CNN has no plans to replace Brian Stelter’s just-canceled “Reliable Sources” with another media-focused show in the foreseeable future, TheWrap has learned.
“There are a number of programs in the concept and development phases, and it’s possible media coverage will be an element of a show,” a network insider told TheWrap, “but no indication that an exclusively media beat show is part of the plan.”
A CNN spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Experts say that the cancellation of the show — launched after attacks on media coverage of the Gulf War in 1993 — exacerbates the dearth of mainstream media criticism given media critic Margaret Sullivan’s recent departure from The Washington Post and columnist Ben Smith’s exit from The New York Times
Without “Reliable Sources,” media criticism won’t be “as broad of a conversation,” said Christina Bellantoni, who teaches journalism at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.