100. The News Industry Bias is a Cancer – Ariana Pekary

As many followers of this podcast know, its host worked as a news journalist for more than two decades. In the summer of 2020, I left my job at the biggest newspaper in Sweden. That same summer, Ariana Pekary quit her job at one of the biggest news desks in America, MSNBC, without having any other media job waiting for her. That was a bold and unconventional step in a world of tough competition.

Not only that: On her blog, Ariana posted a resignation letter, which went viral. These are some of the words she wrote:

Behind closed doors, industry leaders will admit the damage that’s being done.

“We are a cancer and there is no cure,” a successful and insightful TV veteran said to me.

As it is, this cancer stokes national division, even in the middle of a civil rights crisis. This cancer risks human lives, even in the middle of a pandemic. This cancer risks our democracy, even in the middle of a presidential election.

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.

”So much of the polarization in (the American) society is amplified due to the financial incentives of the news media”, Ariana says.

”It seeps into every newsroom, no matter how earnest the journalists are. And then it seeps into everybody’s living room.”

”It’s a cancer because it’s such an enormous problem that infects everyone. It’s incredibly damaging, and it’s only getting worse. That's why I felt I needed to say that in a public space.”

Before she came to MSNBC, Ariana worked at public radio. She describes the difference as huge. At public radio, the numbers of listeners or viewers are not broken down on a day-to-day basis, as they are at commercial desks.

”This allows the journalists there to have real live editorial debates”, she says.

For example, she was able to do an extensive documentary series about homeless children. She spent the bulk of a year interviewing families and people who worked with these vulnerable people.

”At MSNBC, they might consider that type of topic, but it would always be the first thing they would kill when something else came along. It is a big difference.”

One particular American media dilemma is political partisanship. It exists elsewhere, too, but it is especially prominent in the US. It is a real problem which seems to be difficult to solve.

I ask Ariana what she thinks about another cause of skewed news reporting, the negativity bias. I personally think it is one of the biggest media problems, because it permeates all kinds of journalism, and the focus on misery that is its result poisons people ’s minds.

Ariana agrees that the guiding star of the news media, ”if it bleeds, it leads”, is sad. But she is not convinced that it is a major issue that has to be dealt with.

”It’s a complicated problem. You're going to report on something when it’s broken. If things are working okay, you won’t.”

The media landscape is changing fast. There are ever more outlets for information, some reliable, some less so. Ariana thinks this is already changing the way we perceive news, and what it is.

”We need to exercise more humility, realize we don’t know everything, and that means accepting someone who’ll combat you with a different opinion, which can be very difficult.

My hope is that we can start to raise an awareness that things aren't necessarily black or white.”

Ariana’s ”dream” news media would break the us versus them perspective, the tribalism.

”Even if we have different opinions, we have a lot in common. There’s  a common denominator among all of us.”

Ariana’s website

Ariana’s resignation letter