CNN is dropping its Sunday show Reliable Sources while its host, Brian Stelter, is exiting the network.
A spokesperson for CNN said, “CNN will end its Reliable Sources program on Sunday, August 21st. As a result Brian Stelter will leave the company. We appreciate his contributions to the network and wish him well as he embarks on new endeavors.”
Stelter did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he said in a statement to NPR, “It was a rare privilege to lead a weekly show focused on the press at a time when it has never been more consequential.”
His exit is one of the biggest moves so far at the network under new chairman and CEO Chris Licht, who joined the network on May 1.
Network staffers have been expecting significant changes, with a bit of unease, given that Discovery’s takeover of WarnerMedia, CNN’s parent, is forcing significant cuts across the company. Even before Licht started, the new Warner Bros. Discovery quickly shut down the network’s subscription streaming service, CNN+, just weeks after it launched. The service included a daily version of Reliable Sources.
Amy Entelis, executive vice president of talent and content development of CNN Worldwide, said in a statement, “Stelter came to CNN from the New York Times as the nation’s top media reporter. He departs CNN an impeccable broadcaster. 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.”
Reliable Sources started three decades ago, but Stelter began hosting it in 2013, overhauling the program and adding a regular newsletter under the same name.
Stelter also has been a frequent on air presence during CNN news programming, particularly in commenting on Donald Trump and his attacks on the media. That made Stelter a frequent target on the right — and from hosts on Fox News — for his coverage of Trump and the CNN rival.
John Malone, one of the largest shareholders in Warner Bros. Discovery, publicly criticized CNN back in November, when the merger was pending, suggested that it had drifted too far from journalism. In the aftermath of Jeff Zucker’s departure from CNN earlier this year, Stelter pushed back on Malone’s comments wrote in his newsletter that they “stoked fears that Discovery might stifle CNN journalists and steer away from calling out indecency and injustice.”
(Excerpt) Read more in: Deadline