Propaganda takes two forms. The first is the manipulation of the population into adopting a particular political view or taking actions that benefit the ruling class. A typical example is John Legend's Pfizer adin 2023 and 2024, and encouraged people to stay “up to date” on COVID mRNA boosters.
The second type is what CNN propagandist Brian Stelter does all the time: acting as an authority to smear and denigrate those who criticize the ruling class narrative. In keeping with the analogy of COVID hysteria, Stelter has frequently targeted critics. Like Alex Berenson In 2021.
What is truth and what is disinformation? That's up to high priests like Brian Stelter to decide.
This second type of propaganda is often more dangerous than the first. It's the type favored by defenders of so-called “freedom of the press,” and Stelter is an expert on it. Stelter has long lectured his audiences and the American people that anyone who holds an opinion that opposes the administration is spreading hate, misinformation and disinformation, and the punishment, in his respectable opinion, is removal from public office.
After a brief period of soul-searching following the merger with Discovery, CNN staffers were free to ignore the constraints of Chris Licht's repressive leadership and once again embrace bias and partisanship. No wonder they brought back Stelter as chief propagandist. After all, they have to win elections.
How did Stelter become America's most dangerous propagandist? It all started with a newsletter and a blog.
The Birth of the Guardian of Stories
Stelter grew up a media nerd. He had a fascination with the nightly news and its anchors. He parlayed this interest into a blog he started as a teenager in his dorm room at the University of Maryland, called TV Newser. The blog quickly became must-read as Stelter began covering media news before more experienced journalists. He sold the blog but continued to write for years afterward.
After graduating, Stelter began working in media at The New York Times, but her big break came in 2013 when she took over CNN's long-running media commentary show “Reliable Sources.”
As the 2016 election unfolded and its aftermath, Stelter became a vocal advocate of administration and media narratives, wielding the power and prestige of his role as media umpire. From the debunked Russia collusion story to COVID extremism to Hunter Biden's laptop, no one defended the party line and attacked critics more consistently than Stelter. No one.
His unwavering determination to defend the system at all costs may come across as comically ignorant, but that's not the case: As Shakespeare said, “All the world's a stage,” and Stelter is clearly aware of this and relishes his role on that stage.
Stelter’s primary role is to control the mainstream media and ensure they adhere to the approved narrative. He is a master at this and is always there to stoke fears about anyone who presents an alternative to the accepted truth, even if it means relying on someone with whom the public trust has been shattered.
Enter Dan Rather, the disgraced former host of the CBS Evening News. After Trump won the 2016 election, Stelter frequently invited Rather on his show to discuss “truth.” In 2018, Stelter had Rather explain that journalists need to provide “truth” to counter “Trump's fantasy world.” Yes, Stelter had invited the man who was fired by CBS for fabricating National Guard documents to speak about the importance of “truth.”
The truth doesn't matter to Stelter; what matters is scoring points.
Stelter has never shied away from defending the administration's claims, no matter how false they may be, and he was one of its biggest defenders when the Hillary Clinton campaign used Democrats to hire opposition investigative teams and pay law firms to create fake dossiers written by a former MI-6 spy alleging “Russia collusion.”
In 2020, when the media and the deep state pushed the claim that the riots in American cities were “mostly peaceful protests,” Stelter did what he does best: discredit truth-tellers. He portrayed them as extremists trying to mislead the public. He attacked Sean Hannity He used footage from days ago to back up his claims.
When media and big tech companies conspired to protect Joe Biden from allegations contained on his son's laptop a few weeks before the 2020 election, Stelter and his protégé Oliver Darcy quickly rose to his defense. “'In the last 24 hours, the Hunter Biden narrative pushed by President Trump and his right-wing media allies has begun to unravel,' @oliverdarcy wrote in a @ReliableSources update,” Stelter tweeted.
Yes, the media did their job of protecting the Biden family by “uncovering” the “story,” but they didn't uncover the truth that the laptop and its contents were authentic. Stelter did what he was born to do: influence the outcome of the election for his side.
The devil of disinformation
Fast forward to 2022. After the Discovery-Warner Bros. merger, CNN fired Stelter under pressure from libertarian board member and former Trump donor John Malone, creating a vacuum for the activist “journalism” that had become synonymous with Stelter. Left-wing activists like Press Watch's Dan Froomkin lamented the decision. Frukin cried.“By firing Brian Stelter, CNN is succumbing to disinformation rather than fighting it.”
Again, the key word appears – disinformation. Like a talisman, it summons the followers of progressivism to holy war. But what is truth and what is disinformation? That is for high priests like Brian Stelter to decide.
After more than 100 weeks on the road, the Prophet returned to CNN to find a seismic shift in the anti-speech norms that his past work had been founded on.
It's 2024 and governments are cracking down on free speech. The UK's New Labour government is emptying prisons to jail social media violators, and Brazil is blocking access to X (formerly Twitter). An anti-speech totalitarianism that would make Big Brother proud is on the rise.
The frenzy to suppress speech is not unique to other so-called “liberal democracies.” It is growing here in the American Republic. Just this week, former U.S. Senator and perennial presidential loser Hillary Clinton said she didn't care about the First Amendment and called for jailing those who spread “fake information.”
Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom (Democrat) signed the bill. Make it a crime “Knowingly disseminating advertisements or other election communications that contain materially deceptive content, including deepfakes.” This is not just about regulating or banning deepfakes. This may seem reasonable to most people. But what exactly is the “materially deceptive content” Newsom is referring to? Is it a difference in how the government operates? Who gets to decide?
Brian Stelter's unwavering determination to defend those who seek to increase their power by restricting Americans' free speech has brought us to this extraordinary place. He has benefited greatly from his role as a gatekeeper of “truth.” His actions have paved the way for increasing restrictions on speech throughout the so-called free world.
So when you find yourself standing at the gates of a concentration camp a few years from now for posting too many memes, remember who sent you there, and, if you're allowed to, raise a glass of potato vodka in salute to their name.
