The New York Times > Technology > Circuits > A Real Following: The Ultimate Cable News Guru, When Not in Class

By LISA NAPOLI

Published: May 27, 2004

BRIAN STELTER had an important editorial decision to make. A reader had sent him a tip that CNN planned to offer a video news service on the Web. Mr. Stelter was waiting for verification or denial of the item. The CNN public relations people in Atlanta had promised to get back in touch.

All this would simply be the mundane doings of daily journalism except that Mr. Stelter is not, technically, a journalist. He is a blogger, and his blog, Cablenewser.com, reflects his obsession with the cable news industry. Every day, about 3,500 readers consult his site to see what he has drummed up. They respond to the stories he posts; they send observations and comments for his consideration; they accuse him of bias, in all directions.

Beyond the odd fact that people pay attention to a Web log devoted to an industry already well covered in trade magazines is the additional curiosity that Mr. Stelter is an 18-year-old college student.

Until now, he has chosen to conceal that bit of background from his readers.

"It seemed wise to be anonymous," said Mr. Stelter, a sophomore majoring in mass communications at Towson University in Baltimore, who started his blog in January. "I would always scream at the TV and wish I had somewhere to write it down. What's wonderful now is I have an audience."

He has found it amusing when his readers have guessed at his identity. "Some people think I'm some big-time guy at Fox," he said. "I'm just a kid. I'm just a student."

Better to be anonymous than to identify himself as a teenager, he reckoned, if he wanted to be taken seriously. And that, it seems, he has been: Mr. Stelter has heard from cable executives, media critics, on-air personalities like the Fox anchor Greta Van Susteren, and network public-relations people who check his site.

"I get more scoop from Cablenewser.com about the industry and even MSNBC and than I get from the water cooler at the office," said Dominic Bellone, a producer for the MSNBC political show "Hardball." "I've been reading his blog close enough that it's pretty credible without me knowing who it is, because he's quoting legit sources."

Mr. Stelter went forward with the item about CNN's video plans on the Web on Tuesday, citing an unnamed source, while quoting a CNN spokesman (who provided no confirmation but said "we are considering many ways to enhance our online offerings"). The report was picked up on the CBS MarketWatch site, attributed to Cablenewser.com.

As blogs go, Cablenewser is light on punditry and hysteria; rather, it is informative and politely critical. On an average day, Mr. Stelter will link to various reports about cable news from around the Web, like a recent survey of journalists from Pew Research Center for People and the Press. Then he will toss in occasional commentary about editorial decisions the channels made, or specific programming. "Kudos to MSNBC: Special Sunday Shows," read the headline of one recent entry. "Chris Jansing's four-hour MSNBC 'special presentation' was top-notch journalism."

From the logs that indicate the Web addresses of visitors, Mr. Stelter estimates that insiders comprise half his audience and the other half are cable news viewers like him.

Now that he has an audience, he believes his identity will not matter.

Unlike many bloggers, Mr. Stelter says he is not looking to turn his site into income. He would not mind the money, of course, but he fears that if the site became a full-time job, "it would make me kind of cynical." Instead, Mr. Stelter said, "I'd rather be on the inside and help improve the product."

At home in Damascus, Md., Mr. Stelter watches a bank of televisions in the family living room. (He laments that he has but one set in his college dorm room and must rely on the remote control.)

"When I look at these three televisions," he said, "they're basically doing the same thing, they're following the same news conference and then they do a story on sharks or cicadas. If I had dozens of bureaus around the world, I wouldn't be airing Michael Jackson's court proceedings."

Mr. Stelter, who grew up wanting to be a journalist, acknowledges that his passion for television news has long been a preoccupation.

On a recent school trip to the White House, Mr. Stelter said, he saw numerous television sets tuned to the Fox News Channel - but he refrained from posting that observation at his site, lest he betray his background.

Nonetheless, he suggests that some of his readers may already have a clue.

"I slept in till noon today, and I didn't have a post until 1 p.m.," he said. "I felt guilty. And then, I had an 8 a.m. class on Tuesday and Thursdays last semester. I think people who are really close readers might have a hint of what my day job is."