Episode 3083 - The Scott Adams School 01/29/26

Summary

Real Coffee with Scott Adams

Episode 3083: The Scott Adams School 01/29/26
Date: January 29, 2026
Main Theme:
A deep look at personal transformation, community, persuasion, and modern news media through the lens of Scott Adams’ ideas. The episode features an in-depth guest segment with Kim, a former CNN executive producer and community member, sharing her personal journey and professional insights.

---

Episode Overview

This episode blends community reflections on Scott Adams’ concepts (especially reframing), a powerful personal transformation story from guest Kim, and an inside look at the news media’s evolution. The hosts and guests discuss persuasion, wellness, addiction, recovering from grief, and the fractured trust in legacy media, all with the trademark warmth and curiosity of the Scott Adams School.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Power of Community and Persuasion (00:00–04:28)

• Simultaneous Sip Tradition
  The episode opens with playful banter among the hosts and the signature "Simultaneous Sip," setting a positive tone and emphasizing daily rituals that boost mood.
  “All you need is a cup or a mug or a glass… Fill it with your favorite liquid. I like coffee. And join me now for the dopamine hit of the day, the unparalleled pleasure… The simultaneous sip, and it happens now. Go.” – Shelly [01:21]

• Scott Adams’ Memory and Conceptual Recall
  Scott shares that his distinctive memory isn't for rote details but for concepts, which enables him to retain useful frameworks long-term.

2. Kim’s Story: Perseverance Through Grief and Transformation (04:28–09:41)

• Introduction to Kim
  Kim recounts her journey from local news reporter to CNN executive producer, and how she became part of the Scott Adams community after her husband’s terminal brain cancer.

  • She describes how Scott’s daily live streams became a lifeline during her husband’s illness and after his passing, providing connection, inspiration, and belonging.
    “As he began to decline this was my connection to having interaction with people and got me thinking every day and gave me something to look forward to.” – Kim [04:28]

• The Power of Feeling Included
  “I would watch the locals… going and interacting and the first time Scott said my name... I felt included in the community. I wanted to be one of the beloveds.” – Kim [06:36]

• Romper Room Analogy
  Kim draws a comparison between the show’s inclusivity and “Romper Room,” a children’s show where everyone was seen and affirmed.
  “It matched a reframe I had done in my own life, which was very successful for me.” – Kim [10:44]

3. The Reframe: Changing Lives With Simple Language (09:41–15:26)

• Featured Reframe: “Alcohol is poison.”
  Kim reads Scott’s most effective “reframe” from his book—an idea that has helped many break addiction:
  “Usual frame: Alcohol is a beverage. Reframe: Alcohol is poison.”
  Scott notes reframes don’t have to be literally true, just effective.
  “Reframes don’t need to be true. They don’t even need to be logical. They only need to work.” – Scott Adams (via Kim) [11:08]

• Applying Reframe to Food Addiction
  Kim shares her 175-pound weight loss journey and how she reframed ultra-processed foods as “poison,” which helped her resist temptation.
  “Every time I see ultra processed food, I see this little image here of the skull and crossbones on the food.” – Kim [13:56]

• Props and Real-Life Example
  Kim holds up props like a Little Debbie snack and explains her visceral reaction after the reframe: "I said, no, that's poison. Terrible guest manners, I apologize. But, if anybody has a cat on their lap, I'd recommend that you remove it right now." [13:09]

• Reframe’s Versatility
  Hosts discuss using “poison” reframes not just for food/addiction, but also for gossip and negativity in life.
  “So even if food is your addiction or gossip's your addiction or whatever it is, think of that thing as the alcohol, because alcohol is poison. There's no benefit to it.” – Erica [15:26]

4. Systems vs. Goals and Habit Building (18:55–22:26)

• Systems Over Goals
  Kim explains her health and exercise regimen based on Scott Adams’ “systems vs. goals” philosophy: daily movement, manageable routines (vibration plate, resistance training), and replacing negatives with positives (pistachios instead of cookies). “I'm training like an avenger… Now, I feel so amazing… So that's my system in the morning.” – Kim [20:54]

• Diet Mindset
  She avoids strict diets, granting herself permission to occasionally indulge, reducing psychological pressure and “yo-yo” effects.

5. Behind the Curtain: Inside the Legacy News Business (25:36–41:07)

• Mythbusting the Newsroom
  Kim debunks common misconceptions about how TV news is produced:

  • Anchors don’t “just show up”—shows require hours of team effort across time zones.
  • Producers read stories from AP, Reuters, and multiple channels, decide on show “rundown,” assign times, and adapt live.
  • Despite the professionalism, viewers only get a “skim” of the real news, by necessity.
    “You have to know that any news you watch on tv, you're not getting all the news, you're just getting a skimming over of what's in the news.” – Kim [27:53]

• Constructing the Narrative
  Decision-making involves what’s “new,” what’s available, what will attract viewers, and sometimes, what will keep the bosses happy.

• Chasing Dopamine and Ratings
  Kim highlights how news is “packaged” to provide dopamine hits (teasers, clickbait stories, “kicker” endings).
  “The news stories give you dopamine hits… those are the stories I would tease at the beginning of the newscast.” – Kim [32:51]

6. The Shift in News: Objectivity, Conflict, and Agenda (34:00–58:03)

• Polarization and The Decline of Objectivity
  Panelists debate if the media has become more activist, highlighting the rise of “panels” with only one dissenting voice, the pressure for drama, and realignment after Fox News' ascendancy.
  “Fox News was putting a lot more talking heads on because that was cheaper than actually covering the news. And these panels that have evolved from that, I cannot watch many of those programs for very long. That's not news, that's just discussion.” – Kim [34:30]

• From Information to Infomercial
  Sergio emphasizes Scott Adams’ claim that news is now about selling opinions and big-money topics (wars, drugs). “All the new shows… they were there to assign an opinion to all of us… They want to sell. What they want to sell the most is war. War and medicines, right? War and drugs.” – Sergio [53:39]

• The “Supporting the War” Shock
  Kim recounts the moment a CNN executive told her, “We’re supporting the war,” during the Iraq invasion, revealing internal alignment with government policy over journalistic integrity.
  “She said, ‘we're supporting the war.’ And to me as a journalist, I was floored. It should be, 'we're covering the war.'” – Kim [37:38]

• The Fairness Doctrine Debate
  The group discusses the now-repealed Fairness Doctrine (which mandated balanced coverage on public airwaves), its lack of relevance to cable news, and whether or not government should control news balance.
  “I think most people realize that they're not true and I think that's important is that in the world of capitalism, if you're not going to buy the product, they're going to stop selling that type of product.” – Marcella [47:11]

• The Ratings Cliff
  As legacy media’s demographic ages, panelists note the decline of TV news and the rise of digital/independent alternatives.

