Brian Stelter, CNN’s senior media correspondent and host of “Reliable Source,” is perhaps not as reliable as his show’s name implies.
Amid speculation of where first lady Melania Trump has been since making her last public appearance on May 10 to undergo a kidney operation, the media turned the scenario into a “Where’s Waldo?” situation, suggesting Melania could be anywhere from dead, to domestically abused, to having plastic surgery.
The first lady hushed the ridiculous rumors by making a public appearance on Wednesday following President Donald Trump’s tweet:
The Fake News Media has been so unfair, and vicious, to my wife and our great First Lady, Melania. During her recovery from surgery they reported everything from near death, to facelift, to left the W.H. (and me) for N.Y. or Virginia, to abuse. All Fake, she is doing really well!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2018
CNN’s Stelter replied to this tweet, stating, “Trump is conflating random Twitter commenters with ‘the media’ here. A common tactic of bad faith critics. But disappointing to see POTUS do it.”
It appears Stelter does not pay attention to national media coverage or he lied about its contents. Either way, it’s troubling, and he is far from “reliable.” Tweets from (so-called) journalists Dan O’Sullivan, Jamil Smith and Andy Ostroy reveal the media speculating about where Melania Trump may be without any shred of evidence:
Talked it over with the boys and made some odds on Melania
Just sick of this shit: 2/1
Plastic surgery mishap: 3/2
Divorce: 9/1
Suicide attempt: 25/1
Enjoying spending more time at home with the family: 175/1— Dan O'Sullivan (@Bro_Pair) June 2, 2018
I wish that I didn’t suspect that the prolonged, poorly explained public absence of Melania Trump could be about concealing abuse. I wish that it was a ludicrous prospect. I wish that the @POTUS wasn’t a man with a history of abusing women, including those to whom he is married.
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) June 3, 2018
Oh Melanie, Melanie, where can thy be?
Been 24 days since last we've seen thee,
It's been somewhat reported,
You may be deported,
So at last you are finally free…@FLOTUS @POTUS #Melania #Trump— Andy Ostroy (@AndyOstroy) June 3, 2018
Stelter later retweeted a status by CNN anchor Jake Tapper who claimed the President is “not wrong” to suggest that journalists “irresponsibly, and without evidence, publicly speculated about all sorts of hypotheticals.”
But while it looked like Tapper almost took responsibility for the media’s unverified fury of speculation, he ended his tweet by saying, “[Trump] does the same thing all the time — smearing and lying. That doesn’t mean we lower our standard.”
Sorry, Jake — and Brian — but it looks like you just lowered whatever standard you thought you had.
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