CNN anchor Jake Tapper took a swipe at MSNBC’s controversial move to cover the Republican National Convention remotely — using big LED screens behind its anchors to make it appear as if they were broadcasting from the event.
From the convention floor in Milwaukee Thursday night, Tapper introduced Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who told the CNN panel: “Thank you guys, and you’re actually here live.”
“We’re live as opposed to some other networks that just have a big LED, who shall remain nameless,” Tapper said, taking a thinly veiled jab at MSNBC.
This week, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and the left-leaning cable network’s other top anchors have used a giant video screen to show the four-day convention as a backdrop — while hosting the coverage from their Manhattan headquarters.
While MSNBC did deploy some reporters to the convention floor, the network’s panel of hosts did not travel to Milwaukee and instead broadcast their commentary in front of a screen of showing the audience at the RNC, giving viewers at home the impression that they were live on location.
Several news outlets criticized MSNBC for making it appear as if the hosts such as Maddow, Jen Psaki and Joy Reid, were at the convention and accused the network of misleading viewers.
In an article titled on Wednesday, “Is Maddow in Milwaukee? No, That’s an LED Screen on MSNBC,” The New York Times wrote that “MSNBC’s decision to place its Manhattan-based anchors in front of a live feed of the convention floor created some odd, and arguably misleading, moments.”
“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 outlet.
“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,” he added.
A rep for MSNBC rejected suggestions that the remote set was misleading to viewers, explaining that “at the top of every broadcast, hosts identify themselves as being in New York or at MSNBC headquarters.
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.
MSNBC 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 MSNBC journalists paled in comparison to rival CNN’s hefty presence in the key battleground state. Jake Tapper, Dana Bash, Anderson Cooper, Kaitlan Collins, Chris Wallace and other panelists are providing coverage and analysis.
