CNN senior media correspondent to speak at Cronkite lecture

CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter is the featured speaker of the eighth annual Paul J. Schatt Memorial Lecture at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Stelter, who hosts CNN’s weekly morning media program “Reliable Sources,” will discuss how the media covers and impacts the news during a free public lecture Monday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m., at the Cronkite School on ASU’s Downtown Phoenix campus.

As host of “Reliable Sources,” Stelter examines the week’s top media stories, interviewing journalists, newsmakers and thought leaders on the major headlines. He also reports on trends, personalities and companies across the media spectrum from news to entertainment for CNN.

Prior to joining CNN, Stelter was a media reporter for The New York Times, where he covered television and digital media for the Business Day and Arts sections. In 2013, he published The New York Times best-selling book “Top of the Morning,” detailing the morning show rivalry between the “Today” show and “Good Morning America.”

Stelter created TV Newser, a blog dedicated to covering the television news industry, while he was still a freshman in college. He sold it to Mediabistro in 2004, but continued to edit and write for the blog during the next three years until he graduated college and joined The New York Times.

“Brian Stelter is an extraordinarily insightful analyst of the complex world of today’s digital news media,” said Christopher Callahan, Cronkite School dean. “We’re thrilled to have him at the Cronkite School to deliver this year’s Paul Schatt Lecture, which honors one of our great longtime teachers.”

The Cronkite School established the Schatt Lecture series in 2007 in honor of longtime Arizona Republic reporter, editor and columnist Paul J. Schatt, who was an adjunct faculty member at the Cronkite School for more than 30 years. The series is supported by an annual gift from The Arizona Republic and an endowment created in Schatt’s memory by his widow, Laura Schatt-Thede.

Previous speakers have included former New York Times deputy editorial page editor Carla Robbins, Washington Post national political editor Steven Ginsberg and award-winning investigative journalist and author Mitchell Zuckoff.