WEBVTT - The Media Show | 28 February 0:00:01.240 --> 0:00:02.800 This is the Media. 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:07.440 Show with Jack outing, Hello and welcome to the Media Show. 0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:10.240 Tonight we look at reaction to a high profile sacking 0:00:10.240 --> 0:00:12.480 in the US media and we sit down with Sky 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:16.440 News Australia's media watchdog columnist Jared Henderson, who takes aim 0:00:16.720 --> 0:00:20.279 and some pretty biased journalists. But first, the ABC is 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:24.720 facing an identity crisis which stems from mismanagement, incompetence and 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:28.480 editorial double standards. Now I feel really sorry for the 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:31.280 journalists who are genuinely trying to break stories at the 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.840 ABC while management repeatedly runs what was once a great 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:39.080 institution into the ground. Just yesterday's staff would have gathered 0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:42.599 around their computers to watch the court live stream involving 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:47.400 their sacked colleague Antoinette Latouffe, whose shifts were canned based 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:51.760 on her social media activity and potentially her race. The 0:00:51.800 --> 0:00:54.760 court has been told by her legal team to accept 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:58.880 that her dismissal was related to her race. They argued 0:00:58.920 --> 0:01:02.280 that white presenters such as Laura Tingle, who was directly 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:05.919 named in court, repeatedly share biased content on social media 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:10.399 and face no proportional punishment, and they have a pretty 0:01:10.440 --> 0:01:13.320 good point. The ABC has spent more than one point 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:17.320 one million dollars arrogantly fighting Latoof in court. She would 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:20.480 have settled for eighty five grand early on, plus a 0:01:20.520 --> 0:01:24.680 public apology and reinstatement as a fill in presenter. They 0:01:24.720 --> 0:01:28.760 have nothing but contempt for your money, and these executives 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:31.679 running the joint are not the kind of progressive people 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.520 that they pretend to be. It is no wonder that 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:38.720 staffer disgusted at their own companies handling of the case, 0:01:39.240 --> 0:01:42.720 and we tend to agree Latoof never should have been hired, 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.120 but once she was on the books, she should have 0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:47.760 been on a level playing field to the white presenters 0:01:47.760 --> 0:01:52.160 at the ABC, the ones who are aggressively protected sometimes 0:01:52.280 --> 0:01:55.680 beyond all reason. I am talking about people like Four 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:59.280 Corners star Louise Milligan, who wasn't sacked after defaming a 0:01:59.320 --> 0:02:03.440 politician with a falsehood on social media. Now that costs 0:02:03.560 --> 0:02:07.840 you four hundred thousand dollars no punishment, though, and they 0:02:07.840 --> 0:02:11.240 continue to praise and promote her at every opportunity. This 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:14.519 clear double standard aside. Earlier in the week, the ABC 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.480 had the opportunity to address staff and Australians paying for 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.760 this mess, assuring them that they didn't racially target a 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.280 woman based on her opinions or race, but instead this happened. 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:31.640 So I just wanted to firstly ask you about the 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:37.600 two litigation. Could you provide the Committee with an update 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:40.840 on that dispute which is obviously garnering a lot of 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:42.239 headlines at the moment. 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:46.520 Yes, Senator, So the case is still before the courts. 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.760 We have closing submissions Thursday and Friday. 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:53.800 Of this week, So can you please provide the Committy 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.320 with an update on this litigation? 0:02:58.480 --> 0:03:02.800 Senator? That is the update I'm able to provide at 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.760 this point in time. The case is still before the courts. 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:09.480 But do you know what the ABC did have time for? 0:03:09.800 --> 0:03:12.600 Instead of being transparent about these issues and providing the 0:03:12.639 --> 0:03:16.240 Senate with a substantive update, they turned on their critics. 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.400 I can confirm that News Limited do have a strange 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:26.480 obsession with sort of taking scrutiny beyond scrutiny and sort 0:03:26.520 --> 0:03:30.480 of regularly agitating against the work of our journalists. We're 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:36.160 flatted with their interest, but despite the very small readership, 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:38.760 we do engage and respond to a lot of their 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.920 queries quite regularly, and we do defend the work of 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:46.760 our journalists. Almost every week. There's multiple careers a week 0:03:48.200 --> 0:03:51.760 having said that as a public broadcaster, we must be 0:03:51.840 --> 0:03:54.760 subjected to scrutiny and we must have a culture of 0:03:54.800 --> 0:03:58.120 accepting scrutiny and self reflect where we get things wrong. 