Brian Stelter has returned to CNN, where he is chief media analyst and lead author of the Reliable Sources newsletter, which he founded in 2015. Stelter joined CNN in late 2013 as senior media correspondent after a 6½-year run as media reporter at The New York Times. He hosted Reliable Sources on Sunday mornings, the show focusing on how the media covers the major stories, and departed CNN after the program was canceled in 2022.

Oliver Darcy was the lead author on the Reliable Sources newsletter and left CNN in August. 

Stelter had launched TVNewser in 2004 as a student at Towson University. He has been a Walter Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard University since CNN let him go. 

Stelter said the Reliable Sources newsletter relaunches Monday, September 9. 

“This is not going to be a Back to the Future remake,” he said in the newsletter September 3 . “The media industry has matured, CNN has evolved, and I have changed a lot since I signed off two years ago. I loved my old life as the anchor of a Sunday-morning show but, to borrow some lingo from my video-game blogger days, I finished that level of the game. Time for new levels, new challenges.”

Stelter said his new role will see him on air, developing digital content and helming the newsletter. “It will be different, because I am different,” he said. 

Appearing on MSNBC's All In With Chris Hayes Wednesday to promote his new book, the Fox News tome Network of Lies, former CNN and New York Times media business reporter Brian Stelter said “there is a significant amount of evidence” that former president Donald Trump worked “behind the scenes” to “punish AT&T for owning CNN.” 

You can see Stelter’s appearance here:

In October 2016, just prior to Trump's election victory over Hillary Clinton, AT&T announced an $85 billion deal to acquire CNN parent company Time Warner Inc. The telecom was subsequently tied up in court for several years by Trump’s Department of Justice, trying to get the deal approved. This was despite AT&T offering the Trump administration strong support for policy goals including the big 2017 corporate tax break.

“Before Election Day 2016, Donald Trump said on the campaign trail that he would try to stop the deal from happening,” Stelter told Hayes. “And then, once the deal was progressing through the process, the Trump DOJ tried to block it … went to federal court. There was a giant lawsuit, [which] delayed the deal by more than a year. AT&T stood up to the president, stood up to the DOJ. They won in court, and the merger happened. But at great cost. It delayed AT&T’s battle against Netflix in the Streaming Wars.”

Hayes responded by recalling a 2019 article written by Jane Mayer in The New Yorker, which quoted Trump as saying, “I want that deal blocked.”

Stelter confirmed Mayer’s report, adding that Trump at the time subsequently called Fox chief Rupert Murdoch and convinced him to approach then AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson about buying CNN. 

“He says, ’Hey, want to get CNN off your back?’ which I interpreted at the time was a favor to Trump to try to take CNN and put it into cozy Trump hands,” Stelter said. 

The allegations of Trump plying fascist control of the free press with regard to CNN came as the indicted former president, seeking reelection next year, took to his preferred social media platform, to — once again — threaten Comcast for its ownership of MSNBC.

Also read: Trump Threatens To Investigate Comcast for ‘Treason’ If Reelected

“Brian Roberts, its Chairman and CEO, is a slimeball who has been able to get away with these constant attacks for years,” Trump said in a Wednesday Truth Social post. “It is the world’s biggest political contribution to the Radical Left Democrats who, by the way, are destroying our Country. Our so-called ‘government’ should come down hard on them and make them pay for their illegal political activity.”

Noting that Trump “misunderstands the difference between broadcast and cable,” Hayes urged viewers to take the former president's threats seriously.

“These attacks are not new territory for Trump," Hayes said "It’s easy to get bored with his whining. I certainly am. But he’s telling you what he wants to do. It’s a man who wants to take power back telling you what his policy on news organizations he doesn’t like is. He is very clear with his intent: ‘Our so called government should come down on them hard and make them pay for their illegal political activity.'”

While the AT&T-Time Warner merger ultimately went through, Stelter warned that Trump could use promises like these to influence voters and ultimately obstruct democracy.

Noting Turkey's pervasive media censorship as an example, Stelter added, “You can imagine the way Trump could try to turn the screws. It’s not just Comcast … It’s a warning about what he will do if he regains power … That’s why I think it's more notable than when he tried to punish AT&T, or when he was in power and tried to punish Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. He used to Tweet, 'Boycott AT&T’ and nobody would care. The stock would go up that day. This time, it’s a campaign promise to his voters.”

Brian Stelter will depart CNN following the cancellation of the long-running show he's hosted for the past nine years, Reliable Sources, the network confirmed. 

"It was a rare privilege to lead a weekly show focused on the press at a time when it has never been more consequential," Stelter said in a statement. He said he'd say more on Sunday when CNN runs the final episode of Reliable Sources. 

