April 6 through April 8, 2022, the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics and The Atlantic magazine cohosted a conference titled “Disinformation and the Erosion of Democracy.”1

The three-day event explored “the organized spread of disinformation and strategies to respond to it.” Speakers included former President Barack Obama, columnist Jonah Goldberg, Marxist history expert Anne Elizabeth Applebaum and CNN anchor Brian Stelter, just to name a few.

But, as noted by Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson (video above), what they didn’t count on was the fact that not everyone has been brainwashed into oblivion. Some college students still have mental faculties operating at full speed. During one Q & A session, UC freshman Christopher Phillips, a writer for the University of Chicago’s paper, the Chicago Thinker,2 asked the following question:

“You’ve all spoken extensively about Fox News being a purveyor of disinformation, but CNN is right up there with them. They pushed the Russian collusion hoax, they pushed the Jussie Smollett hoax, they smeared Justice Kavanagh as a rapist, and they also smeared Nick Sandman as a white supremacist.

And yes, they dismissed the Hunter Biden laptop as pure Russian disinformation. The mistakes of the mainstream media, and CNN in particular, seem to magically all go in one direction. Are we expected to believe that this is all just some sort of random coincidence, or is there something else behind it?”

CNN — An Unrepentant Chronic Offender

Stelter responded, “I think you’re describing a different channel than the one that I watch. But I understand that that is a popular right-wing narrative about CNN.” So, first, he rejected the premise of the question in the first place, and then he discredited Phillips for asking the question.

April 8, 2022, Phillips appeared on Carlson’s show to discuss what prompted him to confront these self-proclaimed experts on disinformation. He pointed out that the conference was filled with legacy media personalities who have spent their entire careers spreading disinformation, and now they’re supposed to teach us about and protect us from disinformation?

Phillips said that while he didn’t expect Stelter to “hand over the keys” to CNN and admit they’re corrupt, he was hoping he’d admit that mistakes had been made and corrections had been issued. Alas, none of that happened. There was no remorse. No apology. No retractions.

Instead, Stelter gave a rambling non-answer defense that made little sense to anyone, basically proving CNN has no intention to live up to journalistic standards and expectations.