 So this story is interesting to me a producer at MSNBC who worked on Laurence O'Donnell show her name is Ariana Picari She just resigned and not only did she resign She penned a scathing letter Criticizing the network because she thinks that what they're doing is bad for democracy now. I will admit I think that her criticism of MSNBC is relatively shallow and it doesn't go deep enough But I do think that her heart is in the right place So I do want to share some of her letter But let me just give you the quick rundown basically she's suggesting that overall the network itself it focuses too much on Sensationalism there's no diversity of thought and they oftentimes elevate fringe voices because they think that that's what's going to drive ratings They are just seeking to increase ratings constantly Oftentimes she says that they're hyper focused on Donald Trump. I think that that's obvious they disregard factual or Scientific stories and cover the political angle of set stories, you know climate change comes to mind look all of these criticisms I think they're obvious like if you watch MSNBC and you're savvy and you have a coherent critique of mainstream media All of these things are pretty obvious to you But it doesn't go deep enough because these are issues that also plague indie media as well Like I think that there is an incentive to do clickbait I think that indie media can also be susceptible to Sensationalism but the reason why corporate media is so nefarious is because of the conflict of interest their connection to large multinational corporations and the way that that specifically Influences their coverage now what she's saying isn't as surprising as what we learned from other individuals who worked at MSNBC I mean Jeng Yuger famously was called into the office of the president of MSNBC and Basically scolded him because he was ruffling too many feathers when crystal ball worked at MSNBC She criticized Hillary Clinton and then going forward they told her that they had to run all of her Former Hillary Clinton segments by production or a higher up to make sure that they approved it and on top of that the late Great Ed Schultz let us know that he Received a call from the president of MSNBC Phil Griffin and he demanded that he not cover the launch of Bernie Sanders 2016 campaign so I think that all of those revelations from people who saw firsthand How bad MSNBC was that information is much more important. I think it's a lot more incriminating when it comes to MSNBC and their practices a lot of what she's saying here You know I read this and I just think I think this is obvious, right? Nonetheless, what she does say, you know, it confirms what we suspect that they are hyper focused on The one thing that all businesses are focused on, you know money and as a result They try to do what they can to make sure that they have good ratings So this is what she writes in her blog on her website July 24th was my last day at MSNBC I don't know what I'm going to do next exactly, but I simply couldn't stay there anymore My colleagues are very smart people with good intentions. The problem is the job itself It forces skilled journalists to make bad decisions on a daily basis You may not watch MSNBC, but just know that this problem still affects you too All the commercial networks function the same and no doubt that content seeps into your social media feed one way or the other It's possible that I'm more sensitive to the editorial process due to my background in public radio Where no decision I ever witnessed was predicated on how a topic or guest would rate the longer I was at MSNBC the more I saw such choices It's practically baked into the editorial process and those decisions affect news content every day Likewise, it's taboo to discuss how the rating scheme distorts content or it's simply taken for granted because Everyone in the commercial broadcast news industry is doing the exact same thing But behind closed doors industry leaders will admit the damage that's being done We are a cancer and there was no cure a successful and insightful TV veteran said to me But if you could find a cure it would change the world as it is this cancer stokes national division even in the middle of a Civil rights crisis the model blocks diversity of thought and content because the networks have incentive to amplify fringe voices and events At the expense of others all because it pumps up the ratings this cancer risks human lives Even in the middle of a pandemic the primary focus quickly became what Donald Trump was doing poorly to address the crisis Rather than the science itself as new details have become available about antibodies a vaccine or how COVID actually spreads Producers still want to focus on the politics Important facts or studies get buried this cancer risks our democracy even in the middle of a presidential election Any discussion about the election usually focuses on Donald Trump not Joe Biden a repeat offense from 2016 Trump smothers out all other coverage Also important is to ensure citizens can vote by mail this year But I've watched that topic get ignored or killed numerous times Context and factual data are often considered too cumbersome for the audience Occasionally the producers will choose to do a topic or story without regard for how they think it will rate But that is the exception not the rule due to the simple structure of the industry the desire to charge more money for Commercials as well as the ratings bonuses that top-tier decision-makers earn They always relapse into their old profitable programming habits I understand that journalistic process is largely subjective and any group of individuals may justify a different set of priorities on any given day Therefore, it's particularly notable to me for one that nearly every rundown at the network Basically is the same hour after hour and two they use the subjective nature of the views to justify economically beneficial decisions I've even heard producers deny their role as journalists a very capable senior producer One said our viewers don't really consider us the news. They come to us for comfort again personally I don't think the people need to change. I think the job itself needs to change. There is a better way to do this I'm not so cynical to think that we are absolutely doomed though. We are on that path I know we can find a cure if we can figure out how to send a man to the moon if Alex Trebek can defy The odds with stage four pancreatic cancer and if Harry Reid can actually overcome pancreatic cancer He's now cancer-free then we can fix this too So she repeatedly as you just heard references a cure and that we need to find a cure But the problem is that you're not going to be able to find a cure if you haven't accurately diagnosed The actual issue itself. What is that cancer name it? She doesn't necessarily say that it's relatively