CNN’s Brian Stelter appeared a bit flummoxed after a college freshman confronted him over what the student described as CNN’s habit of pushing “disinformation” that “magically” benefits only one political party.
Readers can probably guess which political party the young man was referring to.
Stelter visited the University of Chicago on Thursday to participate in a Q&A forum titled “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy,” apparently with no sense of humility or self-awareness at all.
Freshman Christopher Phillips rose to address Stelter on his network’s numerous efforts to push ‘disinformation.’
“You’ve all spoken extensively about Fox News being a purveyor of disinformation, but CNN is right up there with them,” Phillips opened.
“They push the Russian collusion hoax, they push the Jussie Smollett hoax, they smeared Justice Kavanaugh as a rapist, and they also smeared Nick Sandmann as a white supremacist. And yes, they dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop affair as pure Russian disinformation,” Phillips accused CNN.
“With mainstream corporate journalists becoming little more than apologists and cheerleaders for the regime, is it time to finally declare that the canon of journalistic ethics is dead or no longer operative?”
Hello? FBI? I’d like to report a murder!
Watch the incredible moment:
Brian Stelter just got called tf out by a college freshman for every major hoax CNN has pushed.
His response was “that’s a popular right-wing narrative.”
pic.twitter.com/bOvE9wDiAD— Greg Price (@greg_price11) April 7, 2022
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Brian Stelter Laid Out by College Student
Phillips continued with the barrage, calling out not just Brian Stelter and CNN, but the mainstream media as a whole.
“All the mistakes of the mainstream media, in particular, seem to magically all go in one direction,” he charged. “Are we expected to believe that this is all just some sort of random coincidence or is there something else behind it?”
Stelter responded with a nervous joke: “It’s too bad. It’s time for lunch.”
When that didn’t work, obviously, Stelter accused the college freshman of pushing “a popular right-wing narrative about CNN.”
The narrative, right-wing or otherwise, is a narrative because it is true. CNN did bury the Hunter Biden laptop story while pushing the thoroughly debunked Steele dossier for years.
The network settled a lawsuit with Nick Sandmann.
CNN pic.twitter.com/WGPusJgd5U
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) March 18, 2022
That’s not a right-wing conspiracy.
Here is Stelter himself pushing disinformation about Hunter Biden’s laptop.
“This is a classic example of the right-wing media machine,” @brianstelter says. “Fox and Trump have this in common: They want you to stay mad and stay tuned.” pic.twitter.com/HNoaTF6IQt
— Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) October 18, 2020
“For all we know, these emails were made up, or maybe some are real and some are fakes, we don’t know,” Stelter told his viewers at the time. “But we do know that this is a classic example of the right-wing media machine.”
Here we are, nearly 18 months later, and the truth has since come out. Meaning that the clip of Stelter above is a ‘classic example of the left-wing media machine.’
Other facts about CNN spreading misinformation to benefit Democrats to the detriment of the Republican Party:
- One of the biggest purveyors of the Russia collusion hoax for years.
- Called out for promoting a report that the Biden administration was left with no plan by the Trump administration to roll out COVID vaccines and they were being forced to ‘start from scratch.’
- Agreed to a settlement with Covington Catholic student Nicholas Sandmann after various entities at the network portrayed him as an aggressive, Trump-supporting racist when he was involved in a viral interaction with a Native American man.
- Helped spread the Jussie Smollett racial hate crime hoax which was also designed to denigrate Trump supporters.
- In 2017, three journalists at the network were forced to resign after CNN published and ultimately retracted a story linking a Trump transition team member to the Russia-related investigations.
Phillips’ question contains merit and can’t be so easily dismissed with a ‘that’s just Fox News talking points’ response.
Every premise in this question to @brianstelter about the disinformation CNN spouts is unquestionably true — indeed, CNN led the way in lying to the country that the Biden emails were “Russian disinformation” — but since CNN allows no dissent, he thinks he can mock it away: https://t.co/slSgD72ez5
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 7, 2022
RELATED: CNN’s Brian Stelter Visits New York Classroom Where School Kids Are Learning About Misinformation
Stelter Continues to Stumble
In a bizarre pivot, Stelter steered the conversation to how CNN showed support for Fox News reporter Benjamin Hall who was seriously wounded while working in Ukraine.
“But when Benjamin Hall, the Fox correspondent was wounded in Ukraine, the news crews at CNN and The New York Times stopped what they were doing and they tried to help,” Stelter said.
“They tried to help him get out of the country, they tried to find the dead crew members,” he continued. “That’s what news outlets do.”
News outlets helping out during an emergency doesn’t give them cover for pushing fake news narratives outside of that emergency. What is Stelter even talking about?
Thank you for that insightful response that addresses absolutely none of what Phillips had asked about.
Threw out my plans for the journalism class I taught today. Instead discussed the brave and important work done this week by the student journalists at @ThinkerChicago, who eviscerated the regime’s current “disinformation” narrative and the corrupt propagandists pushing it. KUDOS
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 7, 2022
Stelter went on to suggest that he couldn’t be biased in favor of the Biden administration because the last time he talked to someone involved with the White House he yelled at them.
“The last time I spoke with a Biden aide, we yelled at each other,” he claimed. “So that’s the reality of the news business that people don’t see, that people don’t hear.”
thank you @brianstelter for taking my question and having a conversation with me afterwards, but i am STILL wondering: if CNN is truly unbiased, WHY is every mistake they make an overstep in favor of democrats and against republicans?? https://t.co/ofx0ghtrfD
— chris phillips ??? (@chrispthetruth) April 7, 2022
And this isn’t the first time Stelter has served as a punching bag for people who know he’s full of something.
Joe Rogan destroys CNN’s Brian Stelter: “You’re supposed to be a journalist!” https://t.co/a4cdnDYDwc pic.twitter.com/mRGm55AGyw
— Not the Bee (@Not_the_Bee) June 18, 2021
Joe Rogan accused him of being a sycophant of the White House following a slobbering interview with Press Secretary Jan Psaki: “Hey motherf***er, you’re supposed to be a journalist.”
Narrator: He’s not a journalist.
Stelter also famously served as a punching bag for legendary journalist Ted Koppel who accurately predicted CNN’s “ratings would be in the toilet without Donald Trump.”
Video: To consternation of @BrianStelter, Ted Koppel contended during 10/1 Kalb Report @PressClubDC: “You would be lost without @realDonaldTrump. CNN’s ratings would be in the toilet without Trump.” Stelter: “Ted, you know that’s not true. You’re playing for laughs.” #NPCLive pic.twitter.com/XGZl9yNzqh
— Brent Baker ?? (@BrentHBaker) October 3, 2018
Despite correctly being called out by this college student for spreading disinformation, Brian Stelter recently paid a visit to a New York classroom to help teach school kids how to spot fake news.
CNN’s @brianstelter visits a classroom in New York where students are learning how to spot and avoid being misled by misinformation. pic.twitter.com/i7mxOsamgX
— Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) January 23, 2022
CNN also announced that they are hiring a team that will be dedicated to covering ‘misinformation.’
CNN covering CNN will surely make for terrific ratings.