I think the point is not that this statement is incorrect, but rather that it doesn’t accurately convey the severity of the situation. More accurate would be: “manipulation of their audience is their product”.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24576623
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Manipulation of the audience in pre-TV days, ca. fourth century BC:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:19...
> "The emotions are all those affections which cause men to change their opinion in regard to their judgements"
Remember the Maine!