NBC announced today that they have hired David Axelrod as a full-time political analyst for MSNBC and NBC News. This will be the second hire from Obama's campaign team and White House team, along with Robert Gibbs, now a contributor.
He was also recently named director of the University of Chicago's brand new Institute of Politics, and as a "Distinguished Senior Fellow" at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy.
Karl Rove is hardly the only political advisor to join a news network, but that is what Bill Carter of the Media Decoder blog at the NY Times chose to highlight in his article. Other journalists make a similar point and note that this is another step toward more polarized cable news networks which follows the model that Fox News created with their niche news market strategy.
Here is the press release:
FEBRUARY 19, 2013 – David Axelrod, former White House senior advisor and senior strategist for President Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns, has joined NBC News and MSNBC as a senior political analyst. He will contribute frequently across all broadcasts and platforms of both networks.
For nearly three decades, Axelrod guided successful campaigns at every level on the ballot. He began his career as a journalist, spending eight years as a political writer, columnist and City Hall bureau chief for the Chicago Tribune before stepping into politics in 1984. He founded Axelrod and Associates, a political and media consulting firm which became AKPD Message and Media. He later founded the communications management firm ASGK Public Strategies.
Axelrod, an alumnus of the University of Chicago, was recently named director of the university’s new Institute of Politics, and as a Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Harris School of Public Policy. He previously worked as an Adjunct Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University.
The NBC News and MSNBC roster of esteemed political analysts also includes Steve Schmidt, former senior campaign strategist and advisor to the 2008 Presidential campaign of Senator John McCain, Michael Steele former chairman of the Republican National Committee and two-term former Governor of Pennsylvania Ed Rendell.
Below you'll find some reporting and reaction from the news media and from various people on Twitter.
NYTimes:
NBC News Hires David Axelrod as Political Analyst
He will appear on news programs for NBC’s broadcast network and for its cable news channel MSNBC. That channel has positioned itself aggressively as the liberal counterpart to the conservative-leaning Fox News Channel.
Mr. Axelrod’s hiring at MSNBC emulates Fox’s hiring of Karl Rove, who filled the similar political post for George W. Bush.
Seattle Post Intelligencer:
NBC stocks up with Obama alumni
Just as right-thinking Fox News hires high-profile Republicans — ex-presidential candidate Herman Cain and ex-Sen. Scott Brown its latest additions, joining “Bush’s brain” Karl Rove — NBC News and MSNBC are stocking up on alumni of the Obama administration.
[...]
The hirings underscore a trend in news broadcasting that some find unsettling. Viewers are now able to pick cable TV channels where their views will be re-enforced rather than challenged.
USA Today:
Axelrod will analyze for NBC News, MSNBC
Axelrod "will contribute frequently across all broadcasts and platforms of both networks," said the announcement.
This basically means Axelrod can't appear on competing networks.
LA Times:
Obama advisor Axelrod joins NBC
MSNBC has sought to position itself as the liberal cable alternative to Fox News, which launched the trend by carving out a lucrative niche as a magnet for conservative viewers. In that respect, Axelrod becomes NBC’s marquee counterpart to Fox’s Karl Rove, who gained a national reputation by guiding George W. Bush to the presidency and remains a prominent figure in conservative politics.
[...]
Axelrod is only the latest top Obama advisor to join MSNBC. Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs recently started work as an NBC/MSNBC analyst. Other Democrats listed as contributors by NBC and MSNBC, according to the network website, include Ed Rendell, a former Pennsylvania governor; Karen Finney, a former communications director for the Democratic National Committee; and former Democratic Rep. Harold Ford Jr.
Reactions on Twitter: