Brian Stelter Returns to CNN Two Years After Network Canceled His Show

Brian Stelter is back at CNN.

In an email to subscribers of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” Stelter said he returning as the lead author of the media newsletter that he founded in 2015. He said he will relaunch the newsletter on Sept. 9.

Under CNN’s previous leadership regime, the news network parted ways with Stelter after cancelling the TV show (also called “Reliable Sources”) in 2022. Stelter returns to pick up the mantle of “Reliable Sources” newsletter after the exit last month of Oliver Darcy, who had come aboard to work on the newsletter and was assigned to keep the newsletter moving. Darcy has launched a newsletter called “Status,” covering media, entertainment and the tech industry.

“But this is not going to be a ‘Back to the Future’ remake,” Stelter wrote in the email Tuesday. “The media industry has matured, CNN has evolved, and I have changed a lot since I signed off two years ago. I loved my old life as the anchor of a Sunday morning show but, to borrow some lingo from my video game blogger days, I finished that level of the game. Time for new levels, new challenges.”

Stelter said he’s returning to CNN in a new role as chief media analyst, “which means I’ll be appearing on air, developing digital content, and helming this newsletter. It will be different, because I am different.”

“I always scoffed at people who said ‘getting fired was the best thing that’s ever happened to me’ — until, well, it happened to me,” Stelter wrote.