Newsweek editor: White House, cable news ‘revolving door’ a ‘cultural problem’

Batya Ungar-Sargon, the deputy opinion editor at Newsweek, said the “revolving door” between the White House and cable news outlets for ex-administration officials is a “cultural problem.”

Her comments came after reports surfaced that White House press secretary Jen Psaki is making plans to leave the White House and join MSNBC in the spring. Axios first reported on the plan, which was confirmed to The Hill by two sources familiar with the deal.

“I believe her that there are no ethical problems. I don’t think that she was doing anything wrong, you know, pursuing her next job or thinking about what her next move would be while she’s in the administration. I think Robbie what you said is more accurate, which is that the revolving door makes it such that, you know, there are no strictly legalistic ethical concerns here because the move is such a natural one,” Ungar-Sargon said during a Monday appearance on Hill.TV’s “Rising.”

“It’s much more a cultural problem that we have, that that is such a smooth glide, rather than some sort of strictly ethical breach,” she added.

Psaki herself has declined to confirm if she is leaving the White House to work for MSNBC. She did, however, emphasize that she has “always gone over and above the stringent ethical requirements of the Biden administration” when asked if it is ethical to continue working in her post while negotiating with a media organization.

A number of former White House officials have transitioned to jobs in the media over the years, including ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace and Fox News’s Dana Perino. Stephanopoulos worked in the Clinton administration and Wallace and Perino worked for former President George W. Bush.