How CNN Reckoned With Covering Its Own Jeff Zucker Scandal

I’ve always wondered what it’s like for journalists at news organizations to have to cover their own outlets when they become the news.

The most recent case is CNN reporting on the shocking story that its beloved leader of nine years, Jeff Zucker, abruptly resigned Feb. 2 over failure to disclose a consensual romantic relationship with his close lieutenant Allison Gollust. (There are news reports that there were other factors at play.) CNN has continued to cover the fallout from Zucker’s hasty departure, including Gollust’s resignation Feb. 15, which unlike her boss’ was widely expected.

In early December, CNN had also covered Zucker’s firing of Chris Cuomo after an outside law firm came forth with information about how the star anchor had helped his brother, Andrew Cuomo, when the then-governor of New York was accused of sexual harassment.

I reached out to CNN media reporter Brian Stelter, who has been covering all these developments, to ask him the difficulties in filing stories on the very news establishment you work for.

“The key to covering your own company’s news as a media reporter is to be transparent about the situation, cover the news head-on and give credit to other outlets where it’s due,” he says. “CNN management has always respected the independence of the media team, and that’s key. I wouldn’t be here if that weren’t the case.

“When news about CNN breaks — and there is a lot of it — our media team jumps into reporting mode. We’re getting requests to be on air and to file for the CNN website so they can mobile-alert our story as soon as we confirm the news. Everything happens fast, but we have excellent editors on the business and media beats who challenge us, check our sourcing and make sure we cover CNN news as if it were happening at a different company. There is no difference to our process, and that’s how it should be.”

CNN isn’t alone. Among many examples: CBS News covering the firings of Les Moonves and “60 Minutes” chief Jeff Fager, and NBC reporting on the suspension and subsequent reassignment of Brian Williams for misrepresenting events that occurred when he covered the Iraq War in 2003.

Stelter says he’s teaching an introductory journalism course at NYU this semester, and he was struck by something that Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel wrote in their book “The Elements of Journalism”: that “journalism’s first obligation is to the truth” and “its first loyalty is to citizens.”

Stelter’s takeaway? “When covering in-house news, the loyalty is to the news outlet’s audience, not to management or anyone else.”

Our senior TV editor Brian Steinberg says that he appreciates how tricky it can be for a news company to turn the spotlight on itself: “As much as Brian Stelter comes under fire, one also has to give credit to WarnerMedia for having a role like that in the first place. Many of the other TV news units don’t have reporters devoted to media coverage, and if they do, the efforts have usually been short-lived.”

It can’t be easy to cover oneself, but as Stelter says, “That’s how it should be.”

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