My Letter to CBS Staff…

This is Ben Meiselas, co-founder of the MeidasTouch Network, and this is my open letter to CBS reporters and staff, as well as reporters and staff who work for other corporate news outlets that are continuing to bow to Trump’s fascism and this fatal right-wing propaganda machine.

Yesterday, it was reported that Bari Weiss, who runs CBS News, was considering hiring Maria Bartiromo after she left Fox News.

Now, I personally believe Maria Bartiromo is among the worst propagandists that there are, and one of the worst Trump sycophants and bootlickers that there are, and that she’s responsible for spreading a massive amount of lies and disinformation.

Now, that’s my opinion. You’re entitled to your own opinion, of course. But after she left Fox, or Fox pushed her out, whatever the story may be, who the heck even knows? Or, frankly, who even cares?

What’s most important is this notorious liar is now apparently being given an exalted position at CBS as CBS further destroys 60 Minutes and its news programs.

Now look, CBS is free to hire or fire whoever they want. They can run their network however they please. And if they want to continue to destroy their brand, go for it. Bring on Maria Bartiromo. I could not care less.

But the broader message that I want to make, whether it’s to CBS staffers, reporters, or those who work for other news networks, is there is a place for you in independent news, whether that’s at the MeidasTouch Network or at other independent news outlets.

We’ve grown our independent news outlet here with the utmost focus on building a people-powered movement and growing by promoting top reporters and giving them editorial autonomy to do what they do best.

Other independent media outlets have their own philosophies and views, but as long as they’re fighting for democracy and against Trump fascism, perhaps they can be considered viable options as well. Or you can go out on your own.

I hope what MeidasTouch has helped inspire is for you to know that if me and my brothers, with no political background and no news background, can do it, you can do it also.

But you can’t, in my view, just hope to dilly-dally around fascism.

Over the next 60 days—actually less, over the next 56 days before the midterms—Trump’s going to throw everything he’s got to destroy this democracy.

He’s made an absolute fool of himself on the international stage and the domestic stage. We’ve never had a less popular president in American history than what we have right now.

I use the word demon to refer to him and his spawn because their behavior has been so abhorrent. I can’t find any other word, and I’m not even sure demon does it justice. I can search for lunatic or psycho or evil, but demon is what I keep coming back to.

Not to be hyperbolic. It’s just there seems to be a desire to inflict pain and suffering for the sake of inflicting pain and suffering, even in addition to the self-enrichment and quid pro quos and hoarding of wealth and stealing. There just seems to be a desire to watch and enjoy the suffering of others, which is just sickening to me.

But here’s where we are. Democracy is on the line.

Make whatever decisions you think are in your best interest, but I just want to reflect on this: there’s more to life than this dystopian MAGA madness.

We’re making it out of this. We’re close to getting out of this. Remember that.

And let MeidasTouch or others be an example, I hope. Or not. It’s your call.

But given Maria Bartiromo’s potential move to CBS and Bari Weiss, I just wanted to reflect on all of these things this morning.

This is why I believe independent news is more important than ever. That’s why we’re going to keep on growing here at the MeidasTouch Network.

So subscribe. Become a paid subscriber if you can. We’ll keep on growing. We’ll keep on hiring. We’ll keep on doing our thing over here.

They can do their thing. We’ll do our thing.

I firmly believe our thing is the thing of the future. But, you know, that’s just me.

All right? We got a bit day. Let’s have a great day together.

We got this, everybody.

Appreciate you. Love you.

Thanks, everybody.