• Yellow Journalism Echoes
  Kim draws a parallel to 19th-century “yellow journalism”—faked, sensational stories prevailing until credible outlets like The New York Times arose.
  “It was replaced by real journalism, which they need to get back to.” – Kim [50:28]

---

Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “All you need is a cup or a mug or a glass… Fill it with your favorite liquid. I like coffee. And join me now for the dopamine hit of the day, the unparalleled pleasure… The simultaneous sip, and it happens now.” – Shelly [01:21]

• “Reframes don’t need to be true. They don’t even need to be logical. They only need to work.” – Scott Adams (Read by Kim) [11:08]

• “Every time I see ultra processed food, I see this little image here of the skull and crossbones on the food. I just picture that, and it’s really just steered me away from that stuff.” – Kim [13:56]

• “We're supporting the war. And to me as a journalist, I was floored. It should be, 'we're covering the war.'” – Kim [37:38]

• “All the new shows… they were there to assign an opinion to all of us… They want to sell. What they want to sell the most is war. War and medicines, right? War and drugs.” – Sergio [53:39]

• “Yellow journalism… The response to that was the rise of the New York Times… It was replaced by real journalism, which they need to get back to.” – Kim [50:28]

• “News is not meant to be watched all day long. It's meant you're meant to watch an hour and get the news and then go about your business.” – Kim [29:42]

---

Timed Segment Highlights

• [00:00–04:28] — Opening, community greetings, and “Simultaneous Sip.”
• [04:28–09:41] — Kim’s background, journey with Scott Adams, introduction.
• [09:41–15:26] — Scott Adams' "alcohol is poison" reframe and Kim’s parallel weight loss reframe.
• [18:55–22:26] — Kim describes her health and habits system, guided by Scott Adams' philosophy.
• [25:36–41:07] — Kim takes listeners inside the television news production process and reflects on its changes.
• [34:00–58:03] — Extended discussion on media objectivity, the evolution of news, polarization, “yellow journalism,” the Fairness Doctrine, and the war-for-ratings phenomenon.

---

Tone

Warm, curious, personal, and candid—balancing humor with pointed critique and real-life insight. The conversation is open, and the mood alternates between light-hearted camaraderie and serious reflection.

---

Conclusion

This episode serves as both a community-building session and a sharp critique of modern persuasion and media. Kim’s story underscores the life-changing power of reframing, supportive community, and systems thinking—core Scott Adams concepts. The roundtable’s deep dive into news construction, persuasion mechanics, and the loss of public trust offers listeners not only practical tools for self-improvement but also more skeptical, discerning eyes for consuming media in a polarized age.

---

For further engagement:
Listeners are invited to reach out to Kim on socials, join the ongoing community, and return for special episodes and discussions about Scott Adams’ ongoing influence.

Transcript

[Sergio]

I love your colorful win.

[Marcella]

Andy is here in the house.

[Erica]

Andy. Hi, you guys. I hope to see Mike Burt here again. You guys get on him. You guys, are you. Are we ready for this sip? I think we are. And Shelly's got it queued up for us. It's just a short little clip today, and then we're going to introduce you to our guest. So join us now.

[Shelly]

Hey, everybody, come on in. Come on, gather round. Grab your containers.

[Erica]

All right, Shelly, Ready?

[Shelly]

You know what I'm talking about. It's time for the best part of the day.

[Erica]

We're professional, guys. We're getting there.

[Shelly]

It's called Coffee with Scott Adams.

[Erica]

And you like Owen's head tilt, let me tell you.

[Kim]

Hang on, guys.

[Erica]

Shelly, if not, let me know.

[Shelly]

Well, that's good for you. This is a perfect entertainment companion for taking a hike. Look at that tree over there. Watch your step. It's like I'm right there with you. All right, everybody, you know what? You need to have a great day to get it off in the right way. All you need is a.

[Erica]

How you guys doing? Oh, it's playing.

[Shelly]

Hey.

[Erica]

Oh, they're saying it's playing.

[Shelly]

Come on, come on, gather round. Grab your containers. You know what I'm talking about. It's time for the best part of the day. Yeah. It's called Coffee with Scott Adams. And you have come to the right place for that, let me tell you. Oh, you're on a hike. Well, that's good for you. This is a perfect entertainment companion for taking a hike. Look at that tree over there. Watch your step. It's like I'm right there with you. All right, everybody, you know what? You need to have a great day to get it off in the right way. All you need is a cup or a mug or a glass of tank or chalice or stein, a canteen jug or a flask. A vessel of any kind. Fill it with your favorite liquid. I like coffee. And join me now for the dopamine hit of the day, the unparalleled pleasure. I usually say those in the other order. It's called the simultaneous sip, and it happens. Now go. Do you know why I could never be an actor? Well, lots of reasons, but one of them, I can't remember lines. My memory, the way my memory works, is very different from other people's, so I can't remember the exact order of anything. I'm a little bit dyslexic anyway, so putting things in order is hard. But concepts I can remember forever. Like a joke. If I hear A joke. Remember it forever. So I don't have a bad memory. I have a different memory. I can remember concepts forever, but exact things like phone numbers? Not a chance. I've had a question that I've had for.

