MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and the left-leaning cable network’s other top anchors have used a giant video screen to show the Republican National Convention as a backdrop — while hosting the coverage from their Manhattan headquarters.
The unusual arrangement has raised ethical concerns about making it appear to viewers that the outlet’s biggest stars are on-site in Milwaukee to cover the four-day convention.
“If news organizations don’t represent where they are clearly, then how is the audience to have faith and confidence in the actual content of the reporting?” media veteran and former CNN Washington Bureau Chief Frank Sesno told The New York Times.
“It can feel like a frivolous thing — oh, well, gee, we’re just using the pictures behind them — but there’s something profoundly important here.”
MSNBC — which has faced internal turmoil after network brass sidelined “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski in the wake of the failed assassination attempt against Donald Trump — announced last week that it would have a limited on-the-ground presence in Milwaukee.
The cable network only sent anchors Stephanie Ruhle, host of the 11 p.m. nightly show “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle,” and Katy Tur, the daytime host of “Katy Tur Reports,” to the convention at Fiserv Forum.
MSNBC reporter Jacob Soboroff was also in Milwaukee, where he was told to “just get out of here” by Donald Trump Jr during a heated interview about immigration during Monday opening night. The president’s son blasted the network as “clowns.”
The thin roster of on-site journalists pales in comparison to rival CNN’s massive presence in the key battleground state. Jake Tapper, Dana Bash, Anderson Cooper, Kaitlan Collins, Chris Wallace and other panelists are providing coverage and analysis.
While MSNBC anchors at 30 Rockefeller Plaza have never claimed to be reporting from Milwaukee, they have only noted their location sparingly throughout the network’s coverage, according to the Times.
Maddow opened the first night of coverage at 7 p.m. alongside fellow hosts Joy Reid and Jen Psaki by noting that the panel was based “at MSNBC headquarters.”
At around 9 p.m., Maddow told a correspondent that “we say hi here from MSNBC HQ in New York.”
During Tuesday’s prime time coverage, Chris Hayes, the host of “All In,” greeted viewers by saying “Good evening from New York” when kicking off the 8 p.m. hour.
MSNBC’s corporate cousin sister NBC News, meanwhile, has sent “TODAY” co-host Savannah Guthrie and Lester Holt to anchor the over-the-air coverage from Milwaukee. During Monday night’s broadcast, Guthrie interviewed MSNBC host Psaki, who appeared in a split-screen.
However, the LED screen background behind Psaki made it look as if both of them were at the convention.
An MSNBC spokesperson denied that the network was at risk of giving viewers the impression that its commentators were broadcasting from the convention hall in Milwaukee.
“At the top of every broadcast, hosts identify themselves as being in New York or at MSNBC headquarters,” the rep told The Times.
The Post has sought comment from MSNBC.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
