Suddenly, Today correspondent is an entry-level job?
August 30, 2009 4:05 pm ET by Jamison Foser
George W. Bush's daughter has a new job:
NBC's "Today" show has hired someone with White House experience as a new correspondent - former first daughter Jenna Hager.
The daughter of former President George W. Bush will contribute stories about once a month on issues like education to television's top-rated morning news show, said Jim Bell, its executive producer.
...
Bell said Hager won't be covering politics. He said he didn't consider the job as a down payment for a future interview with her father, who has been living quietly in Texas since leaving office earlier this year. Attacks on NBC News by conservatives for the liberal bent of MSNBC also had nothing to do with it, he said.
Right. With no journalism experience and a couple of years as a teacher under her belt, Jenna Hager was simply the most qualified person available to cover education for the nation's top-rated morning news program. Didn't have anything to do with who her father is, or with appeasing conservatives. Sure.
Speaking of MSNBC and conservatives, Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz was up to his old tricks again last week, ignoring the existence of Joe Scarborough in order to portray the cable channel as a hotbed of liberalism. Here's Kurtz in last week's online discussion:
Bethesda, Md.: The issue does not seem to be that the traditional media is 'impotent.' It is that it is increasingly difficult to determine what the traditional media is and is not. CNN, MSNBC, others have 'news' hours and 'opinion' hours so interchangably that no attempt to divide these is successful in dispelling the perception that the media outlets simply report opinions and slant as news facts. ...
Howard Kurtz: You're right about the first part--CNN (where I'm a contributor) has Dobbs, MSNBC has Olbermann and Maddow, Fox has Hannity, O'Reilly and Beck. As for American news organizations being seen as having a slant, that is in the eye of the beholder. But I will tell you that there are many news organizations that try hard to deliver balanced reporting.
MNSBC also has Joe Scarborough, of course -- and Mika Brzezinski, who says conservative Palin supporters (unlike the rest of us) are "real Americans."
Now, if this was just a one-time thing, Kurtz's omission of Scarborough would be no big deal, even though he does set up a contrast between MSNBC's liberal hosts and Fox's conservatives.
But this isn't a one-time thing. Kurtz has a long track record of pretending Scarborough doesn't exist in order to portray MSNBC as liberal. It's a track record I've documented extensively. It's a track record Kurtz has been criticized for in previous online discussions, and via Twitter.
Now, with Jenna Bush's new gig, Kurtz has someone else to ignore when discussing the political leanings of MS/NBC journalists.
Palin's book and Obama's bow: a media week to forget
Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
The Friday Rush: A series of conflicts
Good grief. Journalism isn't dying, but it sure is under wide-spanning attack.
NOW I WOULD HAVE A PROBLEM if they offered the job to Sarah Palin's high school drop out daughter Bristol- Levi's Baby Momma.
Secondly, yes I do see a problem with hiring Jenna. She is not a reporter, nor does she actually even seem to have a great desire to be one. And yet, she will be there on public airwaves offering issues information to a large swath of the public.
So, yes, I have a problem with it.
This isn't the first time the Today Show has hired a celebrity sibling.
Princess Diana's brother, Charles Spencer, was on the show for a while.
He outlived his usefulness and our interest in all things Diana, and left the show. People will tune in to see her (good for ratings). Think of it this way - they could have hired Liz Cheney. How would that work with your morning coffee.
Give Jenna a chance. And no, I did not vote for Dad or Poppy Bush.
If they hired Princess Diana's brother without him having any qualifications, well, that was wrong too! Two wrongs don't make a right.
She has no experience. She doesn't deserve to start near the top just because of who her father is. There's no other reason to have hired her for the position other than her family connections. And that's wrong.
Boy, talk about hitting the nail on the head. This is the same as someone reading an Op-Ed in the paper and assuming that it is factual "news". Some people just don't have the knowledge to understand the difference.
Well, we all know that Jenna didn't get this position because of who her dad is, or anything like that. I mean, Chelsea can probably smoke her, as far as being qualified for the job she got but; you know that if she wasn't related to an ex-president she would have never been offered the position she got.
It is wrong but; it happens all the time.
I'm willing to give her a chance. Then again, I would never watch the Today show really because A. I'm at work when it's on, and B. It's just a collection of crap most of the time.
Good for Jenna. She's got a somewhat high profile job. I don't think we can really comment on her performance, or her stories, until she does some. Just because she's a Bush, doesn't automatically make her the enemy. We'll see what falls from her mouth, and something tells me, she'll be doing more "feel good" stories than anything else, because, again, The Today Show is about 99.9% fluff.
I know the media can't be redeemed, but in a parallel universe you'd start by having national-level positions actually MEAN something. Then Beck and Malkin getting kicked out wouldn't be far behind.
Well we don't know but I'm willing to bet...
How do you feel about Ms Clinton getting a high paying Hedge Fund job from major democrat supporters of Hillary?
Chelsea gets job from Major democratic party supporters