CNN insiders are reportedly calling on their network to fire its chief media reporter, Brian Stelter, for not exposing the "open secret" relationship between Jeff Zucker and Allison Gollust.
Mr Stelter, anchor of CNN’s Reliable Sources show, either chose to ignore what "everyone knew" or that he failed at his job, according to two anonymous "CNN insiders".
"The network needs to step up and fire Brian Stelter,’ one insider told the DailyMail.com.
"He is allegedly our top media reporter – yet he failed to report on the scoop that everyone in the office knew. And if he wants to say he didn’t know, he is truly terrible at his job."
Mr Zucker resigned on Wednesday for what he said was failing to disclose a consensual relationship with Ms Gollust, CNN’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer.
Neither Mr Stelter nor CNN immediately responded to The Independent’s request for comment on the insiders’ reported claims he knew about the affair, which was said to have been revealed as part of the network’s probe into Chris Cuomo.
Mr Stelter said on Friday’s episode of the Reliable Sources podcast that "it came as a shock" when Mr Zucker announced he was resigning.
"All of this has been stunning for the CNN newsroom," he said, adding that Mr Zucker would have been fired if he didn’t resign.
Mr Stelter said the sudden ouster of Mr Zucker made it feel like he had died, while his colleague Oliver Darcy added that "the punishment doesn’t fit the crime".
One of the cable news veteran speaking to The Daily Mail on condition of anonymity said: "He’s been sitting on his moral high horse doing Jeff’s bidding and ripping Fox and every other media outlet that Jeff tells him to while his ratings crash and burn. Where was he on the biggest story at his network after chastising everyone else?’
Another source added that everyone knew about the affair between Mr Zucker and Ms Gollust, claiming that Warner Media separated the two in 2021.
"That wasn’t enough of a hint this was going on in plain sight?” they said.
"Jeff took Allison to every job he had – after they left NBC, he tried to get her on Katie Couric’s show which failed, then he placed her at his friend Governor Cuomo’s office, then took her to CNN as soon as he was he got that job all while failing upward along the way,’ they added.
