CNN Blames WHOM for Their Fake News Habit?

CNN has no shame.

My essay from Sunday’s show: Addressing why newsrooms & media companies need to take media literacy seriously https://t.co/pSg01Q037f

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) July 10, 2017

CNN’s Brian Stelter really has the nerve.  In a recent segment, he railed against average Americans, whom he characterized as “media illiterate,” to explain why fake news exists.  This is a little like a drunk driver blaming the other drivers for having the temerity to be on the road… after his drunkenness has caused an accident!  Here’s a partial transcript:

The solution to poor journalism is more journalism. Some people want less of it, or none of it. They want to stamp it out altogether. Think I’m exaggerating? I don’t think I am. We need to see this for what it is and describe it clearly. There’s a big difference between well meaning people who are skeptical of the press—I count myself among them—and then those people who want to tear down the press, who don’t want it to exist. Those anti-journalism voices are getting louder these days, partly because they’re being amplified by some pretty powerful politicians.

Amid so many shouts of “fake news” media companies producing real news need to speak loudly. Here’s how I see it. Skepticism is healthy. Constructive criticism makes news rooms better. This is a pro-journalism point of view. When I make a mistake or I don’t challenge a guest enough or I cut somebody off…your emails, I get’em and they help me improve. But it’s not constructive or pro-journalism to promote resentment and hatred of journalists.

When politicians disparage real news as fake or when they root for the death of newspapers or when they call reporters names or when they claim we make up stories and sources, they’re not trying to improve journalism. They’re trying to get rid of it.

Good grief.

Here’s a crazy thought.  Maybe the people actually creating, reporting, and spreading fake news are the ones responsible for it?