White House press secretary Jen Psaki has reportedly been shopping around in recent weeks for a job outside the confines of her White House position.
A former deputy communications director for the Obama administration and CNN commentator, Psaki is being “feverishly courted” by CNN and MSNBC to bolster their failing ratings, Puck reported Wednesday.
Heads of both CNN and MSNBC have reportedly traveled to Washington, DC, in recent weeks to pitch Psaki on moving away from Biden’s failing presidency and towards a lucrative job in private sector media.
The pitches from the establishment media have likely promised Psaki a prominent role in their programming as “the next big star in television news,” puck reported:
Psaki intends to leave the White House at some point this year and, according to sources familiar with her thinking, intends to go into television news—not as a contributor, but as a host. Her lunch meetings with the CNN and MSNBC executives, which also included her agent Jay Sures, were the opening salvo in what is likely to be a long effort by several networks to court the woman who could potentially become the next big star in television news. ABC News and CBS News have also expressed interest in Psaki, sources familiar with the matter told me. (Representatives for CNN and MSNBC declined comment; representatives for ABC News and CBS News did not respond to a request for comment.)
…
The discussions with CNN and MSNBC are in early stages, which means that the contours of Psaki’s television career are still taking shape. But sources familiar with these early conversations say there could be a natural progression from Psaki’s role in the briefing room to her job as cable news host. (Too-obvious ideas for show titles include The Brief with Jen Psaki.) After all, her current role requires her to explain complicated matters of politics and policy and debunk falsehoods—which is not dissimilar from the job Maddow has created for herself at 9 p.m., where she typically punctures G.O.P. talking points and spends entire segments circuitously arriving at a point.
According to the report, rumors are swirling that Psaki could take over Rachel Maddow’s show on MSNBC due to the lack of talent at the network. Maddow intends to depart the MSNBC lineup in the near future, which Puck described as a “near-existential crisis” for MSNBC.
“Maddow’s current month-long hiatus has resulted in a 25-percent ratings drop in total viewers (and the coveted 25-to-54 year-old demo), and dragged down the rest of primetime,” the report read.
Maddow’s show is not the only one suffering from viewership decline. Breitbart News reported on Tuesday that Democrats’ interest in national news since Biden took office has shrunk from 69 percent in November of 2020 to 34 percent in December 2021. Other left-leaning publicans have also struggled during Biden’s presidency for eyeballs. Breitbart News reported:
The Hill, Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and Vox Media have lost a large percentage of monthly unique visitors since Trump led the nation, according to Comscore data cited by the Journal.
Politico’s readership has reportedly declined the greatest amount at 48 percent. The Post‘s page views are reportedly fewer by 28 percent, followed by the Times at 15 percent, then the Journal and Vox Media at nine percent.
If Psaki leaves in 2022, her track record would include spinning multiple crises from the White House lectern. During Biden’s presidency, more than two million migrants have been apprehended at the southern border. Fentanyl deaths have become the greatest killer among 18-45-year-olds. Inflation has increased to a 40-year-high. Gas prices have grown by $1.00 since last year. Weekly wages have shrunk. Supply chain woes have persisted. And the deadly Afghan withdrawal deeply embarrassed the nation.