The New York Times has deemed Rachel Maddow too opinionated and is refusing to let their reporters go on her MSNBC show.
Enrich said yes, but after mentioning the planned appearance to the Times’s communications department, he was told he would have to retroactively decline. The reason? The Times was wary of how viewers might perceive a down-the-middle journalist like Enrich talking politics with a mega-ideological host like Maddow.
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It’s not just Maddow. The Times has come to “prefer,†as sources put it, that its reporters steer clear of any cable-news shows that the masthead perceives as too partisan, and managers have lately been advising people not to go on what they see as highly opinionated programs. It’s not clear how many shows fall under that umbrella in the eyes of Times brass, but two others that definitely do are Lawrence O’Donnell’s and Don Lemon’s, according to people familiar with management’s thinking. Hannity’s or Tucker Carlson’s shows would likewise make the cut, but it’s not like Times reporters ever do those anyway. I’m told that over the past couple of months, executive editor Dean Baquet has felt that opinionated cable-news show are getting, well, even more opinionated.
It is important to remember that The New York Times and Washington Post were considered to be on the ropes before Donald Trump won the 2016 election. The Times and The Post were elevated by Trump and his antiquated thinking about media. The biggest newspapers in the country have made a ton of money off of Trump, which is why they are reluctant to see him lose in 2020.
Longtime media watchers have heard this argument about Maddow before. NBC News used the excuse that Maddow is “too partisan” to deny her the job of hosting Meet The Press. No one shows more respect for reporters and their work than Rachel Maddow, so The Times isn’t telling the truth. The reality is that The New York Times needs to keep its symbiotic relationship with Trump in place. The newspaper doesn’t want their reporters going on any channel that might provoke Trump to cut off or cut down their access.
The New York Times wants to have it both ways. They want to appear to be challenging Trump with their reporting, but they don’t want to alienate him too much.
If The Times keeps this dumb policy in place, they will lose a great platform for promoting their work. It is a dumb move, and it shows why they could be back on the path to extinction after Trump is gone from the White House.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
