MSNBC Will ID Analyst as PR Exec

From now on MSNBC will alert viewers that commentator Richard Wolffe also serves another boss—a high-powered Washington public relations and lobbying firm, where he works as a strategist. Executives made the decision following complaints that Wolffe may have pushed agendas for his clients under the guise of being an objective analyst, reports Politico. “We should have disclosed Richard's connection" to the firm Public Strategies, said an NBC News spokesman. “We will do so in the future.”

He refused to reveal the identities of Wolffe's clients, though Public Strategies represents several interests at the heart of many public issues, such as health care reform, which Wolffe discussed as a guest host on Countdown last week. "Having Richard Wolffe host an MSNBC program—or serving as an almost daily 'political analyst'—is exactly tantamount to MSNBC's turning over an hour every night to a corporate lobbyist," writes Glenn Greenwald in Salon. (More MSNBC stories.)