"Stelter came to CNN from the New York Times as the nation's top media reporter. He departs CNN an impeccable broadcaster," Amy Entelis, CNN's executive VP for talent and content development, also in a statement. "We are proud of what Brian and his team accomplished over the years, and we're confident their impact and influence will long outlive the show."

CNN's chief media correspondent joined the cable news network in December 2013. His exit marks one of the bigger transformative moves so far by new CNN chief Chris Licht, who under the direction of new CNN corporate overlord Warner Bros. Discovery, is attempting to reorient viewer perception of the channel on the political spectrum. 

With the tribal world of cable news personalities, Stelter had become positioned decidedly on the left, especially after his frequent pointed criticisms of former president Donald Trump's media strategies. 

Liberty Global mogul John Malone, a key WBD stakeholder through his interest in Discovery, has publicly called for a move for CNN to the perceptive center. 

Of course, Reliable Sources linear ratings -- which bottomed out to their lowest levels since September 2019 recently -- undoubtedly factored into Licht's decision. 

Stelter's exit follows the departure of Jeffrey Toobin, who left CNN last week after 20 years as chief legal analyst. 

Billing it as "revealing" new details, CNN used its Reliable Sources Sunday show, which focuses on "how the news gets made," to promote how CNN plans to make some news of its own with the March 29 launch of CNN Plus, its subscription supported streaming service.

Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter, who is hosting an online version of Reliable Sources, began by labeling his network "an icon of the cable and satellite age," then said that there was currently no subscription TV news streaming service currently in the U.S.

Enter CNN, whose launch of the streaming service was "a big deal" because it was the biggest bet any company has made in the news streaming world."

As the screen graphic trumpeted "The Dawn of a New Streaming Era with Launch of CNN+," Stelter said the company had hired hundreds of new staffers and already created dozens of new shows. He said it was "kind of like Netflix and HBO Max" (the latter co-owned with CNN) in that subscribers get a library of TV shows and films. But he said it was different in that you also got live news and interactive interviews.

Stelter said as he worked on his show for the service (daily at 11 a.m. on CNN Plus), he had enjoyed unlearning things he had done on TV. For example, he said, "you don't say good morning on streaming because somebody might watch an hour later in the afternoon."

By way of introducing the channel's top brass--Andrew Morse, head of CNN Plus, and Alex MacCallum, head of product--for a segment that had intimations of infomercial "news interviews," Stelter said he had some questions about what the value proposition of the streaming service was.

MacCallum said it was "to leverage CNN's trust and credibility and incredible journalistic expertise to bring new forms of storytelling to customers." She said that meant giving people what they want to watch, where and when they want to watch it; live programming, with eight new shows every day--and to empower users through interactive opportunities like Interview Club. The show then aired a promo for Interview Club.

Morse said the combination of live programming, "a massive on demand library," and interactivity were what made the channel "truly unique," that and the CNN brand, though arguably that has taken a bit of a hit, at least in media circles, with the high-profile exit of former chief Jeff Zucker and the firing of Chris Cuomo.

Stelter asked why the cable feed of CNN would not also be offered on CNN Plus, which would make it easier to transition from traditional cable to an over-the-top service down the line. Morse said the relationships the channel has with cable providers are important, as it was with the audience watching the cable channel. He said that was why they tried to make the channel distinctive and complementary,  which meant there would be a lot of interplay between the channel and CNN+, he said.

Stelter asked about the streaming "competitive marketplace," citing Fox Nation, Fox's streaming news service, though Stelter called that "a lot of entertainment programming," and ABC, CBS, NBC, which all had "free, ad-supported streaming services," and asked why CNN+ was doing something different.

Morse suggested it was because CNN brought a different set of assets as a global news operation unlike anyone else with the possible exception of the BBC. As to being subscription-driven, Morse said CNN Plus should be compared to the New York Times, which has been reworded for its digital transformation in the subscription department, the metric that will determine CNN Plus's ultimate success.

MacCallum said that, yes, the number of subscriptions and renewals will be how they measure success.

In keeping with the infomercial tone, Stelter asked how much the service would be: "$5.99," said MacCallum," but quickly added: "But we have an offer for the first four weeks of half off for life."

Stelter followed with a clarification: "$3 bucks for as long as I stay a member?" MacCallum said "50% off for as long as you stay a member," which suggests if the regular price goes up, the half-off will be of that higher price, which would essentially be an inflation clause. ■

Kent Gibbons and Michael Malone talk about fall schedules, which are slowly unfurling, Showtime's The Comey Rule, HBO's Agents of Chaos, and more.

Kent Gibbons and Michael Malone talk about Fargo's return to the FX Schedule; Brian Stelter's book, which looks at President Trump and Fox News; and convention coverage.

