Elon Musk sits on Twitter every day or X today saying like, we are the media, you are the media. My message to Elon Musk is bullshit. You're not the media. During an award ceremony at the National Press Club, Axios co-founder and CEO [00:00:19] Jim VandeHei basically went ballistic. You got a little taste of that in that clip on Elon Musk, who has been repeatedly telling Ex-users, quote, you are the media in the wake of Donald Trump's victory over Kamala Harris. So I'm going to give you one example. [00:00:37] This is the kind of stuff that's apparently setting off Jim VandeHei. So Elon Musk wrote, the reality of this election was plain to see on X. While most legacy media lied relentlessly to the public. You are the media now. Please post your thoughts and observations on X, correct others when wrong, and we [00:00:55] will have at least one place in the world where you can come to find the truth. Now, I want to be clear that Elon Musk has also recently confessed to throttling certain posts. He obviously was a big funder, donor and supporter of Donald Trump's. [00:01:14] And so he's also the owner of X, and he gets to do whatever he wants with it. So the fact that he has fessed up to throttling certain posts, I think is something you should keep in mind. And he's also gassing people up to post more on X. It's his business. He wants people to be more engaged on the platform. [00:01:31] But overall, I do think that the general message here is a good one, because I do think that citizen journalism, I do think that people in independent media or new media bring fresher perspectives to the table. [00:01:46] I certainly think that independent journalists tend to be more of the muckrakers that we tend to think of when journalists actually held politicians accountable in this country, but VandeHei not really liking that message at all. He doesn't like this rhetoric, so let's hear more of what he had to say [00:02:02] against social media kind of taking over when it comes to the first place people go to for news. I hate this damn debate about like, oh, we don't need the media like it is not true. Think about what makes this. I love this country. [00:02:17] I'm a beneficiary of this country, like some from Wisconsin who can come and start two companies. Be up here with an award, sit next to Mikey. I'm a beneficiary of it. But there's something about the country. There's something about it, right? There's something about freedom, capitalism, [00:02:34] the animal spirits of democracy. But at the core of that is maybe transparency, maybe a free press. You having a blue check mark, a Twitter handle, and 300 words of cleverness doesn't make you a reporter any more than me looking at your head and [00:02:51] seeing that you have a brain and telling you I have an awesome set of tools makes me a damn neurosurgeon, right? Like what we do. What journalists do. What you did in Mississippi. What Al Jazeera does in the Middle East. You proclaim yourself to be a reporter. [00:03:08] That's nonsense. Like being a reporter is hard. You have to get up every single day and say, I want to get to the closest approximation of the truth without any fear, without any favoritism. You don't do that by popping off on Twitter. [00:03:23] You don't do that by having an opinion. Look, remember, this is the CEO, founder of Axios where they report their stories in bullet points. And it drives me crazy. I just want to make that point real quick. But I also see what he's saying. [00:03:40] I look, I don't want original reporting to go away. And the institutions that he's defending here are the institutions who do have the journalists who go out there and gather the news. And that is important. We would not be able to do our jobs if it weren't for the real journalists [00:03:56] out there doing their jobs. However, I do think that there's a really big problem here. In a disconnect. Back in the day, journalists used to be working class people who didn't have elite degrees, they didn't go to Ivy leagues, and they came from working class backgrounds. That has changed. [00:04:11] Go to any newsroom for any mainstream legacy publication, and everyone's graduated from Columbia Journalism School. They come from wealthier families. They have had an affluent experience in this country, and that has led to a disconnect from the journalists who are supposed to be providing [00:04:30] a voice for ordinary Americans, as opposed to the elite or the corporate class in this country. So I see both sides. There are good arguments on both sides, but also bad arguments on both sides. And I know you're about to go off, Jake, so take it away. So first let me get the agreements out of the way. [00:04:47] So are there problems on online media? Of course there are. So your friend Bob on Facebook doesn't know better than 99% of the doctors in the world. Okay, so we've said that 100 times on the show. You have to be careful what you watch and what you read online [00:05:03] and verify the source. Okay. So I readily acknowledge that all the time. Right. And are there good parts of mainstream media? Yes. AP Reuters. Generally speaking, print reporters are far, far better than anyone on television, and you need original reporting to do all the things that we do. [00:05:19] So credit where credit is due on all of that now. The central point he's making is nonsense. So in fact, I gave almost the exact opposite of this speech at the National Press Club many years ago, and you saw how wildly they applauded him. They nearly booed