Matt Taibbi | The News Media and Manufacturing Consent in the 21st Century

Subscribe to Hidden Forces and gain access to the episode overtime, transcript, and show rundown here: hiddenforces.io... In Episode 78 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Matt Taibbi, a contributing editor for Rolling Stone and winner of the 2008 National Magazine Award, about his latest book, Hate, INC.
Matt Taibbi is someone who truly needs no introduction. His polemical, but also highly illustrative and expository writing stands apart from his contemporaries, and the significance of his contributions, particularly to the public debate during the 2008 financial crisis cannot be understated. He served as an interpreter for what was, in his own words, “a crime story that most people mistakenly thought of as an economic story.” His attacks on those he identified as being chiefly responsible for the crisis were relentless, and in a media environment tenanted and owned by government apologists and banking sycophants, they were noticeably ruthless and unforgiving. In an article he penned in the spring of 2010 titled, “The Great American Bubble Machine,” Taibbi referred to the investment bank Goldman Sachs as a “great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.”
Fortunately for Goldman Sachs, Matt Taibbi has since turned his attention towards the media itself, embarking on an ambitious project to update Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent, for the 21st century, as a serialized book that he’s been releasing through sub-stack. The majority of this conversation deals with the subject of that book, which is a sort of operational manual for those looking to understand how journalists and the media shape social reality.
When Manufacturing Consent was first published in 1988, the media landscape was still largely dominated by print and broadcast television. We’ve since gone through two, major technological disruptions, first with cable, and then with the Internet, both of which altered the traditional pathways through which governments and big business try to shape and control public opinion. Matt and Demetri discuss these changes at length, including the amplification of “flak” through social media, the new orthodoxies of groupthink, as well as an exploration of victimhood hierarchies as understood through Herman and Chomsky’s “worthy vs. unworthy victims” framework.
Finally, Matt Taibbi and Demetri discuss the circus that is the media’s political coverage, including some amazing stories from Matt’s time on the 2016 campaign trail, as well as a scathing critique of his old buddies at Goldman Sachs, who are back in the news over their role in a scheme to defraud the Malaysian government and its citizens of billions of dollars through the use of a state-owned investment fund known as 1MDB. If you want access to this part of the conversation, as well as a transcript of the full episode along with this week’s 14-page rundown, which includes an updated outline of the propaganda model and a timeline of important events in the evolution of the news business, head over to HiddenForces.io or subscribe directly through our Patreon page at / hiddenforces . Subscribers instantly gain access to our entire library of content, including nearly 80 transcripts, close to 60 rundowns, and overtime segments going back to the end of December 2018.
Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas
Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou
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[@housekeeping3561]

The fact that this was done two years ago and only 64 people have commented is the scariest thing I've ever seen. I don't know how I didn't see it before but oh my goodness I'm so glad to have this right now. Holy cow and with that I will enjoy this episode I am sure. Thank you so much.

[@yveskone5638]

Matt forever

[@sdbullion]

Superb... we were thrilled to hear both of you finally meet and speak on this podcast. Cheers!

[@frankreynolds5883]

Matt Taibbi is the man. This show has some seriously good guests.

[@sgturner59]

Thanks for this. Good to hear Matt Taibbi.

[@briandavey1139]

Terrific conversation.

[@stephenbond2478]

Great podcast , Matt and yourself summed up things really well , thankyou

[@Bonifazius00]

Great great interview! So many points to make. One thing about youtube and successful podcast like JoeRoegan. What you kind of forget is, that the audience is global. People tune in from all around the world and have access. Here in Germany I cannot simply switch to MSNBC or FOX. But KZbin is reachable for everyone everywhere everytime and this is the reason why the numbers are so staggering in comparision to "classic" TV news.

[@barrysmith9878]

St Louis loves Matt Taibbi....everyone needs to read Griftopia

[@flashcloud666]

Lot of good information in this.

[@peterstafford4426]

I would not trust a thing Taibbi says

[@alexg4150]

What does "they papered it over through asset price appreciation" refer to?

[@deanrao7554]

"Vampire Squid" will look good on Goldman Sachs' gravestone. OK, that's wishful thinking--it WOULD look good (if only) on Goldman Sachs' tombstone. This is a great discussion.

