What happened to transparency?
Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Jon Meacham is a Biden supporter. He endorsed Biden in March. He had a job as a contributor, for which he was paid, on MSNBC. According to reports, Meacham no longer has a contributor job because he failed to disclose that he writes and also edits speeches for Joe Biden. While most network coverage of Biden’s victory speech on Saturday night swooned over the speech, Meacham appeared on MSNBC. He was asked by show host Brian Williams for comments, leading it off by asking if Biden’s speech was a return to how presidents in the past have sounded. Meacham delivered his hot takes about the speech but he never disclosed that he played a role in the speechwriting. Meacham isn’t just a presidential historian and author of best-selling books, he is a speechwriter, too. During the Trump years, Mr. Meacham had also been a regular presence on MSNBC and NBC News broadcasts. But as of Monday, he was not a paid contributor at the network, according to two people familiar with the decision. Mr. Meacham was expected to return to NBC as an unpaid guest and could resume his paid role next year, possibly after the inauguration, the people said. NBC declined to comment. Indeed, Mr. Meacham appeared on MSNBC before and after Mr. Biden’s acceptance speech on Saturday. About half an hour after Mr. Biden had concluded, the anchor Brian Williams introduced Mr. Meacham by saying, “I’m not the historian that you are, and I don’t have the Pulitzer that you do, but do you concur that is the way we are used to hearing from our presidents?” “Absolutely,” Mr. Meacham responded, without disclosing that he had been involved in the writing of the speech.