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:03.640 That was the ABC's powerful news boss, Justin Stevens, who 0:04:03.680 --> 0:04:06.720 is responding to a question from Green Senator Sarah Hanson 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:11.400 Young about standing up to News Corp. Now Justin wants 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:15.320 to define what acceptable scrutiny is while also having childish 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:19.320 digs at audiences being small, which is very ironic considering 0:04:19.360 --> 0:04:23.240 the massive audience issues the ABC faces. But all of 0:04:23.279 --> 0:04:26.840 that aside, this is not how scrutiny works. We are 0:04:26.880 --> 0:04:30.080 journalists and we ask all sorts of questions to all 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:34.880 sorts of statutory bodies every single day. The ABC isn't special. 0:04:35.200 --> 0:04:38.960 It gets probed exactly how we might probe any government department, 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.280 all statutory body which has clear issues, and his journos 0:04:43.320 --> 0:04:46.760 do the exact same thing, and Justin Stevens does not 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:50.800 get to dictate what level of scrutiny is appropriate. That's 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:53.800 the whole point. You decide because you pay for it. 0:04:54.320 --> 0:04:57.880 The ABC costs you one point two billion dollars a year, 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:00.760 which means for the thirteen point six million taxpayers in 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:04.839 this country. On average, you pay eighty six dollars a year, 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:08.320 and in many cases that's against your will. And that's 0:05:08.320 --> 0:05:12.200 for the ABC to spend your money artificially inflating audience 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:16.560 figures with cheap and asenine tiktoks. People like Justin Stevens, 0:05:16.600 --> 0:05:19.799 who is paid five hundred and fifty six thousand dollars 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.640 every year, are shockingly reckless with your money, and his 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:28.200 contempt for transparency is a contempt towards every Aussie paying 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:32.719 his salary. The ABC spent three point four million dollars 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.800 in legal fees last financial year. Now are we not 0:05:36.080 --> 0:05:39.240 supposed to ask about those cases? And what about the 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:43.080 humiliating apology the Justin Stevens had to deliver when his 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:47.760 staff doctored gunshot sounds into a professional news report to 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:50.960 make it seem like a soldier was shooting at unarmed civilians. 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.680 Oh that's right. They cleared themselves of deliberate wrongdoing in 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:58.400 this one by hiring a former ABC journal to review 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.560 the actions of Justin Stevens. Employ Not sure it makes 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:05.840 it much better, though not deliberate, just shocking incompetence, but 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:06.360 in a way. 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:08.000 I agree Justin. 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:11.200 Stevens is the face of incompetence because this is the 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:14.360 modern ABC. It has lost the faith of its own 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:20.880 staff and mainstream Australia Bill. Joining me now on the 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.120 panel is Managing editor of The Australian, Darren Davidson, and 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:27.560 of course Sky News contributor Kel Richards. Now Kel the 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:31.240 ABC it's having scandal after scandal, and you would think 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:34.240 go into senate estimates, that's an opportunity for a newsboss 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:38.640 such as Justin Stevens to lay it out, really explain 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.280 to Australians where they've gone wrong. Instead, it's quite defensive. 0:06:42.800 --> 0:06:46.120 And this is not that long after this doctoring scandal 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:48.240 that happened on his watch with his staff. 0:06:48.600 --> 0:06:53.039 Yes, they've got so much that has gone wrong. It's 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:55.800 really hard for them to be comfortable and open. They 0:06:55.839 --> 0:06:58.480 can't just roll action say we're doing well and here's 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:01.520 what happened one, two, three, four four, because too much 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.280 has gone wrong in too many areas over too much time. 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:06.920 I mean the business are putting in five extra gunshots, 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.640 for example, into that report about what happened in Afghanistan. 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:14.360 Now I have sat in ABC editing rooms beside the 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:18.000 vision editor. I know how it's put together. I'm just 0:07:18.160 --> 0:07:23.200 puzzled by what they say. I cannot comprehend how that 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:26.440 could happen by accident. For a start, you have to 0:07:26.480 --> 0:07:29.760 have the sounds, the sound effects available to insert on 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:32.480 the audio track, so they're not hanging. 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:34.400 It turned them into an audio file. 0:07:34.440 --> 0:07:37.480 That's so they're not floating around the room somewhere and 0:07:37.560 --> 0:07:38.800 just fall into the machine. 0:07:38.880 --> 0:07:39.760 That doesn't happen. 0:07:39.960 --> 0:07:42.800 Someone makes a conscious decision to isolate and pull out 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:46.440 the gunshots, and then they don't go onto the audio 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.800 track unless someone presses a button and puts them onto 0:07:48.840 --> 0:07:52.920 the audio track. It can't happen. It just can't happen automatically. 