CNN's Brian Stelter panics over Musk’s citizen journalism revolution: ‘no backing, no research’

CNN contributor Brian Stelter complained Friday about Elon Musk and declaration following the victory of President-elect Donald Trump on Nov. 5 that legacy media had failed Americans and that independent news gatherers would be the foundation of the Trump presidency.

Elon Musk talked about the rising role of citizen journalists in a post on X that read: “You are the media now. The reality of this election was plain to see on X, while most legacy media lied relentlessly to the public,” Musk wrote. “You are the media now. Please post your thoughts & observations on X, correct others when wrong and we will have at least one place in the world where you can come to find the truth.”

But according to Stelter, Musk is “oftentimes relying on random anonymous accounts, these websites … these users on X who are trying to present themselves as the new CNN, the new New York Times, but have no research behind them, no backing, no institutional knowledge,” Stelter told CNN host Dana Bash.

Stelter said that although he understands “it’s exciting on his platform” Musk “ends up misleading a lot of people. You know, it is striking how he does seem to be learning about lawmaking in real time. And just a moment ago, he tweeted about all the coverage of him in the last 24 hours,” Stelter continued, asking if Musk is the “shadow president” and denying that the legacy media are “trying to drive a wedge” between Musk and Trump.

“I don't think anybody's trying to drive a wedge, except those Democrats who are saying that; journalists are just trying to understand the relationship between Trump and Musk because it's one of the most important relationships of the next four years,” he claimed.

Bash reiterated Stelter’s contentions. “We're literally calling it as we see it, Elon Musk, put out on social media, that he didn't like the [spending package] bill. Then there was a statement from Donald Trump and JD Vance and then everything fell apart,” she said.

Another CNN host, Van Jones, does not share Stelter’s faith in the mainstream media’s future. Jones recently said Democrats and all traditional politicians don’t understand either the power or the influence of social media and are simply being ignored by millions of Americans.