Ratings game risks lives: ex-producer
An MSNBC producer has released a scathing open letter after quitting her job, accusing network news of becoming a “cancer” that “blocks diversity of thought” and “amplifies fringe voices.”
Ariana Pekary, who worked on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell,” shared the letter on her personal site Monday, accusing the industry of letting ratings dictate content.
“This cancer risks human lives, even in the middle of a pandemic,” she wrote.
Pekary, who joined the network seven years ago with “Up Late with Alec Baldwin,” said the approach has forced “skilled journalists to make bad decisions on a daily basis.”
“The model blocks diversity of thought and content because the networks have incentive to amplify fringe voices and events, at the expense of others,” Pekary wrote. “All because it pumps up the ratings.”
She said it was clear when she resigned on July 24 that ratings had already impacted election coverage, with the network focusing on President Trump and less on former Vice President Joe Biden.
“Any discussion about the election usually focuses on Donald Trump, not Joe Biden, a repeat offense from 2016 [Trump smothers out all other coverage],” she wrote. “Also important is to ensure citizens can vote by mail this year, but I’ve watched that topic get ignored or ‘killed’ numerous times.”
Pekary said for the same reason, Trump’s leadership became the primary focus of the coronavirus coverage instead of “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,” she wrote.
She said another producer tried to play down their obligation to report the news, telling her, “Our viewers don’t really consider us the news. They come to us for comfort.”
But behind closed doors, she said, other colleagues have confided in her that they agree that the news operation has become rotten.
“We are a cancer and there is no cure,” she recalled a TV veteran telling her. “But if you could find a cure, it would change the world.”
Pekary said she had received support from others, including Baldwin, to quit when she expressed concern about how the network tackled issues.
She said she doesn’t know what she’s “going to do next exactly” — but knew she “simply couldn’t stay there anymore.”
“Now maybe we can’t really change the inherently broken structure of broadcast news, but I know for certain that it won’t change unless we actually face it, in public, and at least try to change it,” Pekary added.
A rep for MSNBC said Tuesday the network takes the “public trust granted to us very seriously and even more so in today’s unprecedented news environment.”
“It’s our responsibility to cover stories that are critical to our viewers,” the network said.
“They rely on our hosts, correspondents and contributors to go where breaking news and the facts lead, asking tough questions and digging into stories with deep analysis. We encourage debate and differences of perspectives in our newsroom because it makes the product better.”