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.640 And I cannot, for the life of me, having spent 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:58.200 far too long in my life doing that kind of thing, 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:03.080 I cannot understand the explanation. It's incomprehensible. It makes no sense. 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:09.120 In an editing suite, someone somewhere makes a decision, a reporter, 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.600 an editor makes a decision, let's beef up the battle 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:16.240 scene by putting in some extra gunshots. Now, if they'd 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:19.000 said we just thought we were beefing up the battle scene, 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:21.880 it never occurred to us that we were in fact 0:08:21.880 --> 0:08:22.440 treading on. 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.800 Legal ground that there was a broad that's right. Now. 0:08:25.800 --> 0:08:28.280 If they'd said that, we would have said, okay, stupid 0:08:28.280 --> 0:08:31.320 thing to do, but we understand people can make stupid 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:34.760 decisions on occasions. They haven't said that. They've said somehow 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:38.920 these sound effects of rifle shots fell onto the soundtrack, 0:08:39.160 --> 0:08:42.280 and during all the screening afterwards, every time they checked 0:08:42.280 --> 0:08:43.840 the story, every time they went. 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:45.280 Through it, no one noticed. 0:08:45.720 --> 0:08:48.239 Now that's just beyond my comprehension. 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.000 He has no credibility to get his own team to 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:54.719 publish a headline saying ABC cleared of deliberately. What's he 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:58.400 saying they're guilty of incompetence? It's so absurd. I won't 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.480 be lectured to with a man who's that incompetent. But Darren, 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:05.320 what did you make of his Senate estimates hearing there 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:07.560 where he did take an aim at News Corp. I 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:09.920 know a lot of your reporters at Australian have been 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:12.320 asking some very tough questions the ABC. 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:13.520 Is that fair? 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:15.160 Is that fair for them to do that? 0:09:17.320 --> 0:09:19.760 Absolutely? I mean the ABC, as we all know, is 0:09:19.800 --> 0:09:22.600 funded by the taxpayer. They've just had a new five 0:09:22.679 --> 0:09:27.200 year cycle locked in with the federal government. Kim Williams 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:31.560 has been given an extra forty million, and yet there 0:09:31.600 --> 0:09:36.600 are serious problems with Justin's news operations. Kel gave one 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:41.199 example there with those you know, with the very questionable 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:44.600 editing around that story. Another example would be nearly a 0:09:44.679 --> 0:09:47.600 year ago, now we had that national tragedy at the 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:51.320 Westfield shopping center in Bondi Junction. Now that story was 0:09:51.400 --> 0:09:56.920 covered comprehensively and at speed by organizations like Sky and 0:09:57.000 --> 0:10:01.840 News Corp. Yet the ABC with a fraction sorry, they 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:04.160 did that with a fraction of the budget that the 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:08.000 ABC has. Yet the ABC was behind them. It moved 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:11.680 at glacial pace during that story, as we and others 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.600 and yourself reported at the time. And I think a 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:17.240 lot of the ABC's problems are kind of born of 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:21.160 its vast size and this billion dollar plus budget. I 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.920 think it's very easy for the ABC's reporters and their 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:29.079 friends and their circle to forget that that they're not 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:32.760 the people that they are serving. There's millions of Australians 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:35.760 out there that don't align with their align with their values, 0:10:35.960 --> 0:10:40.040 and you know, they often forget that it's about reporting 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:43.640 the news, not a pining and Justin's you know, failed 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:45.960 to rain those instincts in. There are a lot of 0:10:46.000 --> 0:10:49.120 the that the ABC News operations seems to have. We've 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:53.400 got a new incoming managing director, Hugh Mark's former Channel 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:58.160 nine CEO. He's pretty good, he's pretty solid. You know, 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:00.960 he's got a big job here now in terms of 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:04.840 bringing some much needed discipline to the public broadcasters, editorial 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:09.480 decision making process and judgment. And you know that's important 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:12.600 because he has to address a sharp decline in their audiences, 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:16.640 ABC audiences, particularly on radio, which just reflects that what 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.840 Justin's doing is not serving the needs of Australians, particularly 0:11:19.840 --> 0:11:21.000 those outside of the mainstream. 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:23.440 Well, let's move on now to a story about a 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:27.600 sacked radio star who took aim at the Matilda's You 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.600 know what, they remind me of Year ten girls. Now, 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.920 I'm sorry to undermine the whole sport, but that's what 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:35.160 I think that so you can stick it up your ass. 0:11:35.160 --> 0:11:37.960 I'd rather hammer and nail through the head of my watch. 