Journalist Brian Stelter is returning to CNN after he was ousted from the cable television network more than two years ago during a dramatic shakeup.
“Yes, really,” Stelter, 39, said Tuesday when he announced that he will be the lead author for CNN’s “Reliable Sources” newsletter that he first started in 2015.
He was previously canned in August 2022 after the network’s now-former CEO Chris Licht ended the “Reliable Sources” program he had anchored since 2013. It was CNN’s longest-running show at the time of its demise.
“But this is not going to be a ‘Back to the Future’ remake,” Stelter wrote in the newsletter.
“The media industry has matured, CNN has evolved, and I have changed a lot since I signed off two years ago.
“I loved my old life as the anchor of a Sunday morning show but, to borrow some lingo from my video game blogger days, I finished that level of the game. Time for new levels, new challenges.”
Stelter’s new job comes after former CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy quit to launch his own media newsletter.
In his new role as chief media analyst, he’ll appear on air, push out digital content and be in charge of the newsletter that he claimed will be “different, because I am different.”
Stelter wrote after he was fired, he changed his news habits and moved out of Manhattan and “to a horse farm near one of former President Donald Trump’s golf clubs.”
“I experienced the news more like an everyday consumer, and in doing so, I learned a whole lot about the attention economy and the information ecosystem,” he wrote. “I’m looking forward to sharing what I learned with you.”
During his two-year hiatus, Stelter, who is married to NY1 anchor Jamie Stelter, wrote for various publications and even appeared on CNN a handful of times.
Stelter was a casualty of Licht’s shakeup during his tenure atop CNN in an attempt to make the network more welcoming to both sides of the political aisle after it was accused of veering too much to the left during the Trump presidency.
While CNN enjoyed high ratings during the Trump era, viewership slipped once he was out of office. Stelter’s “Reliable Sources” program had one of its worst-rated shows in the months leading up to his dismissal.
But Licht resigned last year as CEO after a scathing magazine profile upset staffers and key senior figures. He was replaced by former New York Times and BBC executive Mark Thompson.
