CNN's Brian Stelter skips network controversies on media show, largely focuses on knocking Trump rally
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Despite being the network's chief media correspondent, CNN's Brian Stelter skipped over two of the biggest controversies that emerged last week on his industry-centric Sunday show "Reliable Sources."
Last Saturday, ABC News confirmed that Barbara Fedida, one of its top talent executives, was placed on administrative leave pending an investigation on racist comments she reportedly made about prominent black anchors, including "Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts.
And on Wednesday, NBC News was under fire for its report that urged Google to remove two conservative news sites including The Federalist from its ad revenue platform.
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However, both of those controversies were sidelined during Sunday's installment of Stelter's media show.
Instead, much of his focus was on President Trump's rally that took place on Saturday in Tulsa, Okla. Stelter interviewed a woman who was taking credit for the TikTok movement of pranksters who reserved tickets to the rally and how that may have contributed to the low in-person turnout. He had other guests to knock the president's rally like short-lived White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci, who slammed Trump for his disparaging remarks about Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.
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Other topics Stelter covered on his show include the video Trump tweeted mocking CNN that was ultimately taken down due to copyright violation and the rollout of John Bolton's new book "The Room Where It Happened."
Stelter has previously skipped major media stories that are unflattering to other mainstream media outlets. Perhaps the most egregious example was the 2019 revelation of ABC News' coverup of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, which he completely avoided.
BRITISH ACTIVISTS BEHIND NBC NEWS REPORT PUSHING GOOGLE TO DEMONETIZE THE FEDERALIST
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A report from Huffington Post's Yashar Ali lays out damning accusations of ABC News' Fedida and her treatment of black journalists at the network.
In 2018, during a contentious meeting about renewing “Good Morning America” anchor Robin Roberts' contract, Fedida reportedly "asked what more Roberts could want and said it wasn’t as if the network was asking Roberts to 'pick cotton.'"
Fedida also reportedly referred to "The View" co-host Sunny Hostin as "low rent."
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Another source told Ali about a comment Fedida said about then-ABC News journalist Kendis Gibson, a black anchor, that ABC “spends more on toilet paper than we ever would on him."
According to the report, Fedida would also refer to women as "c---s" openly in the office.
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A spokesperson for ABC News told Fox News, "There are deeply disturbing allegations in this story that we need to investigate, and we have placed Barbara Fedida on administrative leave while we conduct a thorough and complete investigation. These allegations do not represent the values and culture of ABC News, where we strive to make everyone feel respected in a thriving, diverse and inclusive workplace."
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NBC News faced intense backlash for apparently influencing Google to deplatform conservative news with the help of a left-wing British activist group.
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In a report published Tuesday afternoon, NBC News claimed Google "banned" The Federalist and ZeroHedge from Google Ads for "pushing unsubstantiated claims" about the Black Lives Matter movement. Google later pushed back, claiming that The Federalist "was never demonetized" and adding, "We worked with them to address issues on their site related to the comments section."
"We have strict publisher policies that govern the content ads can run on and explicitly prohibit derogatory content that promotes hatred, intolerance, violence or discrimination based on race from monetizing," a Google spokesperson initially told NBC News. NBC, however, did not link to the "derogatory content" from The Federalist or ZeroHedge.
In addition, it appeared it was NBC News' inquiry into the matter that prompted Google's actions in the first place.
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"Google's ban of the websites comes after the company was notified of research conducted by the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a British nonprofit that combats online hate and misinformation. They found that 10 U.S-based websites have published what they say are racist articles about the protests, and projected that the websites would make millions of dollars through Google Ads," NBC News reported.
ABC NEWS ON ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE OVER RACIST REMARKS ABOUT BLACK ANCHORS: REPORT
The report continued, "Google blocked The Federalist from its advertising platform after the NBC News Verification Unit brought the project to its attention. ZeroHedge had already been demonetized prior to NBC News’ inquiry, Google said."
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NBC News' Adele-Momoko Fraser, the London-based journalist behind the report, appeared to celebrate the results of her reporting by thanking the two groups "for their hard work and collaboration." She also used the Black Lives Matter hashtag.
Google pushed back against the report, saying that The Federalist was "never demonetized" and insisted that content that violated Google's policies was the comments section, not any particular article as NBC News initially claimed.
A Google spokesperson reiterated to Fox News, "To be clear, The Federalist is not currently demonetized. We do have strict publisher policies that govern the content ads can run on, which includes comments on the site. This is a longstanding policy."
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Google later tweeted regarding The Federalist, "As the comment section has now been removed, we consider this matter resolved and no action will be taken."
NBC News was slammed on social media for what has been described as "activism" in addition to what appeared to have been faulty reporting.