Former CNN Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter was hired by Vanity Fair to cover the defamation lawsuit between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems, but unfortunately for the former host, the case was settled Tuesday.
However, Stelter was the subject of several interviews about the topic Tuesday, and was on Dan Abrams Live when he was asked about his high-profile exit from the network.
After the NewsNation host said Stelter was “pushed out” of the network, the former CNN host said he has “embraced” the word “fired”, before saying he was unsure why he was let go.
“I really, truly don’t know,” Stelter said. “I know I had a popular show by CNN standards and I know that it was pretty cheap to produce. But I also know every show gets canceled eventually.”
Reports at the time of Stelter’s firing claimed that new CNN CEO Chris Licht wanted to rid the network of hyper-partisan hosts, reporters, and contributors. The network also fired White House correspondent John Harwood around the same time as Stelter.
Stelter then argued that Fox News “really enjoyed making me a target”, and believes that led to his demise at CNN.
At the time, billionaire John Malone — one of the largest shareholders in Warner Bros. Discovery — claimed he wanted to see CNN “evolve back to the kind of journalism that it started with and actually have journalists”, but Stelter said that wasn’t Malone’s actual aim.
“No, not at all,” said Stelter. “I think we were reporting what was going on. Malone was saying CNN should be more like Fox. And I think we see today more than ever before what Fox actually is.”