The Brian Stelter book Hoax: Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth is out Aug. 25. Stelter is chief media correspondent at CNN and anchor on Reliable Sources. 

Hoax is a scorching book that looks at Fox News’ role in U.S. policy during Donald Trump’s presidency. CNN and Fox News of course are bitter rivals, which has to be kept in mind while reading Hoax. Stelter notes that he has written the book not as a media critic, but as a concerned citizen. 

“What you’ll get in these pages is not the Stelter in a navy blue blazer that you see on CNN,” he writes. “I’m writing this book as a citizen; as an advocate for factual journalism; and as a new dad who thinks about what kind of world my children are going to inherit. This story is about a rot at the core of our politics. It’s about an ongoing attack on the very idea of a free and fair press. It’s about the difference between news and propaganda. It’s about the difference between state media and the fourth estate. So excuse me if I swear a little--but I am alarmed, and you should be too.”

The book has had a quick turnaround, Stelter covering in depth Trump’s handling of Covid, and Fox News’ reporting on the topic. “No one will ever be able to say, with absolute certainty, how many Fox News devotees died from the virus,” writes Stelter. “And it is impossible to know how much an individual’s choices are influenced by the TV hosts they trust. But it is readily apparent that Fox failed its viewers at key moments during the pandemic.”

Stelter said he spoke with over 140 people within Fox for the book, and 180 more former staffers. The vast majority of sources are not identified by name. 

Roger Ailes, Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson and Shepard Smith, who recently signed on at CNBC, are among the Fox Newsers past and present who get close-ups. While much of the Ailes material has been painstakingly depicted in earlier reports, including Gabriel Sherman’s sharp Ailes bio The Loudest Voice in the Room, Stelter does share some new stuff about the mentality at Fox News during Ailes’ reign. He mentions the network PR department, then under Brian Lewis, accumulating oppo research on him when he ran TVNewser, even dispatching an intern to strike up a relationship with Stelter. Stelter thought he was going on dates with the young woman, but she was sharing with her bosses what he spoke about and who called him. 

Stelter suggests that, following Ailes’ departure from Fox News, President Trump essentially took on the boss role to many at Fox News. He details Trump’s voracious consumption of the network’s programming, and notes how marketers buy spots in morning show Fox & Friends with the hopes of sending their message directly to the president. 

Fox News did not comment on the book. 

Hoax notes Trump’s obsession with “fake news,” saying he began using the term when he was president-elect in 2017. “It was probably the most important thing he did during the presidential transition period,” the book says. “Turning ‘fake news’ into a slur fit perfectly onto Trump’s permanent campaign of disbelief, as best conveyed by his statement that ‘what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.’”

Stelter previously authored Top of the Morning, about the morning TV news wars. The New York Times, which once employed Stelter, wrote of Hoax, “It provides a thorough and damning exploration of the incestuous relationship between Trump and his favorite channel — and of Fox’s democracy-decaying role as a White House propaganda organ masquerading as conservative journalism.”

The Times review was mixed, wishing Stelter spoke to viewers, the president excluded, about why they watch Fox News. 

Hoax is nonetheless thoroughly reported and well written. One expects loads of anonymous sources in a book that slams a giant news network, but seeing so many quotes from unnamed people that cut down various figures can get tiresome. Still, the pages turn easily. 

The book shines lots of light on a president who appears to pay more attention to Fox & Friends than he does the President’s Daily Briefing. A former producer on that show told Stelter, “People think he’s calling up Fox & Friends and telling us what to say. Hell no. It’s the opposite. We tell him what to say."

Speculation about a "Trump Channel" accelerated this week after a Bloomberg Politics report interpreted clues that such a plan is in the works -- then described why it would be very hard to launch in today's cable "skinny bundle" environment.

Citing the media credentials of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's new campaign CEO, Stephen Bannon (former Breitbart News chairman), and Trump adviser Roger Ailes (Fox News founder and former chairman-CEO), the Bloomberg analysis suggested that the Republican candidate's vision includes a long-term media presence. Bloomberg writer Gerry Smith, though, acknowledged that the Trump campaign didn't respond to queries about such plans and that others close to Trump contended "there’s no serious effort right now."

So much for plausible deniability.

On Anderson Cooper 360 a couple weeks ago, CNN media reporter Brian Stelter also visualized a Trump TV network, adding Roger Stone's name to the mix; Stone is a Trump operative whom The New York Times described as a "renowned infighter" and a "seasoned practitioner of hard-edged politics."

Stelter said Trump (pictured in an appearance on Saturday Night Live) "has all the right people to put in place a new media company."

"[W]hether it's a television network or on Facebook or something, we can't picture yet," he added. "I think we have to at least consider that possibility even if Trump would never acknowledge that's real today."