me. Okay. [00:05:35] And the reason is because mainstream media pretends that they have, as he said, transparency. And they get to the closest approximation of the truth. They keep repeating that as if it's true, and they've gotten all of themselves to believe it. They're not lying. They really believe that that's what they're doing. [00:05:51] But when you ask those particular fish, how's the water? They say, what? Water. So what's the water? Gym? Let me tell you what it is. You guys never talk. About how almost all the politicians are corrupt. That. Yes. When they take millions of dollars in campaign donations, they deliver for those donors. [00:06:07] And that is the essence of corruption. So while you pretend that they're having honest ideological debates about what's happening, they're not doing no such thing. You're missing the giant story. 90% of politics is about what donor money they're taking [00:06:26] and how they're serving those donors. Yet you almost never mention it in your campaign coverage. Instead, you give them credit. They go, oh, he's the leading candidate because he's raised the most amount of money. You never point out, oh, the downside of that is that he just took a giant amount of money from drug companies, defense contractors. [00:06:43] All right. If we're being honest, Jim, those are your advertisers. And somehow you just forgot to mention in your transparency that all the politicians work for those same corporate advertisers that are in Axios and that previously were in Politico [00:07:00] and that are also in the Washington Post and all of the people in Washington, and you have these nonsense theater, total theater of the absurd conversations about ideology that senators have and politicians have, where they have almost none of that. [00:07:15] They're simply crooks who take legalized bribes and serve the people who bribe them. Now, have you ever mentioned that in Axios? Never. Zero times when we talk about legislation, why do we always get it right? Why does The Young Turks, this online show that you probably have great disdain for? [00:07:31] Why do why are our predictions on bills right nearly 100% of the time? Because it's not hard. It's not complicated. Any decent journalist would know follow the money. But you guys couldn't figure out. Oh, maybe we should follow the money. Whenever there's legislation you never talk about. [00:07:48] Hey, did the unions want some of that money in the infrastructure bill? Did corporate donors who are going to profit off of those private highways and the construction? ET cetera. Did they give money to Biden? Did they give money to Republicans, which loosened up some votes? [00:08:04] Did you guys talk about that? I guarantee you, he if he ever watches this, he'll go and try to find 1 or 2% of the time that they've ever done that and go, look, I found three instances in 20 years where I did that in my career. No, there should be thousands of those instances because that is what actually dominates politics. [00:08:20] That is why mainstream media is entirely full of crap and is actually worse than online media. Because in online media we have madness, but we also have freedom to question authority. And you guys never question authority and then pretend [00:08:36] that you're a real die hard journalist. Are you? Are you? Because it certainly doesn't look like it. So he has not persuaded you yet, Jake. But maybe. 1%. Maybe he will. Based on what he said during his appearance on Morning Joe, same topic. [00:08:52] Let's see if there's any difference in his argument. Let's watch. It doesn't mean there aren't things that we get wrong. And the reason I guess I was hopped up at that speech was I listened to so many reporters who feel like the industry is going to hell. Nobody trusts them. They're demoralized. [00:09:08] And the truth is, we don't have time to be demoralized. We don't have time to whine. We have to do our job. There is a information war out there, and there's still tens of millions of people that depend on great reporting. And it's our job to make sure we create viable businesses around it, [00:09:23] and that we really do try to get to the closest approximation of the truth, maybe do a little bit, maybe be more curious than condescending, maybe a little more fearless than foaming at the mouth. And I think if we can do those things, I think we can win back people who are skeptical. [00:09:38] The entire social media ecosystem. A lot of the things you just mentioned, they feed off of all of us, of us trying to get to the closest approximation of truth. Yeah. I mean, look, obviously seek the truth, break stories that obviously [00:09:54] challenge the powerful. And I will give Axios credit because one of their reporters, Alex Thompson, I believe, really stayed on the beat of what Biden's mental health was really like. And he didn't drop that story. And I'm sure he got a lot of hate and a lot of backlash. [00:10:11] So credit where credit is due. But he's also got to acknowledge that the lack of trust in the media isn't because Axios or The New York Times might get a story wrong here and there, it's that they completely ignore certain things that are happening in the country. [00:10:27] If those happenings, or if those events are inconvenient for the party that they obviously are supporting or pushing for in a presidential race. Right. Jenks points about corruption and the lack of reporting around that is also important. But I want to go to Joe Scarborough. [00:10:44] Let's watch what he has to say because