I generally don’t cover CNN host Brian Stelter that much because, first, I don’t watch the show and, second, I rarely find what he covers to be factual or interesting on the rare occasions when I see it. But a recent article in the NY Post convinced me to take a look at this week’s episode where Stelter interviewed Yale professor Joshua Kaila, who studies the impact of cable news on viewers. Kaila was the co-author of a recent study claiming that regular watchers of Fox News began to change some of their views after watching CNN for a month. This clearly made him an ideal target for Stelter, hoping to show that Fox is somehow brainwashing their audience. And Kaila initially fed Stelter some of the sugar he was looking for by agreeing with that sentiment. But the wheels began to come off when Kaila went on to note that the same thing was true about CNN’s coverage. The CNN host was basically left at a loss for words… almost.

CNN’s Brian Stelter appeared taken aback on Sunday when a guest on the Sunday talk show “Reliable Sources” accused the cable network of being “partisan.”

Joshua Kalla, an assistant professor at Yale University, was invited on the air to discuss a recent study he conducted in which Fox News viewers were paid money to watch CNN for seven hours a week during September 2020.

Kalla told Stelter that Fox News wasn’t the only cable news network that was engaging in “partisan coverage filtering.”

Stelter prompted the professor, saying that “Fox viewers are in the dark about bad news for the GOP.” Kailia quickly agreed, to Stelter’s obvious approval. But he then went on to say, “On the flip side, CNN engages in this partisan coverage filtering as well.”

After looking befuddled for a moment, Stelter attempted to push back, accusing his previously honored guest of “engaging in some both-sides-ism there.” Unfortunately for the Reliable Sources host, the guest was prepared with examples of how CNN does precisely what he was accusing Fox News of. Here’s that precious moment captured on social media.

Amazing to watch. Enthusiastic to suspicious in a matter of seconds.
STELTER: Your work is awesome
KALLA: Thanks and it's not just about Fox News
STELTER: Whoa hold on there
https://t.co/pM6Q90yYBo pic.twitter.com/pJASP79wpv

— Caleb Howe (@CalebHowe) April 10, 2022

The few examples that Professor Kalia cited to show CNN’s lack of coverage of anything that might be seen as favorable to the GOP in general and Donald Trump in particular (including the Abraham Accords, which Trump negotiated) were rather mild but effective. He didn’t even touch on the fact that CNN basically denied that a woman who had accused Joe Biden of sexual assault even existed or that Hunter Biden’s laptop could be anything but Russian disinformation.

The entire argument is patently ridiculous. It’s obvious to anyone who watches these networks – and I watch a fair amount of both because it’s my job – that they both select stories and guests that at least lean more toward one ideology than the other, if not party-specific. But the spin that comes across on almost all of CNN’s coverage is so heavily biased toward Democrats, repeating their talking points in an endless loop, that mounting any sort of defense of them in this debate is a fool’s errand.

Of all the hosts on CNN, however, Brian Stelter has to be among the worst. I have joked on social media on more occasions than I can recall how Stelter’s show plays more clips from Fox News than Fox does. He’s on a one-man mission to throw mud at Fox on a weekly basis, talking to a minuscule audience who doesn’t need to be convinced. It was truly a refreshing moment to see this professor, who actually does seem to be interested in studying media bias and its impact on viewers, show up and calmly take Stelter down a peg or two. And the host had nothing of substance to say in response, of course, because the accusation was 100% accurate.