[@michellem7290]

This conversation is making me think of Fight Club

[@philosophe5319]

Starts at 4:20

[@Persephone76]

Four twenty...👍🍭🛸

[@vfwh]

1:15 - "cannot be OVERstated"...

[@Bartnick81]

Very good interview, thanks

[@dragonrabbit7410]

9:45 "they're also entertainingly loathsome people." LMAO

[@Kalumbatsch]

1:10 "his contribution to the public debate during the 2008 financial crisis cannot be understated" :D

[@danlewis7641]

Excellent conversation.

[@Krehtan]

I'm curious, what do you think about Sam Harris saying that he's being taken out of context when ever anyone critiques him?

[@billypilgrim7838]

He's usually right

[@S_Padival]

It’s interesting that you had Matt Taibbi on & didn’t ask a single question about scumbag shorts like Chanos. Taibbi wrote an entire book chapter on Chanos teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/fairfax-pdf.310679/

[@richardbeard9391]

nice one

[@MR-tn5kv]

Thanks, fascinating if horrifying

[@zheega2184]

Sam Harris intellectual honesty? LOL

[@jondoe7205]

Seethe more, loser 😄

[@neverbeabletoremembe]

1:14:09 nailed it.

[@miktmurray]

Great interview with Taibbi. Often Matt is on interviews w/out someone who has as much historical context as you yand it was intriguing to hear all the references and comparisons to past events. However I'm a little curious about your angle on Sam Harris? I myself have enjoyed Harris in the past, some of his interviews with people concerning AI and the future are great but he's really let Russiagate do a number on his integrity as far as I'm concerne and his views on Islam are hysterical, having admitted his only interest in the latter came after the events 18 yrs ago. I also wonder about the Jon Stewart discussion. In retrospect I think Jon Stewart was incredibly harmful to the American discourse. He basically created an easily digestible template for news delivery that was met with cued studio laughter, it was bizarre and has now been imitated countless times. Its a flippant way to deliver information that actually matters leaving the viewer feeling as if they really do live in a comedic universe dominated by cynical irony. I don't think this was Stewarts intention but more so a fault of the audience who gobbled up his show night after night. It was certainly also a venue for the typical uncritical talk show interview where both parties smile for the camera and forget their differences for the sake of entertainment. Carlin was on stage, it was overtly comedic and absurd. Stewart and those who have followed seem to me to be doing something with a much darker aspect.

[@CarlyonProduction]

They talk about Chomsky a lot in this video - the interviewer would do well to look at the exchange between Harris ANS Chomsky, in which Harris really exposed himself as the charlatan that he is. Really intellectually dishonest, with no knowledge of history. I think that is what annoys me about Harris (outside the soft peddling of pseudo science ‘race realism’) but he literally never gives any space for historical context. That is what the intellectual dark web does too - strip issues of their historical context to their own purposes. The interview with Ezra Kline is a great example too. I am not a big fan of Ezra by any stretch, but again it shows Harris for the complete fraud that he is.

[@isaacinternet]

If you want an example of a man with vocal fry, Matt is a good option.

[@lisamerrittjohn]

The "used to be method" to get the word out was the Church! Think about the development of the "power over the air" in terms of who brings the word.....

[@billypilgrim7838]

Anything besides the church is a progress

[@kevinjones6744]

"tragedy or comedy"? This is journalism and news we are talking about, not entertainment.

[@BMC-hl2uh]

Sam Harris...you're joking, right? Jimmy Dore, Humanist Report, The Political Vigilante, Lee Camp...

[@AndreAndFriends]

50 min. The best part. You welcome.

[@shatchett0]

I don't know. Who is the military supposed to recruit? 50 year old men?

[@nukelaloosh4795]

right, a 2hr right fest, right

[@jfrsnjhnsn]

I only want to read Taibbi. I never want to to have to look at or listen to him.

[@chinhau8702]

Manufacturing consent _lies to justify their purpose that is illegal but legitimate or legitimized...

[@jessize4503]

Respect...then Sam Harris fawning !