NBC News's no good, very bad week continues
Trump town hall fallout and MSNBC anchor's dalliance with sponcon
NBC News can’t seem to dig out of its hole fast enough.
Yesterday, the media world aimed its ire at the Peacock network for agreeing to air a town hall with President Trump at exactly the same time ABC News is airing a town hall with Joe Biden, all of this after the president refused to do a virtual debate (which was deemed necessary because, you know, the 74-year-old president has the coronavirus).
Today, the Wall Street Journal reports that more than 100 NBCUniversal actors, producers and directors including “This Is Us” creator Dan Fogelman and cast members Sterling K. Brown, Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia, as well as “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” Executive Producer Neal Baer, have sent a letter of protest to NBC CEO Jeff Shell, NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde and Comcast CEO Brian Roberts.
The letter doesn’t criticize NBC for putting the president on its airwaves, but rather that the network is allowing Mr. Trump to “counterprogram” his rival.
“We are simply asking that NBC air the President’s town hall either before or after Vice President Biden’s so that American voters can have the opportunity to watch both,” the letter said.
And according to the WSJ:
NBC News tried to persuade ABC News to move its event to later in the evening, but the request was rebuffed, two people familiar with the matter said.
(Image via Evelyn Hockstein for the Washington Post)
Continuing the network’s poor judgement, the Washington Post reports today that star MSNBC talent Stephanie Ruhle was doing sponcon for Chase.
The clip was a short promotional spot for a longer promotional spot — a six-minute, Chase-sponsored discussion about personal finance. Ruhle is among several well-known personalities, including tennis star and Chase endorser Serena Williams, who have been interviewed for the infomercial-like series.
In her segment, Ruhle — who is also the senior business correspondent for NBC News — offers generic, bank-friendly advice, all of it framed by Chase’s logo, in a conversation with ESPN analyst and NBA alumnus Jay Williams. “Saving is always the answer,” she says. “Please save as much as you can. And plan ahead.”
Ruhle isn’t a paid endorser for Chase, but her association with the bank raises questions about potential conflicts of interest. Most news organizations prohibit their journalists from any activity that might be construed as promoting a person, institution or entity they cover. The rule is aimed at preserving a news organization’s neutrality and countering any suggestion that a reporter has a vested interest in those he or she covers.
Wikipedia highlights how Ruhle was once a Wall Street wunderkind, working for 14 years on Wall Street before hopping over to the media world:
Prior to joining Bloomberg, Ruhle spent 14 years working in the finance industry. While in college, she spent a summer interning for Merrill Lynch.[9] In 1997, she joined Credit Suisse where she spent six years working in hedge fund sales. During her time at Credit Suisse First Boston, she served as a vice president and became the highest producing credit derivatives salesperson in the United States.[4][10] In 2003, Ruhle joined Deutsche Bank as a credit salesperson covering hedge funds.[11] She ended her eight-year career there as a managing director in Global Markets Senior Relationship Management.[4] While at Deutsche Bank, Ruhle founded the Global Market Women's Network to help women move into leadership roles at the company.[9]
This is not a bad thing. Viewers and readers would be better served if journalists had some practical experience. And someone with Ruhle’s expertise on finance makes her credible.
But as journalism professor Mark Feldstein told the WaPo:
Ruhle’s involvement with Chase “is not kosher, and it’s exceedingly unusual,” said Mark Feldstein, a former network TV correspondent who is now a journalism professor at the University of Maryland. He said her participation in a corporate public-relations campaign “undercuts her impartiality and independence. She’s effectively using her fame and journalistic credibility to promote a corporation she covers. Is her first loyalty to the public or to Chase?”
Ruhle, he said, may have given viewers reason to doubt her loyalties with the juxtaposition of the webcast and her MSNBC interview with Dimon a month earlier. “Did he recruit her for the ad while she was interviewing him,” Feldstein asked. “Did she decide to interview him after cutting a deal to make the ad? Either way, it smells fishy.”
The idea of a television journalist doing work for a brand hits close to home, as I once had a job at NBC News that directed branded content. One of the rules that was etched in stone: absolutely under no circumstances was talent to be used for sponsored content. And there is a lot of talent at NBC News properties; advertisers would sheepishly and constantly ask if they could use a Today Show anchor or MSNBC host in a piece of sponsored content even though they knew the answer was a firm ‘no.’
Trish Wexler of JPMorgan Chase Corporate Communications told The Hill that Ruhl "was not paid for this financial literacy content.
"It was our mistake to promote it, and we’re sorry,” Wexler added, confirming that Chase has stopped all promotion involving Ruhle.
Ruhle told the Post, after being asked for comment: “I’m not doing any work on behalf of Chase Bank,” she said. “I don’t know what you are referring to.”
That may be, but asking whether she did work for Chase isn’t the best question, as “work” can lead to different interpretations. Work implies paid. If she didn’t get paid, then she didn’t do work.
The better question: Did NBC News sales put together a package for Chase that included Ruhle (or any other talent) as part of a deal?
An NBC spokesperson said:
As is a common practice for journalists, Stephanie participated in an interview as a subject matter expert,” the network spokesperson said in a statement. “The issue was not the interview, but the way Chase promoted and framed it across social media. Chase has since recognized and corrected their mistake.
It’s curious that Ruhle is being labeled a journalist here. One of the interesting things I find about TV journalism is that at a certain point, reporters are no longer called reporters. They’re called “talent.” This has interesting implications.
First, talent has agents. Reporters don’t. And there are different tiers for talent; a news anchor is a higher rung than a senior reporter, for example. And even within news anchors, there’s a difference between someone on at 2pm on the cable network versus a nightly news anchor.
To show how ridiculous this game of TV journalism is, look at Alaina Pinto, an anchor who was let go from 7 News (WHDH-Boston) because she “participated in a cameo in the recently released Netflix movie by Adam Sandler, "Hubie Halloween".
NBC News’s chairman Cesar Conde is five months in the role, taking over from Andy Lack who saw some pretty spectacular fuck ups during his most recent tour as chairman. (Nothing like dropping $69 million on “talent” Megyn Kelly to not be on air.) I guess the only positive thing about making bad judgment calls in 2020 is that by tomorrow, a wholly new inferno will be raging somewhere and this will all be forgotten.
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The Rolling Stones, “She’s a Rainbow” (Live)
Some interesting links:
For mental health of reporters:
How Are We Feeling? A survey reveals the hardships of covering a life-or-death story—and what challenges will linger (Columbia Journalism Review)
For publishers:
‘Both sides benefit’: Why Fast Company pursued more smaller-budget sponsors for tentpole Innovation Festival (Digiday)
For understanding the far right:
In the tangled world of far-right chat rooms, white supremacists are getting organized (Vanity Fair)
Rupert Murdoch Predicts a Landslide Win for Biden (Daily Beast)
For platforms and brand safety:
TikTok and OpenSlate partner to bring TikTok brand safety solution to advertisers (TikTok)
YouTube bans QAnon content (YouTube)
Facebook and Twitter CEOs will have to answer to Senate Republicans after Biden NY Post story controversy (CNBC)
For books:
Your Local Bookstore Wants You to Know That It’s Struggling (NYT)
I generally agree that more reporters should have some actual experience and even expertise in what they cover. Ruhle, however, came out of sales, not from financial analysis or strategy. So, she was good at selling people and not necessarily understanding how to help them.