he got worked up himself. Extraordinary content. It needed to be said. It continues to need to be said when all of the garbage that's flying around on social media, lying about reporters, lying about the hard work they do, [00:11:01] lying about the hard work editors do, lying about everything up and down, social media, people lying every day, every hour, every minute about the news. What you do matters. What The New York Times does matters. [00:11:21] What the Wall Street Journal does matters. What NBC news and MSNBC reporters do matters. This is what gets me is somebody pops off on Twitter or some other social media and they lie. They make mistakes. You know, the cost of that is nothing. They do it again. [00:11:39] In fact, it helps them because algorithms are rigged. So you stir up and you. The more you can get people angry, the more followers you get. But also now it's monetized. [00:11:56] That all came from a man who literally lied to his own audience about Biden's mental decline, who lied about the viability of Kamala Harris's campaign and how she was performing. That was the most extreme example of projection I have ever seen. [00:12:15] That was amazing. Yeah. So, look, we're fair. So has Axios broken some stories that are interesting or important from time to time? Of course, Barak Ravid has broken some interesting stories about the Middle East. ET cetera. [00:12:30] Has no one in mainstream media done any good work? No, of course not. Trey Yingst of all people on Fox News, Jeremy Damon, Jeremy Diamond on CNN done some really good reporting and brave reporting and risked their lives to do that, reporting from Israel and Gaza. So we love the good reporting and we love to give credit where credit is due. [00:12:49] But don't come ask us for credit and tell about how everybody on online media is a liar. When you lie through your teeth, about how how about how Joe Biden was healthy and young and dynamic and the best possible candidate. And then, by the way, later admitted that you didn't really think that at all. [00:13:04] Right. And why? Because you wanted access to Joe Biden and you wanted to kiss up to the powerful. It is the exact opposite of good journalism. Please stop humiliating yourself. And can I point out Al Sharpton's part of that panel who got paid money to his nonprofit for his interview for Kamala Harris, and you guys are [00:13:22] talking about ethics and journalism? - You're all a giant joke. - Half $1 million, Al Sharpton's nonprofit was awarded, you know, prior to his pretty softball interview with Kamala Harris. Okay, the other thing I want to just remind you all about Joe Scarborough, [00:13:39] who is singing the praises of muckraking journalists in the mainstream. Remember during the election, he was beside himself with rage because journalists had accurately reported that Kamala Harris was previously against fracking and then during this [00:13:57] recent campaign was in favor of fracking. That was accurate reporting. But Joe Scarborough was furious about it because he felt that it's negative news about Kamala Harris. We can't do that. We can't let that happen. Yeah. And listen, when we give this criticism, will they take it seriously? [00:14:14] There's a 0% chance they will not. You know why? Because they're not actually fair. They're not actually journalists. They will view this as, oh, a bunch of populist online. And what will they do? They will be condescending, right. And they will say, like, they would know. [00:14:33] We are the esteemed journalists of Washington, Do you see? How's that working out for you brothers and sisters? Okay, now you all look ridiculous on that air, pretending that you're giving people the truth as you were doing. Rah rah, Joe Biden, rah rah! Kamala Harris. [00:14:50] Obviously enormously biased, but more important than being biased towards Biden or Harris, they're biased towards corporate candidates that take gobs, billions in corporate donations. And golly gee, Jim VandeHei and Morning Joe, they just missed it. [00:15:06] They missed the entire frickin story of what politics is all about while pretending to be fearless. Look, I know the system feels broken, and it's hard to engage with the news right now, but it's not the time to tune out. That's just letting the system go unchecked and unchallenged. [00:15:23] We need to know what Trump and the Republican Party are up to, and we need Democrats to understand how they even got here in the first place. That's why I'm working with Ground News. They're an independent app and website that allows you to see through mainstream media narratives and keep both sides in check. [00:15:40] For every story, you can swipe to see which news sources are reporting on it. Even independent ones left out of the mainstream media bubble with visual breakdowns of their political bias, credibility, and who's funding the conversation. Compare coverage and reveal essential stories that the left [00:15:57] and the right aren't discussing. Take a break from the chaos, but don't check out and let others shape your future. Demand transparency and the leaders who are supposed to serve you and the news to accurately inform you. Go to ground Dot news. [00:16:13] Slash tight or scan the QR code to take advantage of ground news. Biggest sale of the year. You can save 50% on their top tier vantage plan, which is what we use, and stay informed without getting overwhelmed by what's going to happen [00:16:28] in the next four years. 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