RNC: Comcast's MSNBC Tries To Pull A Fast One

MSNBC’s prime-time coverage of the Republican National Convention has featured a typical TV tableau: anchors at a desk perched high above the convention floor, pontificating as the starred-and-striped political pomp unfolds below.

But, the NY Times reports, Rachel Maddow, Nicolle Wallace, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid and the rest of MSNBC’s A-list anchor team have not been inside the convention hall. They were not even in Milwaukee.

Instead, they were broadcasting from a studio in Midtown Manhattan, as a live feed of the convention floor was projected onto an LED screen behind them.

The arrangement — which several veteran television news producers described as unorthodox — is an illusion. A casual glance at the screen would suggest that MSNBC’s top anchors were covering the convention in person.