Joe Scarborough Slams ‘Gutter’ Social Media Influencers Who ‘Stir Up Sh*t’ And Lie At ‘No Cost’: ‘What Reporters Do Matters!’

Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough raised eyebrows in the studio by cursing out influencers in the social media “gutter” who are incentivized to lie to readers at “no cost” in a passionate defense of journalism at traditional media outlets.

The MSNBC team welcomed Axios Jim VandeHei into the studio Monday morning to congratulate him on receiving the Fourth Estate award alongside his publication’s co-founder Mike Allen. The focus, however, quickly rounded on a speech he delivered to the National Press Club, which praised fearless and impartial journalism and the importance of a free press while slamming opinionated influencers who are “popping off on Twitter.”

Energized by a clip playing back VandeHei’s remarks, Scarborough led the Morning Joe team in applause before unleashing himself on social media.

Scarborough began: “First of all, I got to say, extraordinary content. It needed to be said. It continues to need to be said when all of the garbage that is flying around on social media, lying about reporters, lying about the hard work they do, lying about the hard work editors, lying about everything up and down about not only their alternative set of facts, but alternative set of facts about what people like you do.”

The host added, “Even if we had to bleep you more than we would if we ran a Dave Chappelle concert, it was still good.”

Before VandeHei could speak, Scarborough opened up in a tirade of his own, slamming “critics of the press” for “feeling more empowered than ever to lie.”

Scarborough relayed how his friends would get their news online from outlets like the Epoch Times, retelling how he mocked them for reading “a website run by conspiracy theorists in a Chinese religious cult.”

“That’s where you get!” he continued. “Social media people lying every day, every hour, every minute about the news. What you do matters. What reporters do matters. What The New York Times does matters. What the Wall Street Journal does matters. What Jonathan Lemire does matters. What The Financial Times does matters. What MSNBC news and MSNBC reporters do matters. It matters.”

Between offerings from his guest, Scarborough didn’t stop, growing more excited with each interruption.

“These places that have great reporters, right?” he continued. “They don’t need to worry about what happens over the next five minutes or the next five weeks, the next five months because you print the truth all the time.”

He added: “This is what gets me, somebody pops off on Twitter or some other social and they lie. They make mistakes. You know what the cost of that is? Nothing. They do it again. In fact, it helps them because algorithms are rigged, so you stir up shit.”

Visibly shocked at Scarborough’s swearing, co-host Mika Brzezinski glanced off camera but her husband didn’t stop”: “The more you can get people angry, the more followers you get, but also now it is monetized to help you.”

Complaining about the lack of accountability online for sharing false or wrong information, noting that in established outlets “editor after editor after editor after editor” check stories to make sure information is “double and triple-sourced.”

He continued: “And still, sometimes they get it wrong. And so then what happens? They either retract it or, most likely, they get sued if they don’t retract it, right? So, there are checks and balances there that you don’t find in the gutter when you’re on social media just following algorithms that lead you to liars.”

Closing out, have taken up most of the airtime from the segment, Scarborough slammed people who claim they “don’t trust the press anymore” and who have “been listening to Donald Trump undermine the press and Elon Musk and everybody else.”

To the contrary, he argued, the established press represents a range of ideological stances, citing the Wall Street Journal as an example.

He concluded: “If people think that Rupert Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal is a left-wing pro-deep state newspaper, they’re beyond help. At some point, people have to want to know the truth. If they don’t want to know the truth, well, then go ahead and walk around ignorant.”

Watch above on MSNBC.