CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter has demonstrated yet again why he is perhaps the most indispensable name in cable news. The host of Reliable Sources recently went above and beyond the call of duty in his quest to speak truth to power by performing a thorough spellcheck of President Donald Trump's tweets.
"Everybody makes spelling mistakes," Stelter said in opening the five-minute segment devoted entirely to Trump's typos. "I do, everybody does. But on Twitter, Donald Trump makes a lot more of them than most people."
Stelter explained that the president's spelling mistakes were especially relevant because "he's been ridiculed for it by late-night comics."
The presidential typos, however, are no laughing matter. "It's actually not that funny," Stelter analyzed. "I know English teachers are horrified by the president's poor form. Lots of other people are embarrassed by it too." That why Stelter, with the help of researchers at the website Factbase, endeavored to perform a "comprehensive study of [Trump's] spelling errors [and] what they mean."
Stelter certainly delivered on the "comprehensive" part, as is clear in the video below. The study apparently took "many hours" to complete. As to what the typos "mean," that's one of those questions we might never get to the bottom of. But it's reassuring to know that our country's most talented journalists are working so diligently to give us the answers.
Towards the end of the fascinating segment, Stelter interviewed Bill Frischling, the CEO of FactSquared, the data company that runs the Factbase website. Stelter asked Frischling, "what's the lesson learned?" Frischling suggested that the president "turn on autocorrect."
Stelter conceded that "it's not the biggest thing in the world, but it still matters. Accuracy always matters." Stelter, who frequently invites disgraced news anchor Dan Rather on to his show to discuss issues of journalistic integrity, was recently the target of criticism after a guest on his show inaccurately claimed that Donald Trump "may be responsible for many more million deaths" than Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Mao Zedong.
Trump's avalanche of absurd Twitter typos – thanks to @factbasefeed, we have these stats that compare Trump to other politicians – here's the segment from @ReliableSources pic.twitter.com/TOjEA1DAHX
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) November 3, 2019