[Erica]

So weird on my end I couldn't see it. That's so crazy. Good morning everybody. I'm going to do a quick introduction of who we are and then we're going to get to our guest. So I'm Erica, you guys, nice to see you. We have the beautiful Marcella next to me. Well, I don't know where you are here yet. We have Sergio looking dapper, Owen looking especially fetching this morning. And in the middle there, I see Kim. You guys, Kim is on locals as Kimblee. So please welcome K. Kim and I'm going to turn it over to you Kim so you could let everybody know about yourself. You have quite the interesting history and you've been through a lot and it's very inspiring. So I'm going to turn it over you to introduce yourself and then we'll come back and talk about what we're doing. So take it away.

[Kim]

Okay. First I have to say Owen's picture. I used to work in the news business. The tilted head is the anchorman trick for you to fall in love with them like your dog looking at you with their sad little eyes, tilting their head. So love the new picture. But I, I started. Let me start with when I began to watch Scott is after Greg Gutfeld mentioned Scott's illness, that's when I started watching the live stream. I, I had read Dilbert for years and, and was a fan and I would see some of his posts on X. But I started watching every day because I was caring for my husband who had terminal brain cancer himself. Scott was so fortunate that he had his ability to speak and think up until the very end. But my husband was losing that and as he began to decline this was my connection to having interaction with people and got me thinking every day and gave me something to look forward to. So I did join as a subscriber once my husband passed away in October and fully participating in everything the. You know of course this I would watch the locals a simultaneous sip but going and interacting and the first time Scott said my name he said Kimberly but he knew Kimberly was short for that so he said it a couple of times. He mentioned some of my comments. It's like wow, you know, I would felt included in the community. I wanted to be one of the beloveds that he talked about that persuasion From Scott was just so wonderful. It reminds me now I'm a boomer. I know Sergio has mentioned boomers, but there was a show on that I watched as a little girl romper room, where she would hold up a magic mirror and say, I see Shelley and Marcella and Erica and Sergio and Owen and everybody on the list. And it was such, so inclusive, so much love that he gave us. So we couldn't help but pour that love back out to him. So when he talked about how much love he felt, that just really moved me. And so here I am, and I do have a little story to tell. This is the first time in 40 years I've been on camera. I started out as a local news reporter in Montgomery, Alabama, when George Wallace was in his last term as governor. I went to Atlanta, well, Birmingham, then Atlanta, and eventually CNN International and cnn. So I know you hate me now, but that's okay. I am not a spokesman for CNN or the mainstream media. I do have my opinion. So, you know, if we get to do questions, I cannot say I speak for anybody, but I've got my own take on everything and just want to make sure I'm not leaving out any information. But I have been searching for my next chapter. I was in virtual isolation, Covid plus 19 months with my husband's illness. Like Scott, he got much more time than was predicted. He got over an extra year, and that was very rewarding. But I do have social anxiety now, which has just shocked me. But the isolation, even the community here still wasn't enough. So I have gone back to celebrate recovery, which I intended for food addiction, but working on these new issues. So all that ties into the reframe today and my take on the reframe and all that good stuff, that's amazing.

[Erica]

And let me just tell you, Kim is kind of shortening her amazing bio. I guess for the sake of time, I said, just kind of go through it. But we're going to get to know you more, Kim, because you are absolutely a warrior and a fighter and an achiever, and you're accomplished. And we're so happy that you're here with all of us, because, you know, Greg Gutfeld always says, no. You know, no one's a Picasso, right? We're all potatoes. We're all the same, you know, so we're happy you're here and doing this with us today. And we want more people to participate and tell their story. That being said, Kim did pick out a reframe. Okay, so, Kim, if you know which page or the Name of the reframe. Okay, so it's. Which. Which reframe is it?

[Kim]

Well, it's in the preface. I have the audiobook, so I can't give you the exact page, but it's near the end of the preface. If you go to the bold print where it says, usual frame alcohol as a beverage, you'll be in the general area.

[Erica]

Okay, so Kim's gonna. She's gonna read it to us, but she's gonna shorten it a little bit because it's kind of long. So let's listen along, and then we're gonna talk about it after because I. I think, Kim, this is. I definitely need to hear this one, especially the. The spin you're gonna put on it for me. Okay, Take it away, Kim. Thanks.

[Kim]

All right, if you're not excited about this book yet, here's my favorite refrain. If my feedback from social media followers is to be believed, this reframe has helped hundreds, perhaps thousands of people stop drinking alcohol. I invented this reframe in 2013 for my book how to Fail at Almost everything and Still Win Big. Here's the simple reframe. Usual frame. Alcohol is a beverage. Reframe. Alcohol is poison. Some readers of that book lost all interest in alcohol and quit drinking forever because they read those three words, alcohol is poison. And just skipping down a little bit. Reframes don't need to be true. They don't even need to be logical. They only need to work. Is alcohol literally poison? No. Or maybe. Sort of. Depends. It doesn't matter. Your brain will process a lie or any form of fiction the same way it processes, I guess it says the truth. I can't turn the page. Yeah. So that's why a movie can make you laugh, cry, or feel inspired, even while you know the story is made up. So when Scott talked about that, I don't know if it was the book or on the stream, but I had this instant bond with him because it matched a reframe I had done in my own life, which was very successful for me. And I'm going to send a photo to you in the chat. That's me at 325 pounds. I'm five foot nine. I'm about 150 pounds right now. I did lose weight the old fashioned way. Weight loss surgery in 2026. I lost 100.

[Erica]

Kim, is there any way for you to hold that photo up to the screen or. No, I can do that just because not everybody can see a picture in the chat. So I'd like YouTube and rumble and X, if possible.

[Kim]

Oh, yeah.

[Erica]

Not to put you on the spot. Okay. Because, you guys, this is just amazing. The. There you go. Tell us again, what. What happened?