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:40.920 That got any men's sport. 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:42.280 Now. 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:44.440 He rightfully got a lot of flak for those comments, 0:11:44.440 --> 0:11:47.880 which I think were bizarre considering how much Australia rallied 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:51.160 behind this team during the World Cup. But soon after 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:55.480 another eclipse surfaced and this one was actually quite disgusting. 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:57.080 The end of matriosis. 0:11:57.120 --> 0:12:01.280 And this is controversial. I'm going to say it's controversial here. 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:02.120 It's made up. 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.240 Most people watching tonight would personally know a woman who 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:09.440 has been impacted by endometriosis and it is a very 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:13.199 real issue and he was an absolute moron to suggest otherwise. 0:12:13.559 --> 0:12:15.840 Let's bring the panel back in, Darren, what do you 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:16.880 make of this whole saga. 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:21.520 Yeah, they're really shocking surprising comments to hear on the 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:25.959 mainstream national radio broadcaster. I mean, it's more like something 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.400 you might hear on a fringe podcast. I don't think 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:32.760 his employers really had a lot of choice there. Many 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.120 of his you know, listeners and audience would have been 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.040 turned off by those comments and they would have made 0:12:37.160 --> 0:12:39.680 a lot of the sponsors and advertisers, not that they 0:12:39.679 --> 0:12:44.559 should dictate editorial, but quite uncomfortable being alongside that content. 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:47.280 And as you said, you know, the Matilda's a huge 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:52.719 success story. They've elevated football soccer in Australia and with 0:12:52.880 --> 0:12:55.080 the twenty twenty six feet World Cup around the corner 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:59.120 and Matilda's going through a qualifying campaign At the moment, 0:12:59.120 --> 0:13:00.960 it's just a shame that this has become the focus 0:13:01.000 --> 0:13:04.200 of the attention around that team, and you know, so 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:08.560 many young girls look up to them and the comments 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.280 is very unfortunate and unfortunately. I think it's probably the 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:13.920 right decision to to n his employment. 0:13:14.559 --> 0:13:17.880 Yeah, I'm a big free speech guy. I definitely draw 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.280 the line. If you're mocking a chronic illness, particularly leads 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.920 to fertility issues, I've got no time. Good luck to 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:26.559 him join the centilent cumate exactly. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:29.360 Look, I'm with you because we all know someone like that. 0:13:29.400 --> 0:13:32.079 I personally know a young woman who in her teens 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:35.400 would be up vomiting twelve thirteen times a night because 0:13:35.440 --> 0:13:38.600 of endometriosis, wake up in the morning in enormous pain 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:41.000 and say can you drive me to school? I mean, 0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:43.400 that's what these people are going through. 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:43.840 Now. 0:13:43.880 --> 0:13:46.600 I don't know Marty, he's got daughters as well. 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:49.000 Yeah, I don't know if he's been this bad all 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:51.360 along and we've only just discovered it, or whether somehow 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:54.240 an epidemic of stupidity has suddenly hit him. But if 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:55.880 that's what he's going to talk about, and that's what 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.199 he's going to say, I'm really pleased he's off the 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.320 year and no one should allow him anywhere NEU a 0:14:00.400 --> 0:14:01.760 microphone ever again. 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:03.760 Yep, And I'll delete him from my mind as soon 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:06.040 as we move on to this next segment. But we're 0:14:06.040 --> 0:14:08.160 going to take a quick break. When we return, we'll 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:11.160 play you a clip of MSNBC hosts Joy Reid having 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:22.120 a public meltdown on camera after getting sacked. Welcome back 0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:25.320 to Stars and Gripes now where we pick apart the absurdity, 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:33.600 the hypocrisy, and the blatant bias in the US media. First, 0:14:33.760 --> 0:14:37.080 one of America's most divisive TV hosts, who we have 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.840 spoken about a lot on this show, has been sacked. 0:14:40.280 --> 0:14:43.200 Joy Reid's floundering show was axed, and in her last 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:48.080 show she spoke about resistance and fascism with the typical 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:51.040 inflammatory language that she has become infamous for. 