The enormous welfare project which gave Brian Stelter his CNN show has come to an end. The news network is bleeding like a stuck pig and it’s trying to staunch the flow.

Stelter is going out blowing his own horn.

Stelter also said that it “was a gift of a lifetime” to confront those issues within the media, adding that it is a “patriotic” duty. 

“Here’s what I do know, I know it’s not partisan, to stand up for decency, and democracy and dialogue. It’s not partisan, to stand up to demagogues. It’s required, it’s patriotic, we must make sure that we don’t give a platform to those who are lying to our faces,” Stelter said. 

“But we also must make sure we are representing the full spectrum of debate and representing what’s going on in this country and in this world.” 

What did his full spectrum of debate look like?

Stelter hosted journalist Carl Bernstein on Sunday’s program, as well as media critics Eric Deggans, Jodie Ginsberg and David Zurawik. Journalist Brian Karem, who was the first guest on “Reliable Sources” in 1992, also made an appearance as the last guest.

That’s quite a spectrum. All the way from A to A. But it’s also a reflection of a media ecosystem where the range is limited to establishment liberals and ranting lefties. And the former are an endangered species who are only allowed to criticize Republicans. The moment they imply there’s anything wrong with their own side, they get canceled.

Quite a spectrum, indeed.

None of this represents what’s going on in the country or the world. It’s a tiny echo chamber for some very influential media figures to talk about their concerns and agendas.

Stelter, unless he’s completely delusional, knows this. The problem isn’t that his show is an echo chamber. It was designed to be that way which is one reason it was first on the chopping block. The real problem is that it’s a microcosm of the entire media in which talking heads talk to designated experts they agree with to push an approved narrative.

“It’s loony to say the media is the enemy of the people. The media is the people,” Stelter said, addressing developments in media in the last 30 years. “And people are flawed, and opinionated, and hopeful, and believing in accountability.”

That’s a cute line, but the media is a very small subsection of the people, an estate that seeks to impose its will on the people by repeatedly lying to them, denouncing any dissent, and pushing conformity with their political agenda while advocating for the censorship of independent voices who disagree. That’s tyranny.

The media doesn’t represent the people, but is one of the forces repressing the people.