CNN’s Brian Stelter Accused of ‘Journalistic Corruption’ Over Jake Tapper Book Promotion [WATCH]

Political analyst Mark Halperin publicly criticized CNN’s chief media correspondent Brian Stelter on Thursday, accusing him of engaging in “journalistic corruption” for promoting CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s upcoming book about Joe Biden.

The comments were made during Thursday’s episode of Halperin’s show, Next Up with Mark Halperin.

Halperin said Stelter had failed in his role as a media reporter by acting as a publicist for Tapper rather than holding the media accountable.

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“You’ve got at CNN this guy Brian Stelter, who’s their media reporter, who’s an ally of Jake Tapper, to protect Tapper’s image, to enhance Tapper’s image,” Halperin said.

“He’s got a media newsletter. He’s supposed to cover the media. Guy doesn’t write about the biggest failure in the history of American media. Instead, he writes about how great Tapper’s book is.”

Stelter’s promotion of Tapper’s book, Original Sin, was highlighted in two consecutive editions of his media newsletter published Wednesday and Thursday.

In both editions, Stelter addressed criticism from conservative commentators who have accused Tapper and others in the press of participating in a media cover-up of Biden’s cognitive decline.

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Halperin pointed specifically to Stelter’s emphasis on the book’s fact-checking process, which he described as an effort to legitimize the book’s claims without acknowledging broader media failures.

“And today in his newsletter — guy’s a fan of irony — he writes about how it was so important for Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson to have the truth in their book, the full truth, that they hired the head of the New Yorker’s fact-checking department to fact-check their book,” Halperin said.

“Okay, again, the job of a media reporter, I would think, is not to protect and promote his colleague. And this is no innocent here, Brian Stelter.”

Halperin continued by accusing Stelter of downplaying or dismissing attempts by independent journalists and right-leaning media figures to question Biden’s mental and physical fitness while in office.

“In addition to promoting and protecting Jake Tapper, Brian Stelter has been, over the course of the entire Biden presidency, one of the biggest critics of those on the right and those few people like me in the independent media who have tried to hold Joe Biden accountable,” Halperin said.

“He’s accused us of, you know, being propagandists, of celebrating cheap fakes and deep fakes.”

“I don’t understand someone whose job it is to hold the media accountable, to not hold not just his own network but every news organization in the country — who now, it’s clear, participated in a cover-up, some because of threats, some because of a desire to help Joe Biden win. Massive cover-up.”

Halperin also pointed out that Stelter had cited positive reviews of Original Sin from outlets including The Washington Post and The New York Times, both of which Halperin alleged participated in suppressing concerns about Biden.

“He cites the favorable reviews, and then the Twitter account for the book tweets out Brian Stelter’s citations. It’s just — it’s nothing short of journalistic corruption. And it’s missing the moment.”

The official X account for the book, @OriginalSinBook, reposted segments of Stelter’s newsletter, including his commentary on the book’s review in The New York Times.

“NYT book review: @jaketapper and @AlexThomp’s Original Sin is ‘a damning, step-by-step account of how the people closest to a stubborn, aging president enabled his quixotic resolve to run for a second term,’” Stelter wrote.

NYT book review: @jaketapper and @AlexThomp‘s “Original Sin” is “a damning, step-by-step account of how the people closest to a stubborn, aging president enabled his quixotic resolve to run for a second term” https://t.co/p8mFIGi9yT

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) May 13, 2025

Halperin also addressed the claim, made in several media circles, that Tapper was among the few mainstream reporters who had covered concerns about Biden’s decline.

He rejected that idea during an earlier segment on Tuesday’s Next Up, saying there was little evidence Tapper had raised those issues before Biden’s June debate performance.

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