After Fluffing Him for Months Brian Stelter Wants to Take a Break from Michael Avenatti News Today

Oh, how our betters in the media universe are such a curious and amusing lot. It is rather interesting how these same people who have self-described themselves as brave as firefighters, and who declare their career mission statement is to prevent democracy from dying in the darkness, tend to shy away from news and figures who may possibly make them uncomfortable or worse, cause them to look at themselves honestly and objectively.

They suggest they are willing to stare down the most fearsome of conflagrations, but gazing into a mirror causes them to tremble.

Cue media commentator, CNN’s Brian Stelter. He is specifically tasked with studying and commenting on the machinations within his own industry. Today’s news involving media darling Michael Avenatti facing three separate criminal charges legal would seem to be tailor made for his professional assessment. The celebrity lawyer was a constant presence on the news networks, first when he swore to bring down the Trump administration, and then when he was being groomed as a Democrat Presidential candidate.

Were he truly objective Brian Stelter would have plenty of things to comment on regarding Avenatti’s downfall today. But as we have seen from him in perpetuity is if it does not involve Fox News then his critical eye is loathe to say anything harsh. Instead of looking into the media connections with Avenatti Stelter opted instead to go with another tactic entirely — deflection.

Want a break from the Mueller, Trump, Avenatti news cycle? Here’s the live stream for Apple’s news + entertainment event https://t.co/geuJ2heiqm

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) March 25, 2019

Stelter implies people are “tired” of today’s Avenatti news?! Take a look at the time on Stelter’s tweet here. He posted this less than one hour after Avenatti’s arrest in Manhattan broke across the news networks, at approximately 12:30pm. To underscore his desire to deflect, in this tweet he suggests people go watch a live feed from Apple – that had already taken place at 10:00am.

It is rather obvious that Stelter and his allies in the press were blindsided by the news. They were already preoccupied with the yeoman’s work of explaining away their having spent two years demonizing President Trump of Russian collusion, and having that narrative devalued like a Venezuelan Bolivar. Then while they were diligently working to rewrite the news they were confronted with the immediate downfall of their favorite Presidential pit bull.

Michael Avenatti was beloved by the leftist media, and CNN was one of the porn lawyer’s biggest enablers. En route to garnering what was measured at one point as $175 million in free media exposure, during one stretch estimates are that Avenatti appeared on CNN between 59-79 times, inside of a two month stretch. On Twitter Stephen Miller provided a tweet from CNN personality Juanita Scarlett (she has protected her account since) when she posted a photo of Avenatti posing with CNN on air talent at a private party for Don Lemon.

It is easy to see why Brian Stelter would wish to avoid being connected with the man who is now charged with extortion, embezzlement, tax evasion, and bank fraud — all in the same day. But Stelter cannot extricate himself so easily. Avenatti was a regular fixture on his Reliable Sources show, and he was at his sycophantic nadir while gushing over the lawyer.

“I don’t know if it’s a good thing that star power and TV savvy is required for the job, but I think it is. And by the way, I think President Obama also had a lot of TV star power, and that helped him pre-Trump. But Trump is more evidence of this. And looking ahead to 2020, one reason why I’m taking you seriously as a contender is because of your presence on cable news.”

After that on-air tongue bath it is understandable why CNN’s media monitor would want to avoid the Avenatti story completely.

The press however has to accept the fact that they built Avenatti. He was their avatar, the man who was permitted to say all the things they are normally prevented from saying, for fear of losing that tenuous grip on their claim of objectivity. They turned him loose in front of the cameras under the guise of being a guest, but he was on the air more than once a day, which essentially qualified him as an on-air analyst.

The denial by CNN is as amusing as it gets. Today Chris Cillizza attempted pass off the rise of Avenatti on — yes, you can guess — Donald Trump. See, the press were incapable of doing anything, all because of “the circus-like political environment in which we all find ourselves,” according to Chris. “Suddenly, Avenatti was everywhere,” as if they were unwitting witnesses to it all, “His never-say-no attitude toward cable TV appearances and always-lively Twitter feed made him catnip for a political-media culture.” Poor Mr. Cillizza, it just could not be helped, at all!

But now, in retrospect, there may a dawning taking place as their pet prosecutor has turned toxic. CNN reporter Erica Orden noted this detail issued from the SDNY office regarding the arrest of Avenatti today: “He was attempting to extract more than $20M in payments from a publicly traded company by threatening to use his ability to garner publicity to inflict substantial financial & reputational harm on the company if his demands were not met.”

CNN does not even want to acknowledge they were directly responsible for his “ability to garner publicity”. When he was useful to their narrative, and their unstated goal of toppling this presidency, journalistic ethics could be easily tossed aside. Now that he has become toxic, Stelter and his co-workers want to express being “tired” about the Avenatti story.

We were tired of Avenatti last summer and fall. CNN was tireless in trotting him out in front of their cameras. And now despite all their denials they cannot escape the reality — they created Avenatti then, and they own him today.

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