[Kim]

Okay, so I had weight loss surgery, lost 175 pounds, went out, bought new clothes, the whole shebang. Oh, here's another picture comparing before and after. But then like everybody else, weight loss surgery, ozempic or whatever, the weight eventually starts to come back and it's like, oh, no. What's wrong? What's wrong? So I had to work on that in several ways. I went on a mission to find out metabolically what was wrong with me. Some of that worked, but I also used a reframe very similar to Scott's. The reframe, well, it's all. Food is nourishment. The reframe is ultra processed food is poison. In fact, I was at my sister's for Christmas, and she brought out a little Debbie cake in a wrapper, little Christmas tree with icing. And I said, no, that's poison. Terrible host, man. I mean, guest manners. I apologize for that. But if anybody has a cat on their lap, I'd recommend that you remove it right now. Because as a good producer, I bring props and some ultra processed food. And I just see something in a wrapper because you. You can't identify ultra processed instantly, but wrapper comes pretty close. So ultra processed food. Oops. So there go the. The chips. But if it has a wrapper and it says organic, it's like, you know, that's pretty good. If it's organic peanut butter. Yeah. Yeah to that. But the. The key to the reframe for me was the image. Every time I see ultra processed food, I see this little image here of the skull and crossbones on the food. I just picture that, and it's really just steered me away from that stuff. It's been the biggest successful reframe that I've been able to in weight loss. And. And it's still. I still have to tweak it. If I find out I'm doing. If I start to gain weight, it's like, what am I doing differently? And I work on that. But another thing that's worked for me is no more no diets. Nothing. I'm never on a diet. No food is technically off limits. Even the Doritos on the floor right now. But it's. It's given me that permission, has given me an ability to relax because something you deny yourself for me, I. I want it more.

[Erica]

And I love that, Deb, you know, so I Almost called you Debbie. Oh, my God. Because we said little Debbie. Thanks, Kim. So I love that. Also, I have a friend who's recovering alcoholic for a long time. And, you know, there was a lot of people that were getting involved with gossip and this and that. And I was trying to say to him, you know, I do this with everything. I feel like the alcohol is poison is probably one of the best ones. Because I was saying to him, every time someone tries to feed you some toxic gossip, I said, they're trying to feed you poison. So every time you hear something like that, picture it as like, a shot of vodka or a shot of gin, and they're just trying to feed you this poison because alcohol is poison, and it was his poison, and it does so much damage. So I kind of feel like that all the time. So even if food is your addiction or gossip's your addiction or whatever it is, think of that thing as the alcohol, because alcohol is poison. There's no benefit to it. You know, some people say, oh, Erica, it's fun and my mood and whatever, but technically, there's no health advantage to alcohol. It does more damage than most drugs. So I like this reframe.

[Kim]

For food.

[Erica]

Sugar is poison, for sure. And we know that sugar has been linked to. I'm not a doctor. I'm just saying what I hear. Causing cancer because it's putting your body in a more acidic state. And cancer loves to grow in acidity. So, you know, link it however you have to for whatever the addiction or the poison is in your life. It's such a useful reframe. Do you guys want to chime in on that? Because I find it very useful.

[Sergio]

I want to say something first that is kind of. I understand now why Scott is a little sideways. Why Scott can stay with it, you know, not distracted by the. By the memes. Because you say, like, you know, dead and poisons. And I'm smiling and laughing because I'm looking at memes, you know, So I just wanted to say that. But yeah. So ultra processed food, it is poison, right? I like that because. Especially because a good frame, a good reframe, Kim, that you did, I didn't know. What are you going to do? And. Because the idea is great, but the key of the reframe that you did was applying it in the wording. And that's what I liked about it. So I just wanted to say that you can repeat that often and say, ultra processed food is poison. Right? So instead of. I mean, excuse me. Yeah. If you say, like, ultra processed Sugar is poison, too. Because if you say you only sugar, you know, sometimes not, but ultra processed up. I love that. That's it. Thank you.

[Kim]

I do use organic maple syrup to sweeten my coffee, which is healthy and good for you. It's good for your brain. I did a reframe for other things related to that. You'll see over my shoulder, the cookie jar that's now a pistachio jar. My husband loved those duplex cream cookies. And I said, okay, what am I doing with the jar? Pistachio jar.

[Marcella]

What I was gonna add to this, Kim, is you talked about how you're not in a diet all the time, and I'm wondering how systems versus goals helped you, because it sounds like you have a system versus a goal of like, 10, lose 10 pounds and. And then gain another 10 pounds after. And then it's like this, yo, yo dieting. But you've realized on your own that. That the best. I guess the best option is to do a system. Can you talk about that?

[Kim]

Yeah, I. I basically. Well, I have a dual system. Exercise and food is. I start the morning with. I have a vibration plate, which happens to help. I have an autoimmune disease, too. And I. I do have a photo of me in an autoimmune flare so you could see how much puffiness, how much inflammation is, how much misery is there. So the vibration plate helps my neuropathy. It gets my mitochondria fired up. And we're talking about the little pinky move when you want to get out of bed. This is the pinky move of exercise. So it gets me going. And I have some health drinks that I do with that. And then I do TRX straps for resistance training. And then eccentrics, also known as classical stretch, on many public TV stations for mobility and flexibility. I've had some bad falls where I've broken bones, and I was caring for my husband, and I did not want anything to happen to me. And I said to myself, I'm training like an avenger. I was training really hard, got in the best shape of my life, and even after he was gone, it was like, I feel so amazing. I'm gonna keep this up. So that's my system in the morning. Then I have two poached eggs, and then sometimes I'll add something else. Avocados. And then lunch. I'm usually a grazer for lunch. I like nuts, of course. One of my favorites. Back to avocados. Evening. I was using prepared meals with my husband, the Tavala meals. And I really like the variety in those, so I've stuck with those mainly for the evening.

[Marcella]

What's the name of it?

[Kim]

It's called Tavala. T O V A L A You. Basically, the meal arrives once a week. The package of meals, you scan it, you cook it. He was a hamburger guy. I was a. An Indian and Thai food type person. So it's perfect. If you have a household where you have different kinds of food tastes, that's awesome. And if somebody has parents, they're worried about what they're eating, that's a great thing to suggest to them.

[Erica]

That is good.

[Kim]

I am a boomer. And. And I. I not. I don't regret getting old. I'm great. I regret that I did get old. That's a reframe. And.

