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What it argues
Hate, Inc. is Matt Taibbi's argument that the American news media's business model is built on producing and amplifying outrage rather than informing audiences. Taibbi, a longtime Rolling Stone journalist who covered Wall Street and Washington, extends and updates the argument of his intellectual predecessor Noam Chomsky, whose Manufacturing Consent examined how media serves elite interests. Where Chomsky wrote about propaganda for consensus, Taibbi argues the system has evolved: media now manufactures dissent — artificial tribal conflict that keeps audiences furious, engaged, and returning daily for the next episode.
The book's first half is diagnostic. Taibbi traces the evolution of the cable news business model from the 1990s through the Trump era. Roger Ailes at Fox News figured out that anger is more addictive than information, that audiences who feel their identity is under attack will tune in with the loyalty of sports fans. MSNBC and CNN adapted the formula to different audiences. The result is an industry that has an economic interest in political catastrophe: better Trump's chaos than competent governance, because chaos drives ratings.
What it gets right
- 1.
The news media's business model has evolved from selling information to selling emotional engagement — specifically outrage and tribal identity reinforcement.
- 2.
Fox News, MSNBC, and CNN serve different audiences but run the same basic product: a narrative in which the viewer's side is under existential threat from the other side.
- 3.
Political outrage is more reliably addictive than information. Audiences who feel identity-threat return more consistently than audiences who simply want to be informed.
What it covers
Who wrote it
Matt Taibbi is an American journalist who spent years as a foreign correspondent in the Soviet Union before joining Rolling Stone, where he covered American politics and finance for more than a decade. He is the author of several books including Griftopia, The Divide, and Insane Clown President. He broke major stories on the financial crisis and on predatory financial practices. Hate, Inc. was published in 2019. Taibbi has since moved to independent media via Substack, where he covers media criticism and political affairs.
