MSNBC's Rachel Maddow, other top anchors not in Milwaukee for RNC, using LED screen to appear they're on site
Rachel Maddow and other top MSNBC hosts have been using an LED screen to cover the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee from the liberal network's studio in New York City, according to a report.
Maddow, who has been leading the network's coverage of the GOP convention this week, has repeatedly appeared on air with the backdrop of the convention behind her, leading casual viewers to assume she was on the ground in Milwaukee. But Maddow and many of her colleagues, including Nicolle Wallace, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid and other MSNBC anchors have not been inside the convention hall or even in the same city, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
"Instead, they were broadcasting from a studio in Midtown Manhattan, as a live feed of the convention floor was projected onto an LED screen behind them," the Times report reads.
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"The arrangement — which several veteran television news producers described as unorthodox — has created something of a trompe l’oeil effect. A casual glance at the screen would suggest that MSNBC’s top anchors were covering the convention in person," the article continues, using a French phrase referring to highly realistic-looking but visually deceptive artwork.
MSNBC did previously announce last week that Maddow and other top political anchors would not travel to Milwaukee for the convention. Instead, the network sent Stephanie Ruhle, who hosts "The 11th Hour," and daytime host Katy Tur, per the Times.
A number of reporters and correspondents from NBC News were sent to Milwaukee for live reporting, including "Today" host Savannah Guthrie, "Nightly News" host Lester Holt and correspondent Jacob Soboroff, who clashed with Donald Trump Jr. during an interview on the convention floor in an exchange that went viral. MSNBC is NBC's left-leaning cable arm.
While the New York City-based MSNBC anchors did not tell viewers that they were in Milwaukee during live broadcasting, "they have mentioned their location sparingly throughout many hours of evening coverage," according to the Times report.
An MSNBC spokesman told the Times that at "the top of every broadcast, hosts identify themselves as being in New York or at MSNBC headquarters." But critics say the live video feed of a bustling convention behind them sends a different impression to viewers tuning in throughout the night.
"News organizations need to be very careful and very transparent about what they represent and how they represent it," former CNN Washington bureau chief Frank Sesno told the 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. 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?"
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Maddow began the 7 p.m. ET broadcast Monday saying that she and her colleagues were "at MSNBC headquarters. About two hours later, she told a correspondent that ‘we say hi here from MSNBC HQ in New York.’ On Tuesday at 8 p.m., Chris Hayes welcomed viewers by saying, 'Good evening from New York,'" the report stated.
At one point Monday, a side-by-side box on NBC of Guthrie and Psaki, on the parent network to give analysis, suggested to viewers that both were on-site, but only Guthrie was actually in Wisconsin.
The MSNBC spokesperson replied "no" when asked by the Times whether he feels the LED screen could be misleading.
While the Times does not attribute the anchors' absence at the convention to financial constraints, it did note the steep price tag that comes with covering the event live and how several networks cut back on their convention coverage plans compared to 2016.
Former President Trump will officially accept the 2024 Republican nomination on Thursday.
MSNBC did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.