Bias explained …

Shapiro slays … Appearing on CNN media critic/cheerleader Brian Stelter’s “Reliable Sources” program Sunday, Ben Shapiro explained what conservatives mean by biased media. Shapiro agreed with Stelter that if Trump fired special counsel Robert Mueller, that would be something for the media to get riled up about, but he cautioned Stelter that the firing of Andrew McCabe was something the Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility asked for and did not deserve the slanted coverage it was receiving.

Stelter got particularly testy when Shapiro answered the question, “Where do you see the most egregious media bias right now?” Shapiro answered that it is in the coverage of student protests in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. Shapiro outlined that the media should push back, as it would do with other guests, when students say outrageous things. Stelter quipped that “wanting fewer gun deaths” was not political.

Shapiro followed up that what really concerns him and conservatives about the media is journalists and organizations who purport to be objective but aren’t. Shapiro said he criticizes MSNBC far less than he does CNN, because MSNBC does not purport to be objective. The whole segment is a must-watch.

Speaking of Stelter … In Friday’s newsletter, I highlighted how CNN and the New York Times had not yet corrected their reporting on Gina Haspel, Trump’s pick to be the head of the CIA. Shortly after the email was sent, the Times and CNN updated their stories with corrections. Brian Stelter made note of the update in his daily email Friday night.

Here’s the problem. Stelter, using an email from CNN’s Tom Kludt, hit the Times for appending an “editor’s note” to the bottom of its article and not a correction at the top of the article as ProPublica had done a day earlier. This is exactly the same thing that CNN did. I tweeted out the screenshots to Stelter Saturday morning. That’s the main problem with Stelter: He lacks any self-awareness of his own network.