[Erica]

Well, your system is to think and move toward being an avenger. And so it's like, what does it take to do that? Instead of just saying, like, I'm gonna be, you're like, okay, here's what I need to do to hit that peak performance for Kim, and it's working for you. I love that, Kim. Thank you so much, you guys. So make sure I posted Kim's Twitter handle for today's show. Notes on locals. She's Kimblee, and you guys could be. Dropped that in the chat for locals. And if you have any questions, I know Kim would be happy to answer them for you. So please reach out to her for, like, what she's doing, even about her CNN and news journey, dealing with caretaking and grief. Like, you've been through a lot, and, you know, we're so happy that you're here with us. You know, you're. You're part of what we're doing moving forward. I love that. Sergio, did you want to say something?

[Sergio]

Yeah, I want to. Want to. I haven't seen Owen speak or move in a long time. I want to.

[Erica]

I know. Well, we're gonna. We're gonna check with Owen right now and do some news. So that's. That's what's happening.

[Sergio]

I don't want to hear his voice. I want to hear his voice, you know?

[Erica]

Owen, are you okay? Are you all right?

[Kim]

Oh, yeah.

[Sergio]

You're shaking.

[Erica]

Owen. All right.

[Kim]

All right.

[Erica]

Well, we're gonna. We're gonna switch over to talking about the news. I know. Marcella, you have the news stories to kick us off, and then Owen will regain his composition, and he'll be joining us, too.

[Marcella]

The day that I've, like, not as ready. Good Lord.

[Sergio]

I have. I have the. I have A list of stories.

[Erica]

Yes. Okay.

[Sergio]

I have my backup. Oh, Owen. Can anyone hear me?

[Marcella]

Oh, I can. We can hear you now.

[Kim]

Okay.

[Owen]

Sorry. Something went wrong with my sound. Yeah, no, I was, I was actually waiting for my turn to jump in and ask some questions to Kim. I did want to make a comment that on a, on the systems. I can see that you've picked up some of the tips from Scott that like, you know, the, the jar of pistachios is a great example where you clearly have just gotten rid of all the bad things and not. You don't keep them in the house. Right. And you have replacements, which I think is something that Scott talked about. It's like if you have bad thoughts, you can't just focus on the bad thoughts and make them go away. But if you replace them with good thoughts, then they do go away. You just have to do it the opposite way that you might be normally thinking about it. And I think this is the same thing with food. It's like if you just, you know, have a bunch of bad food in the cupboard and try to resist it, that's never going to work. But if you just get rid of it completely and then if you also have good things to eat, then it's, it just makes everything work and it seems like exactly what you've been doing. I also wanted to mention I love your simultaneous swaddle jacket.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Owen]

Looks like it was made directly on America's blanket. Oh, nice.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Owen]

Yeah, that's perfect. So, and you know, I think you mentioned that you might be able to tell us like what it was like putting together the news at cnn. I'd love to hear about that.

[Kim]

Yeah. Well, somehow a lot of people from viewer comments, they seem to think anchors just show up on the set and they have the news memorized. They're reading a teleprompter. They're reading what's been hours in the making, hours of work. When I was a producer, before I was an executive producer, I produced a show on CNN International which had anchors in London and Atlanta. And the show aired at 1 o' clock Eastern. I'd show up at 5am and I would do what you do, Owen. I would read every story out there. I would read every story on ap, Reuters, afp, which is a French news agency.

[Owen]

Yeah.

[Kim]

And read all the inputs from cnn, what, what they have available, which reporters, which live shots there. There is a massive army putting the news together there. There's futures editor looking at news they know is going to happen. Of course they have assignment desk Editors, domestic and foreign. Oh, they, they wouldn't use the F word. International and ready to pounce on news. So you would decide what's going in the show. I had shows that range from 30 minutes. The show I was talking about now is an hour. When I was an executive producer of the weekend morning shows with Miles o' Brien and Kira Phillips, I had three hours. There was a producer for each hour of the show and I oversaw the whole thing. So. Oh, and your concept of the long form stream is very similar to putting together a three hour block of news. Okay. So you would do the rundown. I would do the rundown and then have a meeting with copy editors and writers and they would normally start writing on the show about two hours before it airs. And sometimes, many times the stories would be writ still being written as the show went on, which is a source of panic that you get used to that your show isn't even complete yet. But you would. I would assign a, a time to the story, how long it was. They could get 20 seconds to write the story, a 30 second story. Is the reporter going to get three minutes for their live shot? Two minutes. And by that very nature, you have to know that any news you watch on tv, you're not getting all the news, you're just getting a skimming over of what's in the news. And.

[Owen]

So, so how do you, how do you pick the stories and how do you pick, like what order they should go in is, you know, do you group things by topics or. And then is there kind of a narrative that gets woven into that?

[Kim]

Yeah, well, obviously the first priority for news is new. So what's new? What has the biggest impact? What are people going to be interested in? So of course, what's available for news gathering? One of the most boring things in news gathering is what they call a beeper or a phone interview. I don't know if you or any of you are old enough to recall when you would be on a recorded phone conversation, there would be a beeping noise in the background. So that's why they call it a beeper. I was privileged to be on the phone a few times with Jimmy Carter, Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr. President, hold on. We'll be on the air in about one minute. I got to cover several presidents when I was a reporter and producer. I got to cover an inauguration, a Republican convention. I got to go in the White House, in the East Room for cabinet swearing in. I mean, I'm kind of like this Forrest Gump geek. All the cool stuff I was in London when Princess Diana passed away and I was the control room producer for that for the first 12 hours. But as far as constructing the news, there is a morning meeting every day where the head of the network, he's like the conductor of an orchestra. Each division, the national, international, the features units like Science and Health, they report on the stories of the day, what's available, reporter wise, what they call packages, the pre recorded segments are available. So you take all of those elements and put them together and try to make it interesting. And the stories that I like to put in were usually kind of outside of, okay, here's the news of the day. And, and that is why you see everybody covering the same thing. If you watch. My husband used to like to watch Fox News all day long, which to me, watching news all day long is form of torture. News is not meant to be watched all day long. It's meant you're meant to watch an hour and get the news and then go about your business. But one viewer wrote us, said that our news was like pistachios that she couldn't stop watching. Like, you can't stop eating pistachios. It's bad for your mental health. But the news, you want to have a complete package and you want to make the bosses happy and include the stories that they think are important. But you'll watch one network all day long and say the s same stories every single hour, which is so boring to me. But one of my favorite stories that I would stick in were, and this sounds like something you would dig up, Owen, Bubonic plague breakout in the American West. Every time there was a bubonic plague breakout, I would put that story in there. And it's one thing you should also know about news is the news stories give you dopamine hits. Like Scott used to talk about dopamine hits a lot.

