NBC/MSNBC’s Ruhle appeared in promotions for bank she covered

Stephanie Ruhle

NBC senior business correspondent and MSNBC anchor Stephanie Ruhle appeared in promotional clip produced and sponsored by JPMorgan Chase, reports Paul Farhi of The Washington Post.

Farhi reports, “Asked for comment on Tuesday, Ruhle denied any involvement with the financial company. ‘I’m not doing any work on behalf of Chase Bank,’ she said. ‘I don’t know what you are referring to.’ She referred questions to an MSNBC spokesperson.

“Ruhle herself highlighted her involvement with Chase via Twitter last month: ‘I sat down with @Chase and @realjaywilliams to chat about planning for life’s unpredictable moments . . . something many of us are experiencing right now. Tune in to see the full conversation — you won’t want to miss it.’

“People at the network noted that she wasn’t paid for her appearance nor did she explicitly endorse Chase in the webcast. But MSNBC spokesman Errol Cockfield declined to say whether MSNBC’s management had approved Ruhle’s work for Chase.

“Shortly after receiving inquiries from The Washington Post late Tuesday and early Wednesday, MSNBC asked Chase to take down its videos of Ruhle on its Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds. Chase said it agreed to do so.”

Read more here.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.