Soledad O’Brien Calls Out Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell For Russia Conspiracies at Disinformation Hearing
Broadcast journalist Soledad O’Brien called out cable networks for overdramatizing the news and under-representing Americans during the House Sub-Committee hearing on “disinformation and extremism in the media.” She also made a point of exemplifying MSNBC prime time hosts for what she clearly sees as irresponsible behavior.
O’Brien began by calling out CNN for airing a piece on Lou Dobbs Tonight, during which he claimed that the “US had 7,000 new cases of leprosy in the previous three years because of unscreened illegal immigrants.
O’Brien, who worked at the network for 10 years, called the lie a “more convenient way to advance his agenda of demonizing undocumented immigrants.”
“I have my feet very firmly planted on the media landscape,” she said, noting that she has been a journalist for over 30 years. “This is what that landscape looks like to me: Media disguised as journalism has been spreading lies for years, elevating liars, and using the ensuing slugfest to chase ratings, hits, subscriptions, and advertisers. Period. Full stop.”
She goes on to label what happened to the media as “Truth Decay” — a term used by Michael Rich, CEO of Rand Corporation.
O’Brien defined the term as “‘the diminishing role of facts and analysis in public life’ — in important conversations about policy issues, policy decisions, and elections.”
She decried the decline in local news coverage, noting it led to fewer facts because fewer watchdogs were available to report on the “machinations of government and how the money is spent” in these towns.
“That has left an enormous void of information with the possible exception of social media, which is too often an unfiltered, unverified caldron of presumed fact and opinion,” she added. “In the absence of many sources for basic reporting, the public turned on their TVs, particularly in search of political reporting.”
She then revealed that in 2019 Pew Research Center found that “65 percent of news consumers trusted CNN, Fox News, the three networks and PBS and NPR depending on which way they leaned politically.”
She labeled the new dependence on TV reporting as a problem, adding that it failed to report on stories and policies that actually affect everyday people.
“Instead, it became a place where facts go to die,” she said. “TV, cable news in particular, relies on the cheap and easy booking of talking heads who exchange colorful barbs, entertaining outbursts, and sometimes peddle outright fiction.”
O’Brien faulted the major networks for filling their airtime with edited packages and interviews as opposed to breaking news and live reporting.
She shared her testimony in a tweet prior to the hearing, during which she called out MSNBC anchors Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O’Donnell for pushing Russian conspiracy theories.
“Conventional reporters and anchors, the so-called professionals, started to behave like conspiracy theorists and entertainers,” she wrote. “Rachel Maddow of MSNBC speculated that former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson might be a crony of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as Lawrence O’Donnell advanced the conspiracy that Russia orchestrated a chemical attack in Syria to help Trump.”
https://t.co/8ScvCcWFiA 4/7 pic.twitter.com/vuBOfqpJLK
— Soledad O’Brien (@soledadobrien) February 23, 2021
During the hearing, she went on to call out other cable news shows for under-representing American communities and demographics.
“Moreover, the talking heads are not in the least representative of the public,” she said. “On Meet the Press, Face the Nation, and This Week in 2015, 80 percent of guests were White, 12 percent were women, 2 percent were women of color, 41 percent were Republicans, 22 percent were Democrats.”
O’Brien concluded by giving suggesting ways to stop pushing disinformation to cable news viewers, proposing that they “don’t book liars,” recognize that not every opinion deserves a platform, and “stop saying you want a diverse staff and go hire one — fast.”
Bad information, wrong information, racist and crazy and cruel information hurts and even kills,” she concluded. “But only if we let it.”
Watch above, via Newsmax.