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:55.640 And we begin tonight with what I think is the question, 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.120 when you are in the midst of a crisis, and 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:03.240 specifically a crisis of democracy, how do you resist when 0:15:03.280 --> 0:15:07.840 fascism isn't just coming, it's already here. So what if anything, 0:15:08.480 --> 0:15:10.720 can you do about it? Well, for one thing, you 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:12.920 can try to learn from history from what people in 0:15:12.960 --> 0:15:16.680 this situation, in countries around the world and in America. 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:17.240 Have done before. 0:15:18.480 --> 0:15:22.120 Reid considered herself to be a student of history, so 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.400 much so that she spent a great deal of time 0:15:24.600 --> 0:15:28.120 using awful people from history to describe her modern day 0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:29.680 political opponents. 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:36.840 Vladimir Putin's Russia, Victor Orbon's Hungary, or Nicolas Maruro in Venezuela. 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:41.480 Today that suppresses the rights of women and minorities, uses 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:45.440 the military to execute the whims of a strong man dictator, 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:50.920 and controls and suppresses the press, education, the arts, rewrites 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.960 history to suit a favored and dominant racial class, and 0:15:55.080 --> 0:16:00.120 foments extravagant corruption in order to enrich the dictator and 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:00.760 his friends. 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:05.480 It really is extraordinary that Read lasted this long. She 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.400 did not appear to have any principles as a journalist. 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:12.480 Her entire personality seemed to be personal attacks on people 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:15.920 who voted differently to her. She even managed to turn 0:16:15.960 --> 0:16:18.880 this Thanksgiving into a message of division. 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:23.000 You right wingers shouldn't have to suffer the consequences of 0:16:23.040 --> 0:16:26.080 your votes. You don't want to be around me because 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.320 I voted for fascism. No fair, I am coughing on 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:30.920 you with COVID, But you want me to wear a 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:35.440 mask for your safety. No fair, my body, my choice. 0:16:36.000 --> 0:16:39.200 Well here's an alternative thought. Make your own dinner, Magan, 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.600 make your own sandwiches, wipe your own tears, troll amongst 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:45.840 yourself with Elon, and leave us alone. 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.920 This is a person who was getting paid three million 0:16:49.080 --> 0:16:51.880 US dollars a year, although that was slashed to one 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:55.560 point five million last year following a ratings disaster. But 0:16:55.720 --> 0:16:58.960 now the gravy train has run out of track. And 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:03.640 that woman who wanted families to fight on Thanksgiving about politics, 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.760 and he calls anyone who disagrees with her hitler. She 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:08.760 believes that she is the victim. 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:13.280 My show had value and that. 0:17:14.800 --> 0:17:22.760 I'm sorry that what I was doing head value had 0:17:22.880 --> 0:17:24.720 value and in the end, I'm sorry, I'm not I 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:26.560 try not to cry on TV, and I say, this 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:28.320 is kind of like me on TVs. I apologize. 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:33.040 Actually, I'm pretty sure that's misinformation. Her show did not 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.760 have value, which is why the company acted it. It's 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.919 pretty simple, but this fact was also lost on her colleagues. 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:44.080 MSNBC's Rachel Maddow was infuriated that her friend Joy Read 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:44.600 was sacked. 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:47.640 In all of the jobs I have had, in all 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.480 of the years I have been alive, there is no 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:53.880 colleague for whom I have had more affection and more 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:58.159 respect than joy Read. I love everything about her. I 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:00.879 have learned so much from her, so much more to 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:02.760 learn from her. I do not want to lose her 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.800 as a colleague here at MSNBC, And personally, I think 0:18:05.800 --> 0:18:08.040 it is a bad mistake to let her walk out 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:08.400 the door. 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:12.480 Okay, they didn't let her walk out the door. She 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:16.000 was fired. I mean, surely Rachel knows this. I mean, 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:19.440 this is the level of spin and duplicity that these 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:22.160 people go to wear with. They cannot even be honest 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:24.600 about the fact that her ratings were bad, so she 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:27.600 was fired. Instead, they dress it up as they let 0:18:27.680 --> 0:18:32.280 her walk out the door, whatever that means. It is extraordinary, 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:34.560 really that management let this go to wear, and it 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:38.639 just gets worse after this. Madow implied that management fired 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:40.920 her because they are racist. 