.
The network also has fired some of its lesser-known talent for making controversial comments. Recently, for instance, it released correspondent Trish Regan for saying that the coronavirus response had been over-hyped due to political motivations.
“We’ve reached a tipping point,” Regan said. “The chorus of hate being leveled at the president is nearing a crescendo as Democrats blame him, and only him, for a virus that originated halfway around the world. This is yet another attempt to impeach the president.”
Carlson also held one of his own top writers accountable last month for posting offensive comments under a pseudonym after he was outed by a CNN ‘investigation.’