[Owen]

Yes.

[Kim]

When you see a spectacular story or clickbait story, you're getting that dopamine hit. And those stories that I recognize that caused that hit, those are the stories I would tease at the beginning of the newscast. You'll watch some network newscasts like CBS. They do 30 full seconds of teases. What's in the newscast down to the fuzzy animal at the end of the newscast. And they call that the kicker to get you roped in and stick around for the whole thing so they'll get the ratings. So did I answer that enough for you or do you have some more?

[Owen]

Oh, definitely. Yeah. That's very insightful. Did you ever get in trouble for any Stories that you put in the show.

[Kim]

I actually. No, I did. Okay. They gave me a lot of leeway. And I did get promoted to the London position based on that show. I was talking about the one o' Clock International show, and.

[Owen]

So do you. Is your perception that the news process has changed a lot, though? Because it seems like it has to me, at least it's gotten more polarized and it seems like it's more of an activist sort of thing where they do mostly present one side. Whereas I think 20 or 30 years ago, it was not like that. I think they were. I thought they were kind of like required to present both sides, especially on a political type of story or something.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Owen]

But it seems like that's just totally gone by the wayside.

[Kim]

Yeah, that. And also you get what you, you have the, the panels with the four people on one side, then the foil who has the opposite political belief. That's just Karloff on Fox, Scott Jennings on cnn. The one person that's not balanced. They're, they're, they're setting this up for conflict. And part of the turnaround happened when FOX News came into existence and it threatened cnn. Fox News was putting a lot more talking heads on because that was cheaper than actually covering the news. And these panels that have evolved from that, I cannot watch many of those programs for very long. That's not news, that's just discussion.

[Owen]

Yeah, I see those as more like entertainment rather than news. I know they talk about the news, but it's more of an entertainment thing to me.

[Kim]

But we would have discussions on. We had these call. We called guest bookers who would arrange for the guests be on the news. Okay, how do we balance the segment? We would have those discussions. We would either have a second guest with a different opinion in the same segment, or another guest to follow that guest. Or we would decide, okay, next hour we're going to have a guest with a different opinion and we're going to tease it that it's coming up. And then we come to that second hour, we'd have a clip of the first guest.

[Erica]

So I remember that they used to do it like, you're right, they would get their own slot. And it wasn't always like this debate of yelling back and forth. And I appreciated that because it was like, everything's so angry now.

[Kim]

Yeah.

[Erica]

And, yeah. So I feel like that's really changed the way we discuss things in our everyday life. Like, everything's got to be a battle. I think it's a terrible model.

[Kim]

Well, I was at CNN from 95 to 2003. And I have a little prop to show you. This is the war book for the Iraq war, created before it started. And it does say it's for internal use only. So somebody might be at the door before, but there was something that happened there that really jarred me is I was working the night the, or the day the war broke out and one of the vice presidents came up to me. I was an executive executive producer of regular CNN at the time. She said to me and a small group of other people, she said, we're supporting the war. And to me as a journalist, I was floored. It should be. We're covering the war.

[Sergio]

Yeah.

[Kim]

Now, I think, and I, I think the pressure, pressure from Fox News had a lot to do with it because, you know, it's flag waving, patriotism, that no matter what would happen, they would still be supporting the war. And that's why CNN went on in that. So I don't know if that's ever been made public. That was the, I certainly see that.

[Owen]

As kind of obvious.

[Erica]

Yeah, yeah, me too.

[Owen]

Like, I mean, I, I, it's, you know, I wasn't alive during the Vietnam War, but I'm pretty sure the coverage was pre and, and I think any of these recent wars and you know, it just seems like, especially cnn because I remember those days but, you know, maybe they spearheaded it and then everybody else copied it is just like any kind of war was like, you know, we're going to put that on constantly. Any, we're going to embed ourselves in the troops and we're gonna, you know, like, just have as much live coverage as we can and we're gonna always talk about it like, it's amazing. And one of the examples that really struck me was in Trump's first term when he fired that first missile into Syria or Afghanistan or wherever it was like all the news stations jumped on that and said Trump for the first time seems presidential.

[Erica]

That's right. And it's like he dropped the mother of all bombs.

[Owen]

Like, that was the first positive coverage Trump got from the news.

[Erica]

Yeah.

[Owen]

Was when he fired a missile.

[Erica]

Ratings.

[Kim]

Well, I think there was a turning point against Trump that has to do with cnn. I wasn't there then, but this is from my observations. Jeff Zucker was in charge of the Today show during the 2016 campaign. And Trump was always doing something outlandish, controversial, on the verge of him supposedly having to drop out of the race. So they would have him on there doing telephone interviews almost daily and at the top of the show eating up tons of time, just totally drowning out all the other candidates. And I think when Trump got elected that Zucker felt a guilt about that. And then he became head of cnn and then it becomes the anti Trump network.

[Owen]

Which I think drove even more attention to them.

[Kim]

Yeah. Once you as a network tilt one way or the other, it's hard to get back to the middle because then the people that are supporting the tilt get angry and they leave. So you've got people on both sides just leaving. So I think that was a lot behind it. But the COVID thing, talking about we're supporting the war, I think there had to be some behind the scenes. We're supporting the lockdown, we're supporting the MRNA vaccines. And the media has lost its posture of objectivity. And I wouldn't say that every single person that works there has, because I know there are. There was a lot of internal advocacy for fair journalism at CNN when I was there, and there had to be there after I left.

