Newsweek’s deputy opinion editor said on Tuesday that Rachel Maddow’s planned break from MSNBC could be a sign the network was leaving a working class audience behind.
“From a class point of view, I wonder if this isn’t MSNBC doing what CNN did over the last ten years, and saying, ‘Look, we don’t need these working class viewers, let’s lean in to the highly educated, affluent side of the liberal set,'” Batya Ungar-Sargon told Hill.TV. “I worry a little about that.”
According to a Business Insider report, Maddow on Monday announced she was taking a break from “The Rachel Maddow Show” to focus on an NBCUniversal feature film and podcast, with her final show before the break to air on Friday. During the hiatus, MSNBC will replace Maddow with a rotating series of hosts.
Ungar-Sargon said Maddow identified with the working class audience, becoming the “Glenn Beck of the left,” in a reference to the conservative radio show host and commentator.
The Newsweek opinion editor questioned if MSNBC was “following the money” to pick up a new audience.
“Unfortunately the money is with these highly educated, affluent white progressives,” she said. “That seems to be where all the liberal mainstream outlets seem to be putting their basket.”
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