CNN host Jake Tapper criticized MSNBC’s controversial effort to broadcast the Republican National Convention remotely, in which the network set up large LED screens behind its hosts to make it look like they were broadcasting from the convention.
Speaking from the convention floor in Milwaukee on Thursday night, Tapper introduced Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who told the CNN panel, “Thank you, everyone. You’re all actually here live.”
“We’re live and these other networks, I won’t name names, just put up big LEDs,” Tapper said, implicitly criticizing MSNBC.
This week, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and other top anchors at left-leaning cable networks used giant video screens as a backdrop to the four-day convention, broadcasting from their Manhattan headquarters.
MSNBC sent some reporters to the convention site, but the network’s hosts did not travel to Milwaukee, instead broadcasting commentary in front of a screen showing the Republican National Convention audience, giving viewers at home the impression that they were broadcasting live from the venue.
Several media outlets criticized MSNBC for reporting hosts like Maddow, Jen Psaki and Joy Reid as if they were attending the convention, accusing the network of misleading its viewers.
In a Wednesday article titled “Is Maddow in Milwaukee? No, It’s an MSNBC LED Screen,” The New York Times I have written “MSNBC’s decision to place a Manhattan-based anchor in front of its live coverage from the convention site created a strange and perhaps misleading moment.”
“If news organizations don’t clearly communicate where they stand, how can viewers trust and have confidence in what the stories are actually about?” Frank Sesno, a media veteran and former CNN Washington bureau chief, told the outlet.
“It may seem like a frivolous thing – Oh, well, it’s just a background photo – but there’s something deep and important here,” he added.
An MSNBC representative denied that the remote set was misleading to viewers, explaining, “At the beginning of every broadcast, our hosts make clear whether they are in New York or at MSNBC headquarters.”
MSNBC, which has been facing internal turmoil after network executives replaced “Morning Joe” co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski in the wake of the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, announced last week that it would have a limited on-site presence in Milwaukee.
MSNBC sent only two presenters to the convention at Fiserv Forum: Stephanie Ruhle, host of the 11 p.m. show “The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle,” and Katy Tur, host of the daytime show “Katy Tur Reports.”
MSNBC reporter Jacob Soboroff, also in Milwaukee, was told to “get out of here” by Donald Trump Jr. during a heated interview on immigration on the opening night Monday, after the president’s son blasted the network as “clowns.”
MSNBC’s small reporter presence on the ground paled in comparison to rival CNN’s large presence in key battleground states, with panelists including Jake Tapper, Dana Bash, Anderson Cooper, Caitlin Collins and Chris Wallace providing coverage and analysis.