[Owen]

So what do you think of the recent story that the Trump administration is going to start requiring the networks to have balanced coverage?

[Kim]

I. I think there still has to be hands off on the media. The First Amendment.

[Owen]

But wasn't that an existing law that it's been in place for a long time and now they're just talking about enforcing it. Are you saying you don't think they should enforce it?

[Kim]

Well, the broadcast networks are under the fcc, the public airways, so they do have some public obligation, public service obligation that they could be fighting because of that.

[Owen]

Yeah. And I think that's what we're talking about, where they're going to try and enforce it. It's just the public airwaves like cbs, NBC, ABC and maybe PBS or, you know, npr. I don't know about NPR anymore because they're not funded by the government anymore. So that might mean they're outside of it. But the, mostly the ones that are on the major stations like that. Right. And I think CNN and Fox can still do whatever they want. But, but I mean, do you, do you think that's going to work? And do you think. Are you saying that it shouldn't be enforced?

[Erica]

Oh, and it was called the Fairness Doctrine. Cynthia just told me.

[Owen]

Okay.

[Kim]

Yeah. And that the Fairness Doctrine was repealed. I don't remember which year where you actually had to, like, people like Rush Limbaugh couldn't, couldn't be on the radio if the Fairness Doctrine had been enforced because the station would require equal time to someone with an opposing point of view. And so that gave rise to the partisan talk radio boom. So to me, government doing things to quash the journalism troubles me a lot. The shows, if they're not doing public affairs shows, I think the FCC could step in and say, okay, you need to have these balanced public affairs shows to serve the public interest. It just, anytime any kind of censorship is discussed, the Democratic side discussed it a lot, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, that the whole free speech thing was an obstacle to them. I'm very much a free speech advocate and I would hate to see a heavy hand of government cracking down. But if there are specific things they are doing to deliberately exclude all sides, I, I could see fines, but I couldn't see anything, you know, more.

[Owen]

Yeah, well, I mean I think it is probably all money related in terms of, it would be some sort of fine if that was what it came down to. But I, I certainly think, you know, there's a, there's like outlets like MRC, NewsBusters that cover this a lot. Where the coverage is, is heavily skewed. Like on these networks, you know, it's like 90 plus percent left leaning guests, left leaning points of view, they don't cover stories that are good for the right. The late night shows, which I don't know if that really is really in the same category but you know, they have something like 99 left leaning guests. And, and so I think statistically there we have the information that says this is completely unbalanced. But I think, you know, as far as what the rules should be or how that should happen, I don't know, you know, how they could do that because you know, first of all, I don't even know if the right leaning people want to go on these things, but even if they do, you know, it's, it would seem like, you know, somebody would have to be the scorekeeper and maybe it would be someone like Newsbusters that would keep score. But you know, it does seem difficult to me because how do you measure a point of view? You know, like I understand we kind of know it when we see it but like you said, you know, someone could just have a different point of view and well, necessarily mean left and right.

[Erica]

I think that, you know, like Scott always says, you know, you 80, 20 rule, you know, you can't. I don't believe anything personally, but what my issue is is that people are acting as if they're journalists and that they're news. And I feel like, so someone told me here that the fairness doctrine did not pertain to cable news. So there's that also somebody said on locals, I'm sorry, I didn't see who it was. Define news or define journalism. So also I just feel like someone like Rachel Maddow or whatever, all of them, even Sean Hannity, all these people, it should say opinion. It's, this is an opinion piece. This is. And then also I don't think I am a free speech absolutist but I also think that if we can't trust our news sources, just like if we can't trust voting, it's wrong because just like the fine people hoax, I mean Obama was just still talking about it, they're still bringing it up and it's a known hoax. And I feel like if you do that and is blatant and is already known to be a lie that you should have your credentials pulled because you're spreading propaganda without saying it's propaganda. I know Marcel is dying because she's the attorney.

[Marcella]

No, not at all.

[Erica]

But that's so misleading. It's actually the news pushing an agenda and lying to the people under the guise of journalism and protected speech. And I just feel like the news people should be held to a higher standard. Done.

[Marcella]

The Fairness doctrine was repealed. It does not apply to, it does not apply in current world. I don't think it should come back. And it never applied and it never will apply to CNN and Fox News. You know how you are able to control cnn, Fox News by walking away from it, by not giving at credence, by not saying that they're correct and by not giving them ratings, which their ratings are way down, you know, so I think most people realize that they're not true and I think that's important is that in the world of capitalism if you're not going to buy the product, they're going to stop selling that type of product. And I think that's the power that we have as consumers. But I don't believe that the government should control the press.

[Owen]

Well, that was going to be one of my follow up questions was where do you think this is headed in terms of how many people are watching these stations? Because I, I get the perception that their, their demographics are just boomers at this point and once those people start dying they're just going to continue to have less and less ratings. And I don't, I don't see how they could ever get more people to watch because you know, CNN is in theory at least and somewhat in practice moving more towards the middle. They have Scott Jennings, you know, they, they at least they have Harry Enton you know, they're doing some things where they're putting things on air that are more balanced or that talk about the other side. And I know CBS is doing that whole thing with Barry Weiss and the new anchor and they do seem to be trying to do that to, to be, you know, closer to moderate or both sides. But I don't see any sign that that means their ratings are going up. If anything, I think it's more of a whiplash thing where they were so left leaning for so long that they purged all of their right leaning viewers. And now that they're going back towards the middle, they're just going to purge all their left leaning viewers and no one's going to be left. Do you see it that way, Kim?

