Corporate Media Has Picked Its Side—We Must Pick Ours

Invest in the voices speaking truth to power and let's build a Fourth Estate deserving of its name

Last night MSNBC fired another host of talented and accomplished journalists of color. This extends MSNBC’s line of terminated or demoted journalists to Tiffany Cross ❌ Mehdi Hasan ❌ Alex Wagner ❌

Joy-Ann Reid

❌ and Ayman Mohyeldin ❌, and Katy Phang ❌ and José Díaz-Balart ❌ who were demoted.

The corporate media landscape is making its loyalties clear: they are choosing fascism, access journalism, and whitewashing narratives over truth, accountability, and justice. The message is if you’re white and pro-Trump, your job is safe. If you’re a journalist of color who holds power accountable, you’re expendable. So what do we do about this and how do we stop this perpetual silencing of women and voices of color? Let’s Address This.

(TL to BR) Joy Ann Reid, Jonathan Capehart, Aymen Mohyeldin, Alex Wagner

Monday Night Massacre

The hard truth is that corporate media wants diversity for optics, not for truth. And this is not just my opinion. As Professor Jelani Cobb writes:

A half-century ago, members of the Kerner Commission – an advisory board formed by President Lyndon B Johnson in response to a series of race riots – spelled out the role of a mostly white media in failing to cover the cause of unrest. It called on news outlets across the country to diversify.¹

So what has changed since then? Sadly, not much. A Pew Survey found that in 2022, Black voices still represent only 6% of media.² Pew also found that:

Overall, 76% of all reporting journalists surveyed indicated that they are White, while 8% are Hispanic, 6% are Black and 3% are Asian. These figures align closely with previous research showing that a large portion of newsrooms’ employees are White, higher than the share of U.S. workers overall who are White.³

MSNBC is not the first, but just the latest to systematically fire, sideline, or reassign Black, brown, and Arab journalists who dared to challenge Trump, call out genocide, and demand real justice. And meanwhile, guess who gets to enjoy their complexion for protection? Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski—two white journalists who flew down to Mara Lago to kiss the Trump ring, who refuse to condemn Netanyahu’s genocide, and who refuse to recognize that in doing so they are enabling fascism—continue to keep their premier spot on air.

And this injustice extends well beyond MSNBC. Jim Acosta just left CNN after he was demoted, a punishment meted out to him for his relentless criticism of Trump’s fascism. CNN also famously fired Don Lemon for his condemnation of anti-Black racism. Meanwhile, Jesse Watters of Fox News spews ongoing and grotesquely racist, anti-Muslim, and Islamophobic propaganda, yet gets to keep his prime time slot. The pattern is undeniable—when journalists of color hold the powerful accountable, they are silenced. When white journalists punch down, they are praised. The goal is to uphold the status quo, not serve as an effective Fourth Estate.

Thus, Black and brown voices become tokens for display—not vital perspectives deserving of being heard and centered. And all the while corporate media will still insist it has nothing to do with race. As James Baldwin famously said, “I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.” We cannot afford to wait another half century for incremental change. We need to take the power in our hands, and change the system now.

The Answer: Support Independent Voices

I never ask my readers to do something I am not willing to do. That is why I ask you to join me in refusing to sit by while corporate media censors the voices that matter. As of right now, I am personally a paying subscriber to a dozen writers, journalists, and activists—most of whom are Black and brown, and all of whom are relentless in their pursuit of justice. They are speaking truth on all matters, including:
✔️ Condemning Trump’s fascism
✔️ Unapologetically calling out the genocide in Gaza
✔️ Holding Republicans and Democrats alike accountable
✔️ Refusing to stay silent on the marginalization of any community
✔️ Countering the economic, social, and climate justice devastating our humanity

And I need you to join me.

While I fully respect that becoming a paying member is not in everyone’s budget, becoming a free subscriber costs nothing. For those who are able to afford a cup of coffee a month without it hurting your financial well-being, I invite you to become a paid subscriber. I invite you to drop the cable news pundits making millions at our expense, and instead look at the dozen plus voices I subscribe to as a paid supporter, and many many more, and consider supporting them as well. For everyone reading this, I invite you to invest as a free subscriber and add your voice to a movement committed to facts, justice, and human rights.

Conclusion

Whether it’s ABC capitulating to Trump’s defamation suit, Facebook refusing to fact check disinformation, or Google now calling it “The Gulf of America,” Corporate media is no longer a viable Fourth Estate. It has chosen to become a propaganda machine that enables white supremacy and shields the powerful. But we don’t have to rely on them. We can build a media ecosystem that is sincerely committed to truth, justice, and accountability. And we must act now.

This is our moment to support the voices who refuse to be silenced. Corporate media has picked its side—capitulation to fascism. Let’s pick ours—absolute justice.

1. https://www.theguardian.com/profile/jelani-cobb

2. https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2018/nov/05/newsroom-diversity-media-race-journalism

3. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/04/04/us-journalists-beats-vary-widely-by-gender-and-other-factors/