NEW YORK –
“Reliable Sources” host Brian Stelter insisted Sunday that he would continue to support CNN even after his show was canceled this week, but stressed the importance of the network and others holding the media accountable.
CNN gave Stelter the chance to host the final episode of the outlet’s 30-year-old Sunday morning program, even after it was announced this week that he and the show would be leaving — a gesture that is relatively rare on television.
Stelter said it is not biased to defend decency, democracy and dialogue.
“It’s not partisan to stand up to demagogues,” he said. “It is required. It’s patriotic. We need to make sure we don’t give a platform to those who lie to us. But we also need to make sure we represent the whole spectrum of the debate and represent what’s happening in the country and in the world.”
This was Stelter’s most direct reference to what is believed to be the cause of his death; CNN has not spoken publicly about it. Since he started this spring, CNN’s new CEO Chris Licht has made it clear that he wants to tone down the sentiment, especially after making Republicans resistant to the network.
Stelter, who wrote a book about the Fox News Channel and frequently criticized Fox, was a lightning rod for conservative complaints.
Some of his recent guests on “Reliable Sources” have been more direct. Eric Degans, NPR’s television critic, said he hopes CNN continues to give viewers context and doesn’t stoop to false equivalency. “Facts alone” are not enough, he said.
“Would CNN have the guts to do this?” Degans asked. “I hope.”
Stelter, who hosted the show for nine years, also had Watergate writer Carl Bernstein as a guest and brought back the first guest since the first “Reliable Sources” in 1992, then-local journalist Brian Karem.
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