'The Five' react to CNN's suspension of Chris Cuomo
'The Five' panel discusses the network sidelining Cuomo for helping governor brother through scandal
CNN's left-wing media correspondent Brian Stelter was lambasted Thursday over his handling of the ongoing scandal plaguing his network.
Before CNN announced that it was suspending Chris Cuomo over his involvement in his brother's scandals, Stelter went to bat for the embattled anchor when critics blasted him for not addressing the controversy on Monday's installment of "Cuomo Prime Time."
"For what it's worth, when Chris Cuomo addressed his actions on the air back in August, he said ‘this will be my final word on it,’ and he hasn't addressed the matter on TV since," Stelter tweeted that evening. Cuomo did briefly address the scandal on his SiriusXM radio show Wednesday.
The "Ruthless" podcast panned the "insane" tweet and took aim at Stelter as a so-called "media reporter."
"It's like a classic comms response of like ‘Asked and answered,'" co-host Michael Duncan reacted on Thursday. "He said he wasn’t going to talk about it anymore, so we obviously can't talk about it because he said it was the last word."
"This guy is a spokesperson for CNN's business practices. He is not a reporter, he's certainly not a media reporter," co-host Josh Holmes said.
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 22: Brian Stelter, Chief Media Correspondent for CNN speaks onstage during 'Discovery Gets Cooking' at Vanity Fair's 6th Annual New Establishment Summit at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on October 22, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Vanity Fair) ( Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
They then called out "media reporters" from liberal media outlets who fail to "objectively report on the media."
"So you don't think Stelter is playing it straight?" producer John Ashbrook sarcastically asked.
"My point is, is what CNN has or what any of these companies really have is a super PAC arm. Like their media reporters are actually just their super PAC that is used as an attack dog against their opponents," Duncan said.
"And they often call them the disinformation desk," co-host Comfortably Smug chimed in.
"It's just f---ing fake. It's just fake," Duncan added.
Reliable Sources CNN (CNN)
Stelter, who is often described as the media's "hall monitor" for being an unabashed defender of his liberal peers in the industry, has largely refrained from addressing the journalistic ethics that were blatantly violated by the CNN anchor.
Instead, the poorly-watched "Reliable Sources" host repeatedly fell back in the complexities of a news anchor having a brother being the top Democrat governor in the country.
"'This has been a conundrum for CNN that has no perfect answer, no perfect solution.' I think those words remain true today..." Stelter wrote in his newsletter Monday, quoting remarks he made in August.
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On Wednesday, Stelter floated the idea that "it's possible" Cuomo will be back on the air as soon as January.
A spokesperson for CNN later told Fox News, "Anything is possible, but it’s all speculative until the review is complete."