Rodents are raining from the ceiling of the White House press room. Maybe it's a metaphor for how the media, especially of the cable news variety, have become a plague of absurdity, an endless circle jerk of extraneous "analysis" and soul-crushing tedium.
Or maybe not. Either way, this one tweet from CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter, a media pundit who covers the media, explains everything.
Twitter is declining to comment on this. I'm up next on @KateBolduan's show with a bit of analysis https://t.co/GTtubG3Z0D
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) October 1, 2019
CNN has long established itself as the go-to source for news about Donald Trump's Twitter feed. It continues to keep the public informed about the issues that matter, such as how the social media company is or is not responding to an irrelevant presidential candidate's desperate fundraising ploy.
To be fair, Stelter does not just report breaking news about Trump's tweets. He also provides "a bit of analysis" and offers crucial context to ensure that CNN viewers do not get lost in the weeds. He interviews celebrities who have opinions about politics and aren't afraid to curse on live television. He nods along in earnest as his guests argue that Trump "may be responsible for many more million deaths" than Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong. The network would not have given Stelter his own show, called Reliable Sources, and allowed him to discuss issues of journalistic integrity with Dan Rather, if he weren't so good at what he does.
Even media skeptics who become physically ill upon exposure to cable news segments might be forced to reevaluate their concerns after listening to Stelter's insightful commentary on President Trump's latest Twitter controversy.
"You know, he's been tweeting more and more this year than in prior years," Stelter analyzed. "But he's having less effect. Less engagement. Fewer retweets. So it's kind of like a guy yelling more loudly, but not getting as much attention."
That's one way of putting it.