How do these people manage to get on TV.
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While I think the Expensify guy did an ok job, he could have absolutely slaughtered Pento on every single word he said.
Sometimes the guests are invited but other times they pay to be included. TV needs approximately 10,000 guests per day so it can be difficult for them to find qualified guests under the time pressures. Then each slot has different value to advertisers based on its demographics and ratings.
Obviously, with financial TV it is more lucrative so there is not really a shortage of free guests and so they can give more airtime to paid guests. But finding a paid Bitcoin expert is probably pretty difficult; I doubt MtGox is paying a PR firm a retainer.
So in this case, the Expensify CEO would be qualified as an expert and was likely invited to represent a 'pro-bitcoin' side. Pento likely pays a PR firm a retainer of $5-10k per month so he gets invited on a regular basis and was to take the 'con-bitcoin' side.