In a tweet posted on Monday, MSNBC producer Ariana Pekary explained that her former network “forces skilled journalists to make bad decisions on a daily basis” in a blog post announcing her resignation.
According to the Daily Caller, Pekary transitioned to MSNBC in 2014 after working in public radio for 12 years. She was a producer for the late-night show “Up Late with Alec Baldwin” before she departed from the network in July.
“Some personal news: why I’m now leaving MSNBC," Pekary wrote in a tweet with a link to her blog post explaining why she quit. "It’s not the optimal time for change but the time doesn’t feel optional, anymore.”
Some personal news: why I'm now leaving MSNBC
— Ariana Pekary (@arianapekary) August 3, 2020
It's not the optimal time for change but the time doesn't feel optional, anymore.https://t.co/HbZo0weiUs
Pekary explains that the problem is not just MSNBC, it spans all the commercial networks and even seeps into your social media feed.
“We are a cancer and there is no cure,” an anonymous TV veteran told Pekary, who included their statement in her resignation.
“As it is, this cancer stokes national division, even in the middle of a civil rights crisis. 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, noting that the same applies to the coverage of the pandemic.
Pekary said the media is too focused on what Donald Trump is doing poorly rather than reporting the science. She also said that a producer admitted to her that viewers don’t consider commercial networks the news, they go to places like MSNBC for comfort.
Pekary’s tweet comes after New York Times’ opinion writer Bari Weiss also announced her resignation from the newspaper. Weiss cited similar concerns, including the current political climate that is increasingly restrictive to open debate.