Why White House Officials Are Descending on TV News

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorThe nation’s biggest TV-news outlets have made it increasingly easy for top officials in the White House to have a presence in your house.If White House press secretary Jen Psaki joins MSNBC as expected, she will be the second Biden official to land at the NBCUniversal-owned network in the space of less than a year.

She will join Symone Sanders, a former campaign adviser to President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, at MSNBC, where she is taking on a weekend show that will also have a streaming presence.Psaki declined to discuss her negotiations with MSNBC Friday during a White House press briefing, but two people familiar with the matter say she has been weighing potential roles with both CNN and MSNBC and should surface at the latter by autumn.

She isn’t alone in her interest in TV news. Mick Mulvaney, the former Trump administration aide, was named a contributor to CBS News earlier this week, sparking some pushback by staffers and critics — including Stephen Colbert, who hosts the network’ signature late-night program.

CBS News declined to comment. CBS also had a contributor relationship with Reince Preibus, the former White House chief of staff under President Trump.White House staffers and political types have long found safe perches at news outlets, but “it has been accelerating in recent years as both politics and journalism have grown more partisan,” says Mark Feldstein, chair of the broadcast journalism department at the University of Maryland.  “For the networks, these former officials bring knowledge, expertise —and spin.