Simon Lincoln Reader,

For years, CNN allowed Brian Stelter to espouse skewed propaganda cloaked as a “defence of democracy”.

If CNN accounted (note: past tense) for – at least – 15-20% of the confected hatred of Donald Trump, then Brian Stelter, the wobbling unit of nasal whining and Strawberry Nesquik, was responsible for over 50% of that.

Stelter has been fired from CNN, and his deeply dishonest and unreliable show, Reliable Sources, has been canceled (the final, miserable episode aired yesterday morning). But this is not to gloat at this doubling-down oddball – rather to give you an idea of just how emboldened and detached the chief distributors of disinformation have become.

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At the start of the year CNN was reduced to a subsidiary of Warner Bros Discovery. On the board of Discovery sits one of the most powerful media executives in the world, John Malone. Malone, a billionaire x 10, was interviewed on CNBC shortly before the merger was completed, where he expressed a desire to see CNN return to “journalism.” Roughly translated with detail, he meant: “CNN equals irrational, partisan, anti-common sense, pro-groomer shithole. The ratings reflect this in no uncertain terms. There will be changes.”

So how did CNN react? By Stelter declaring in his newsletter the following:

“The people who say the Zucker-era CNN was lacking in real journalism clearly were not watching CNN directly. My best guess is that they were watching talking heads and reading columnists complain about CNN. And yes, I’m including John Malone in this.”

The nerve, indeed. CNN was no longer in control of its own patience: Chris Licht, CNN’s new CEO as of May, would go onto announce a return to the centre of politics (or an attempt to). Irrespective of this being successful, Licht’s knew that CNN could not undertake such an expedition with the continued involvement of Stelter. As it happens, Don Lemon and Jim Acosta are said to be the next casualties (talk is even extended to Jake Tapper).

Stelter’s unceremonious end should be felt across the establishment/left media industrial complex; if I were Noah Oppenheim, President of NBC news, I would be extremely concerned about the deal I’d just rushed into with former Biden propagandist Jen Psaki. But don’t expect Mehdi Hassan, or Joy Reid, or Will Sommer, or Jared Holt – or any staffers at VICE or VOX or NPR or the hideously crap NowThis – to be remotely perplexed by these events. That would require independent thought, self-respect, a faint degree of self-awareness – and very basic understanding(s) of cause and effect and supply and demand. These people are just too stupid, too arrogant, too selectively obedient and too brainwashed to be worried, which is why so many have responded with cultish shock and frustration.

But I would encourage you to see this event alongside the closure of the Tavistock clinic in London…

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