MSNBC will reportedly be welcoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki when she leaves her position in May. However, the network’s decision to bring her in isn’t without some criticism.
Last week, a report revealed that NBC News staffers were upset over the hiring. Nonetheless, the information also disclosed that MSNBC decided to hire Psaki on the perspective programming side.
In an interview with The Guardian, Ryan Thomas, an associate professor at the Missouri School of Journalism, stated that MSNBC hiring Psaki is similar to what many see in sports media. Networks often employ ex-players as commentators are a standard, where winning races is everything, and actual policy represents very little.
“The pipeline from the White House to news organizations makes it more difficult for news organizations to have sufficient distance or be perceived to be credibly scrutinizing government,” Thomas said.
“Partisans argue that people won’t care or won’t notice, but it is wrong irrespective of awareness. It’s like they are moving from formal to informal public relations apparatus that is unhealthy in its own terms, irrespective of its potential effects on press accountability.”
Journalism ethics professors voice uneasiness that this type of high-profile hiring to a high-profile cable news network hits the public while Psaki is still in a political position and risks becoming the default image of what the public harbors as standard practice for journalism.
“There’s a trickle-down effect from the irresponsibility of cable news organizations to local news journalists who get tarred with the same brush,” Thomas said.
As Americans of differing political parties are sharply split on how much they entrust the news reported by national media organizations, moves like the one MSNBC did for Psaki might do more harm than good.
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
