Brian Stelter blasted for handling of attack on colleagues: CNN doing 'public relations for rioters'

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CNN’s Brian Stelter shocked viewers on Sunday when he oddly declared that criticism he faced for ignoring an attack on his own colleagues was "ridiculous," as he blamed right-wing media for pointing out that he ignored news that may have contradicted CNN’s liberal agenda.

Stelter, who regularly denounces anything he considers an attack on the free press, raised eyebrows last week when he didn’t bother to cover his own colleagues being chased away by a violent mob Wednesday night during demonstrations in Minnesota. He didn’t put the story in his newsletter that claims to cover the media industry, leading to speculation that the CNN pundit didn’t want to ruin the network’s "peaceful protest" narrative.

CNN’s Brian Stelter was accused of doing PR for Minnesota rioters.

CNN'S BRIAN STELTER IGNORES MOB'S ATTACK ON CNN NEWS CREW AMID NETWORK'S PEACEFUL MINNESOTA PROTEST NARRATIVE

Stelter finally got around to mentioning the attack on CNN on Sunday – four days after the incident occurred – but said it was "ridiculous" that critics pointed out CNN’s clear lack of coverage.

"This was a story that went viral in right-wing media, frankly they claim CNN was covering it up, which is ridiculous," he said before asking CNN correspondent Miguel Marquez to tell his side of the chaotic event.

Media Research Center vice president Dan Gainor told Fox News that CNN routinely "buries news that makes its side look bad" and Stelter’s glaring omission is simply the latest example.

"If you’re covering the news, why wait three days to report on an attack on your own journalists? Imagine CNN’s reaction if Trump supporters had attacked their people and run them off the scene. They’d have rerun the video every five minutes and demanded a criminal investigation," Gainor told Fox News.

"What was especially bizarre was that CNN waited days to report on the attack and then its journalists rationalized it saying they understood the anger. That’s not journalism," Gainor continued.

"CNN is doing public relations for rioters."

CNN CREW CHASED AWAY BY MINNESOTA RIOTERS AFTER CREW MEMBER HIT IN THE HEAD WITH WATER BOTTLE

To make the situation even weirder, Marquez defended the rioters who attacked his crew with water bottles and forced them to flee the area.

 "I cannot blame them for being angry," Marquez told Stelter. "But, you know, a lot of people are very angry, suspicious of the press, the corporate media, all of those things come into it at these places. And it was just one of those situations that –- it was intense, there were people who were angry at everything and everybody and we happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Columnist Stephen L. Miller felt Marquez sounded like a "battered wife" by making excuses for the attackers.

While Stelter took four days to even mention that violent protestors attacked his colleagues, he was quick to cover members of the media who were allegedly mistreated by law enforcement.

Many others mocked Stelter for downplaying that he initially ignored the news: 

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