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.
Hellbound and Down 