[Kim]

Yeah. Ratings have been declining on cable news for years. And as more news outlets become available, most of us get the news on our phone right now. In fact, if I see a news story being teased, I don't have to stick around for the news. I can look it up and see what it is and go about my day. So these stations, these broadcast stations are losing their power and I think that will continue. But there is an event in history, journalism history that might be relevant and interesting. I don't know if you've heard the term yellow journalism. Yeah, the 19th century newspapers in New York, they were running stories that were sensationalized with fabricated facts. Sounds like fake news. Crime, scandal and war. They would have misleading content, prioritizing entertainment over verified facts. And you know, the two newspapers that were doing that, they were run by William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer. What's funny, who's now a. His name is associated with quality journalism. The response to that was the rise of the New York Times, which is very interesting. So it was replaced by real journalism, which they need to get back to. And so it's something, things that are arising now that are going to replace these news sources, these traditional news sources as our top forms of information. In fact, until news was viewed as a money making tool, it was created, the evening broadcast was created to serve the public interest. Once these networks realized they could make money, that's where the ball started rolling for things to go awry, to put sponsors of the programs that are the ones that these news shows should be covering.

[Erica]

And how, how do you have Pfizer as your sponsor and you're talking about Pfizer vaccines, Like it's just, it's all stupid.

[Sergio]

Erica, when you have a chance, I would like to jump in for a second.

[Erica]

Do it.

[Sergio]

Okay, thank you okay, so Kimberly, the most important thing you said today was when they whispered as you that they're supporting the war. That was the one that I felt how you got goosebumps when they told you that. Right? Yeah, because I can, I can, I can feel it. And that's what they revealed to you, that all the news channels and the Scott inside of me is about to explode the whole show. Because Scott told us that all the news channels are there to provide an opinion for us. If they can be self sustaining and make some money so you don't have to subsidize them, that's great. But all the new shows, Scott told us many times that they were there to assign an opinion to all of us. That's all they're for. So if they make money or not, some of them make more money when they start losing ratings. That's not what they want the most. That's a symbol and a measurement of how many people are under that message, under that opinion. Whenever the ratings fall from the news, the ratings will go up on a YouTube channel now. Right? And a lot of YouTube has taken over that. And people feel like I don't watch the news anymore. I'm not brainwashed. I watch YouTube only. And it's the same thing because it's all the people. So the word fair imbalance. From the beginning, Scott has told us that we invented those wars for children and for idiots to fight over. Okay? So because that's all is going to happen, it's like it's not fair or it is violence. The truth is that there's a changing of the guard now. There's a golden age. Whoever has the power is going to take control of things. CBS changes like what Owen was saying, the shift to the right. Yeah, that's going to happen because none of that is organic. It's all about who has the control at the moment. And not expecting that they're going to be nice to you when they take over the control back. Right? So right now, all this news, there's no fair or no balance to any of this stuff. Okay? It's just what they want us to. They want to sell. What they want to sell the most is war. War and medicines, right? War and drugs.

[Kim]

War gets huge ratings.

[Sergio]

Yeah, their ratings are great. So they can pay, they can buy more cars and get more salaries. But that's not the biggest, the best part. They're selling the war because the war is the biggest racket. That's where you get the most money. And that's why it has taken five years to stop Ukraine. That's why all this war lasted for 10, 20 years because of that, because it's the biggest moneymaker there is. And that's what they're for. They're infomercials. They're not information. All these channels, they're just informationals. And you said it, when Trump was pro war on the first term, they're like, great, let's go for him, let's support Trump, right? But then after they saw that he wasn't, like, starting too many wars, he got taken down, right? And then now he's back. Do you think they're going to, you know, let him do that again? They're going to try to take him down with everything they got. And so we'll see what happens.

[Owen]

But, yeah, I think they're hoping, they're hoping for a war with Iran at this point. That's probably the next one. But I think they, I did see them cheering on the Venezuela and talking about it, like, breathlessly, about the new sonic weapon and how it was such an amazing operation and all that stuff. And, and, and now they're talking about Cuba and they, they talk about invading Greenland, even though Trump has said he's not going to do that. And, you know, it. Anything that's a little whiff of a war just gets lots and lots of coverage and attention.

[Sergio]

I wish we could have war without the killings. You know, that would be nice if.

[Owen]

You had, like, just predicted, right, the drones against drones. That's what's coming.

[Sergio]

If we can watch it on TV that we find.

[Owen]

You know, I posted today about the drones and all the drone swarms are the new thing that they're coming out with all these different drone swarm solutions where it would just be impossible to do anything against them.

[Erica]

So scary. It's so scary. I do, I do appreciate the drones because I, you know, obviously it'll save lives, hopefully for troops and people's sons and husbands and fathers.

[Owen]

Kim, when the drone wars start, I'm going to go over to Sergio's house and he's going to protect.

[Erica]

Oh, yes, Sergio. You guys, Sergio has a drone. It's like a little pet. It flies off of his hand and it comes back to him and he's actually going to show it to us one day. We'll do that one day. It's pretty interesting. He's our gadget guru. Love it. Kim, we really like your. Like I said, your bio is so interesting and I hope you'll come back again. It's really fun to talk about the behind the curtain on the news and get a glimpse into what's happening. And everybody in the chat. Did you love having Kim on today? You know, let us know? Because we did. And Owen had great questions, and I just appreciate the insight. And we all have to be careful with our news sources. What is news? Where do we get it from? A lot of us got it from Scott every day. I know I counted on him to help me figure things out. Luckily, Owen's got his show on Saturday where you can just talk news nonstop for hours and hours. But I hope you had fun, Kim. I hope we made you feel welcomed.

[Kim]

Oh, you did. And I do not want to miss an episode of Scott Adams School. I'm loving this. I'm growing and learning, and I'm just so honored to be a part of it today. And I just thank you, love all of you and love everybody in the chat. Thank you so much.

[Erica]

Thank you, you guys. So we'll. Tomorrow is a special show, you guys. Shelly will be on, and we asked somebody else to come on. We'll introduce you to tomorrow. Tomorrow. But we're going to talk about Scott's memorial service and just about Scott in general. So we would love for you all to be here for that. And then we will have Owen on Saturday for more news. But tomorrow, please all be here. Let's have a closing sip for our beloved Scott. We miss him so much. And everyone, please go out there today and be useful and help somebody that needs help with something. And Kim is. Her information has been dropped in the chats, and it's on my X feed if you want to get in touch with her. I see a lot of you have different questions for her, and she's very open to that. So. All right, guys, we'll see you tomorrow. And to Scott.

[Owen]

To Scott.