[Lemon:] For those of us that work in television I'm sure you do as well this is something we dream about, going into work and telling your boss you quit. Well, that's exactly but not like this. An Alaska TV reporter did that last night on the 10:00 news, and her performance is definitely one, I wouldn't say for blooper reel, but one for memory. Take a look.
[Green:] Everything you heard, as the actual owner of the Alaskan Cannabis Club, will donate my energy to fighting for freedom and fairness, which begins with legalizing marijuana. And as for this job, well, not that I have a choice, but
[Unidentified News Anchor:] All right, we apologize for that. We'll be right back.
[Lemon:] I felt worse actually for the anchor. The stunt stunned her colleagues and sent social media sites into overdrive. The station immediately issued a statement on its Facebook page saying, "We apologize for inappropriate language used by the KTVA reporter during her live presentation on air tonight. The employee has been terminated." Here with me to talk about that is CNN's media correspondent and "Reliable Sources" Brian Stelter. Obviously, unprofessional that she did that. Naturally, there's a behind-the-scenes story. She did this on purpose. She was going to quit any way and wanted to draw attention.
[Brian Stelter, Cnn Host, Reliable Sources & Senior Media Correspondent:] The statement says she was terminated but we saw her quit on air. You would never do that, would you, Don?
[Lemon:] No. No. I'm not that kind of person. Why would you burn a bridge like that?
[Stelter:] Not only burn the bridge but, to me, it's the curse word that's the biggest problem. She could have gracefully quit. There would have been a controversy. But it becomes offensive the way she did it to viewers, who otherwise might have been persuaded to join her club. This is interesting. We see people moving from media to politics and politics to media from time to time. It sounds like that's what she's doing. She wants to get politically active and get marijuana legal in Alaska. But to do it the way she did, it was offensive and unethical. She was covering something she was part of until disclosing something until the very end in a way that was offensive.
[Lemon:] She wanted attention. She's talking about is this legal marijuana. She's talking about medical marijuana? Do you know?
[Stelter:] She's talking about reform in the state, legalization of the drug, in the way that many other states have already done. We'll see this continuing progression. The media is part of this progression. You see a reality show is now about pot. You see a lot more news coverage about pot. Sanjay Gupta had that ground-breaking special here about the legalization of weed. So I understand that she wants to get involved politically. It's unethical to do it the way she did, to come on and cover the topic and only then to reveal she was part of it.
[Lemon:] It makes her look worse. Any time you have something like that and you use a curse word, it always makes you look worse. Here's what the station is quoting, saying it had no idea the reporter would quit or that she was connected to the Cannabis Club. How can this happen? How can she be in her own place of business, then, and talk about her future place of business, and no one at the station really know about it?
[Stelter:] It makes you wonder who assigned the story to begin with. Maybe she pitched the story about the club that she's the leader of, or maybe it was assigned to her by somebody else. Either way, and this is what we used to say when I was at "The New York Times," that's what editors are always for or producers, in this case, to be a check the person, to be a check and balance of the reporter.
[Lemon:] You asked me if I would do something like this. Would you ever do something like that?
[Stelter:] I'm a shy guy. I don't know about that, Don.
[Lemon:] I don't know if people call you shy, but you are always professional.
[Stelter:] Thank you.
[Lemon:] Thank you very much. The host of "RELIABLE SOURCES," every Sunday morning here on CNN.