vague, but the cancer is Capitalism, it's the for-profit news model that that goal to maximize profit is At the center of why news is so terrible in the United States And it's not just that goal to you know maximize profits So they are incentivized to do sensationalism to increase ratings These are people in media the pundits that are multi-millionaires. They are out of touch So it's not just that they're covering stories because they're trying to find a way to you know Increase their ratings. They're covering stories to impact the country as well because I mean They have a stake. They have a horse in this race like the people at MSNBC were Absolutely hysterical when Bernie Sanders won Nevada like one reporter from MSNBC Audibly sighed when she reported that Bernie Sanders had won overwhelmingly at one particular caucus site the multi-millionaires The pundits at MSNBC they didn't like Bernie Sanders probably because he wanted to increase their taxes So it's not just that you know this drive to increase ratings Which is driven by the goal to maximize capital is making them report stories on a way that you know distorts reality They're also reporting on stories where they're trying to actually influence the outcome of society like they're not reporting it Reporting the news as it comes like they're trying to dictate what happens. They're actively telling us don't support someone like Bernie Sanders They don't explicitly say that but I mean it's it's implied We're primed to believe that Bernie is bad if we tune into MSNBC So I mean this financial incentive specifically. That's what's making news terrible. That's the cancer ultimately it is the goal of every, you know Person in a capitalist society to constantly maximize capital So you have self-interested individuals driving this content and then they also have the pressure from the network to you know Do stories that lead to them? Getting better ratings. I mean that's the issue here. It's the commodification of news news shouldn't be about what makes you money News should be about informing people reporting the news as it comes as a matter of fact Now you could have people editorialized. I think that there's room for commentary obviously. I'm a commentator But you know the way that they present this information as supposedly neutral arbiters of the truth is Pulse right? So I mean everything that she's saying here like I get the sense that her criticism of corporate media in general It's not shallow like she wants to go deeper than surface level But she misses the mark ultimately because what she saw first hand I'm glad that it disturbed her that shows that her moral compass is working But she doesn't necessarily know why these things are happening. That's really the overall Thing that I'm picking up on when I read this like she can't understand why the network has an incentive to just increase ratings Why it's the case that News is even about making money. So I mean you have to think broader than just MSNBC as a company in their gold Why is it that so many things in our capitalist society is about money? So I mean when it comes to healthcare the goal isn't to cure people the goal is to make money Goldman Sachs literally asks if it's a sustainable business model to cure patients an education We're moving towards privatization Donald Trump is trying to dismantle public education in favor of private education Why because education is no longer about learning it is about making money This is exactly what neoliberalism has done It's hollowed out our democracy in our country and of course news is going to be vulnerable to that as well So I think that you know if you are going to criticize the media you have to have a Broad analysis and you have to fully understand the powers that they have and why it's more than just oh well They want to increase ratings. So they cover this in this weird skewed way I think she's correct about that but also when you look at this from an academic perspective What they show is that the media is far more powerful than even she believes or knows right They have the power to prime people to think about things without actually saying it So they can get you to think about a particular politician in a way without saying Bernie's bad, right? I mean they certainly on MSMDC anyways, they criticize Bernie Sanders pretty explicitly you had some people saying Oh, well Bernie Sanders makes my skin crawl, but oftentimes they don't have to do that They don't have to take it that far They can prime you to think about Bernie in a certain way without saying what they want you to think like for example I can prime you to think about video games and ration and clank and controller and an X a circle Triangle you're thinking about PlayStation not because I said PlayStation But because I tried to invoke an image in your mind that gets you to think of PlayStation or if I say red Round bouncy you think of a ball and I didn't have to say ball to get you to think of a ball It's called priming I'm on top of that they can set the agenda raise the salience of How you view issues? So if you think that an issue isn't very important The media can literally elevate that issue salience and get you to think it's more important than it is in actuality Like the media is so powerful. It's why books Like manufacturing consent which are very thick have been written about this very topic because they influence a lot of what happens in this country So, you know, I really like what she's saying here I give her credit I commend her for speaking out because you know when you do something like this When you burn that bridge, you're not going to have an easy time finding a job in this industry unless she's planning to go independent But I mean, I hope that what she does is really Research specifically what that cancer she was referring to is because I think that she's misdiagnosing this issue I think that she has to broaden her level of analysis and really look at what's wrong with our news model in America All the way around like it's not just that they're trying to get ratings. It's that we have commodified news News shouldn't worry about ratings news companies should not be owned by large Multibillion-dollar companies who have interests who lobby the government for very specific policies So I'll leave that there, you know, again I don't want to shit on everything that she's saying here because I think it takes a lot of courage And I think she's brave for doing this But you know what she's saying honestly isn't that shocking and the revelations that we've received from Jeng Yuga crystal ball and Ed Schultz have been a lot more telling with regard to the practices of MSNBC This is exactly what you know, we'd expect from them, but she's right that it's not just MSNBC This is all corporate owned media who has corporate advertisers. I mean, it's all one club and you're not part of it