The idea that media-hungry Trump would enjoy a name-branded network has been bruited about for several months. Trump's route to a full-time channel could go to pay TV or to an over-the-top subscription service, although both routes pose expensive challenges.

Detractors point out that The Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) on cable/satellite took four years and estimated losses of more than $300 million until it reached profitability. The $10-per-month online "Sarah Palin Channel" lasted one year.

Even conservative talker Glenn Beck's provocative cable and online channel The Blaze is facing growing hurdles. Via its agreement with the National Cable Television Cooperative, Dish Network and other distributors, The Blaze claims to be available on more than 100 systems.

But Cablevision, in the midst of its Altice takeover, dropped The Blaze last month, and reports indicate that the online Blaze.com version has plateaued at about 400,000 subscribers, who pay $9.95 per month or $99.95 annually.

Appropriate to the media frenzy surrounding all things Trump, reality is fungible. In the era of skinny bundles, a channel would encounter difficulty in finding a place on the cable tuner, although there are several options for a digital presence.

A Trump Channel could acquire the channel of an existing network, as Al Jazeera America did when its parent bought Current TV: AJAM has since shut down, and those channel slots evaporated. Or it could partner with an existing network, such as the conservative One America News Network, which is available in about 15 million homes via affiliates in more than 80 markets.

“If Mr. Trump has interest in launching a cable news channel after the election ... he could simply give us a call,” Charles Herring, president of Herring Networks Inc., which owns OANN, said in the Bloomberg report. OANN debuted July 4, 2013.

Trump's interest in a media outlet was also described in a June Vanity Fair report by Sarah Ellison.  She cited Trump's frustration about "his ability to create revenue for other media organizations without being able to take a cut himself." 

The article quotes an anonymous insider saying that Trump has "gotten the bug" and that he believes he has "the business acumen and the ratings for his own network” and "now wants to figure out if he can monetize it.”  

The Vanity Fair article also cites conversations Trump reportedly had with NBCUniversal CEO Steve Burke in 2011, when Trump was considering a 2012 White House campaign. One concept was that if Trump ran for president "and on the off chance that he won, he would continue to star in The Apprentice from within the White House." Burke turned down that idea.

Other potential alliances with operators or programmers are possible, although the pricing would be problematic. Trump's notoriously low-priced campaign (so far) would face hefty distribution and production costs. The Smith article points out that Rupert Murdoch reportedly paid cable operators $300 million to carry Fox News Channel when it launched 20 years ago. Moreover, unless the programming is a non-stop loop of All-Trump-All-the-Time, the channel would have to pay talent and studio expenses. Alternatively, it might use paid programming and documentaries supplied by conservative political groups that already produce countless hours of content.

The Bloomberg Politics evaluation, citing an unidentified source, suggests that a Trump Channel could earn back its investment in less than five years if it were able to reach 60 million homes and charge $2 to $3 a month per subscriber.

Ad revenue could also pose a challenge. Skeptics point to the advertisers who pulled out of sponsoring the Republican National Convention in July. Yet there appear to be many other advertisers -- especially doctrinaire policy groups -- that would support a conservative channel with a star figurehead.

Cynics already question if any OTT approach is possible, given the Palin and Beck track records, suggesting that not enough Trump supporters would go to the effort to use or to pay for an online or SVOD option.

Finally, the prospect of a Trump Channel on any platform raises the question of access to its figurehead, especially if Trump wins the election and a channel materializes. Some might say that there would be no need for a channel, given POTUS’s full-time access to media.

But aside from First Amendment issues and the traditional access to the White House, how would a President Trump seek to control the flow of information via "his" channel vis-à-vis other platforms?

 With the unprecedented processes of this campaign, it's truly anyone's guess what political TV will look like in the next few years.

UPDATES: Ailes's role might be quite limited, thanks to a multiyear non-compete clause in his contract. According to the latest article (published Friday, Sept. 2) by Ailes chronicler Gabriel Sherman in New York Magazine, Ailes's severance deal "prevents him from going to a rival network (but, notably, not to a political campaign)." The article acknowledges that Ailes's interests have focused on political power, not simply media eminence.

Another media figure who could become part of the Trump TV effort is top Trump adviser Anthony Scaramucci, a hedge fund executive and head of the company that owns Wall Street Week, a weekly investment talk show on Fox Business Network. Scaramucci's SkyBridge Media LLC, affiliated with his SkyBridge Capital investment firm, bought the venerable syndicated program in 2015; he is a co-host of the show as well as an investment commentator on Fox Business Network and Fox News Channel. In a May Vanity Fair article, Emily Jane Fox characterized Scaramucci as formerly "the loudest Trump hater on Wall Street" who has now become "one of his biggest fund-raisers."