0:18:41.560 --> 0:18:45.159 It is also unnerving to see that on a network 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.520 where we've got two count of two non white hosts 0:18:48.520 --> 0:18:52.760 in primetime, both of our non white hosts in primetime 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.800 are losing their shows, as is Katie fang on the weekend, 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.560 and that feels worse than bad, no matter who. Now, 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:04.040 that feels indefensible, and I do not defend it. 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.960 Okay, if that is true, and this is an indefensible 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:12.800 racist decision, then resign. Surely you do not want to 0:19:12.840 --> 0:19:16.520 work for a racist institution, and you, a white privileged woman, 0:19:16.800 --> 0:19:18.800 is taking up the spot of a woman of color, 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:21.000 So surely she resigns. 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:21.320 Right. 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:24.919 I think I'm safe in saying for all of us 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.760 anchors who you know through the TV, please know that 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.240 what pins us the most is not what happens to us. 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:32.120 It is what happens to. 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:35.280 Our coworkers on whom we depend and who you don't 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:39.800 necessarily know, but we respect and love them and depend 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.440 on them. And did I mention we respect them? 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.480 Okay, So she is staying, but she respects all of 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.479 her colleagues who just got sacked, and she will continue 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:53.120 to earn twenty five million US dollars over five years. 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.920 Let's bring in Sky News contributor Koshergata to DISCUSSYV. 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:57.320 Kosher. 0:19:57.359 --> 0:19:59.840 I've got to say, good old MSNBC for letting that 0:20:00.200 --> 0:20:03.480 go to where I'm really glad that I got to 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:07.040 kind of witness this meltdown in real time, and to 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:10.120 their credit, they gave her a bit of independence and 0:20:09.840 --> 0:20:15.919 they let her call them racist on their own TV channel. 0:20:18.720 --> 0:20:21.440 They were definitely generous. Jack gray Budo has always both 0:20:21.440 --> 0:20:24.840 in letting Joy Read have her final episode. Oftentimes hosts 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:26.960 her canceled and are not afforded that courtesy because you 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:29.600 do serve at the pleasure of management and the company 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:32.119 that employs you. And also Rachel Matta over here. But 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:35.480 I have to say that the level of sanctimony and 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:39.360 insubordination that she showed and that she was dripping within 0:20:39.440 --> 0:20:43.360 subordination was actually really really stunning, where she basically, as 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:45.639 you said, accused her bosses of making a bad management 0:20:45.680 --> 0:20:48.440 decision and being racist. I think this is a real 0:20:48.520 --> 0:20:51.240 test for new management. They've got Rebecca Cutler, a newly 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:55.840 minted president of the network after the previous one, Rashida Jones, 0:20:55.880 --> 0:20:58.239 resigned in January, and I don't know, I think it's 0:20:58.280 --> 0:21:01.000 a really interesting test for her to know who is 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.879 ultimately in charge over here. Notwithstanding Rachel Maddow is their 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:06.719 biggest star. It hasn't happened yet, so I don't expect 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.359 that it will, but I think in most other workplaces 0:21:09.400 --> 0:21:12.119 this would be considered rather brazen for an employee to 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:14.800 publicly say this about their boss. 0:21:15.160 --> 0:21:18.000 Oh, definitely brazen. I think there is also a little 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:20.480 bit of an issue in the logic that she's using. 0:21:21.119 --> 0:21:25.040 If representation based on racial lines really matters, it's always 0:21:25.080 --> 0:21:27.840 these white liberals and these top positions that say it. 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:30.840 You never see them stand aside and say, okay, well 0:21:30.920 --> 0:21:32.800 Joy Read can have my job, then she can have 0:21:32.840 --> 0:21:33.280 my show. 0:21:35.480 --> 0:21:37.760 There are twenty five million reasons I can think of 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:40.720 for why she's not doing that, even after her pay cut. 0:21:40.800 --> 0:21:44.680 That's a very pretty package for one hour of content 0:21:44.800 --> 0:21:46.960 a week. After the first hundred days of the presidency, 0:21:47.000 --> 0:21:49.720 she literally does one hour per week. So most people 0:21:49.720 --> 0:21:52.359 will never have a deal like that. But ultimately, you know, 0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:54.080 as you said at the top, this does come down 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:56.760 to a business decision because the product that Joy Read 0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:59.640 was putting out there has been what it's been, and 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:03.320 MSNBC had no problems keeping it on when she was 0:22:03.359 --> 0:22:06.200 at least bringing readings. You could argue if that ethically 0:22:06.280 --> 0:22:07.840 or morally that was the right thing to do or not, 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:10.240 But from a business perspective, she used to get about 0:22:10.240 --> 0:22:13.240 three million people a night back in twenty twenty, that 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.000 dropped about one point one to one point two in 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:18.240 twenty four last year, and now she's not even cracking 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:21.200 eight hundred thousand. So when you just look at those numbers, Ultimately, 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:23.840