When Brian Stelter signed on to CNN’s latest batch of “Reliable Sources” on August 21, the number of mainstream vehicles analyzing the increasingly confusing media industry shrank.
Stelter’s Farewell On the same day Washington Post media columnist Margaret Sullivan ended her run – she asked on-air luminaries like Carl Bernstein and Jeffrey Goldberg if the press was doing enough to cover topics ranging from disinformation to climate change. The main story of his watch was terrible: the cancellation of his show after three decades. “You’re going to have to hold CNN accountable,” Stelter told viewers in the final moments of the show, adding later, “The free world needs a reliable source.”
Why did CNN end a show that had been on its Sunday schedule since the early ’90s? Since the acquisition of the company formerly known as WarnerMedia, executives at the new parent company of Warner Bros. Discovery are keen to steer the popular news outlet to terrain that is less rocky. Under the leadership of former President Jeff Zucker, CNN anchors have been given the space to show their passion and express their opinions on hot news topics. New leader Chris Licht vowed to rein in that.
However, CNN is doing just that, and it is scrapping a program that was launched with the best of intentions. Bernard Kaleb first gave the show, followed by Howard Kurtz, and in 2013, Stelter, a former New York Times reporter who worked closely with the late media columnist David Carr. “This show was founded by Ted Turner and CNN leaders who have felt very deeply that media organizations have a responsibility to report on and evaluate the journalism profession,” Tom Johnson, former CNN CEO, said on Facebook over the weekend. “Are we accurate? Are we fair? Are we responsible?”
Keeping tabs on media is becoming increasingly difficult in the digital age. Media has become more dependent on algorithms, social media responses, and smartphone screens, making the task of holding news outlets accountable all the more difficult.
Sullivan is leaving the Washington Post for academia, and The New York Times has yet to replace its media columnist, Ben Smith, although there has been some rude speculation in recent weeks about who might be considered for the job.
“I recently wrote about the end of a number of media criticism forums, and there was really no common thread at all, from cancellation to retirement to death,” says Dan Kennedy, a former media critic for the now defunct Boston Phoenix magazine. He is currently Professor of Journalism in the School of Art, Media and Design at Northeastern University. “But I don’t have a feeling we’ll see alternatives to any of those outlets.”
CNN said it would continue to publish a “reliable sources” bulletin, launched by Stelter, under the direction of reporter Oliver Darcy. However, digital publishing is on a summer hiatus while it is being retooled. Other media critics — such as Jack Schaefer of Politico and Eric Wemble of The Washington Post — continue to hold out, while Kurtz hosts MediaBuzz on Fox News on Sundays.
In an age when media companies are becoming more concerned about their ability to appeal to the masses of people who once joined “M*A*S*H” and “Gunsmoke,” media chats may not get the attention of the least companies that might feature it on their schedules. Shows have a narrower appeal – the people who care most about what happens in the media are the people in the industry – and are not as directly relevant as the outbreak of war or a major national election. However, in recent weeks the song “Reliable” has won the most viewers on CNN’s Sunday schedule among 25-54-year-olds, the audience most favored by advertisers on news shows.
It’s no secret that Warner Bros. Discovery is under tremendous pressure to reduce debt and find cost savings. Earlier this year, CNN President Licht spoke about a revamped block of Sunday programming that will include a new show from Chris Wallace as well as a news magazine. Both can be seen as the kind of “excellent” programs that CNN sponsors might like.
But news departments have long provided a public service: informing viewers and helping them make critical decisions about the world around them. This doesn’t always make the cash register ring.
“I suppose in some ways we’re overwhelmed by media criticism today,” Kennedy says, referring to outlets like Twitter and Reddit. But he adds: “What we’re lacking are people who get paid in full to scrutinize the media, which I think is critical to democracy.”
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