CNN Reliable Sources host Brian Stelter blasted Surgeon General Jerome Adams for asking reporters to take a break from their partisan and biased reporting to help rally Americans affected by the coronavirus.

“We really need you all to lean into and prioritize the health and safety of the American people,” Surgeon General Jerome Adams said at a White House briefing on Saturday. “No more bickering, no more partisanship, no more criticism or finger pointing. There’ll be plenty of time for that. But we all need to hit the reset button and lean into moving forward the health and safety of the American people.”

In his newsletter, Stelter said Adams should back off.

What Adams called “bickering” and “criticism” is what most of us call accountability. Is there value in focusing on the future? Yes, but when Adams said he wants “less stories looking at what happened in the past,” I hear him saying “stop exposing the Trump administration’s failures.” There is value in all of the coverage. And government officials don’t get to decide that — readers and reporters and whistleblowers and editors do.

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Stelter also told Adams he should not be telling the media how to act.

Adams used the word “need,” talking to the press corps. So I will too. He needs to spend his time educating the public about how to protect each other, not lecturing the press about what’s newsworthy.

Stelter also quoted Washington Post columnist Karen Tumulty’s tweet in his newsletter:

Karen Tumulty summed it up perfectly: “Surgeon General admonishes reporters that they should not be holding government officials accountable for their actions. The real danger to the nation’s health is not to.”

Here’s what Adams said on Saturday: