If you haven’t been following the story of Kurt Bardella, the former aide to Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), there’s an interesting TV news angle to share today.
Rep. Issa fired Bardella yesterday after revelations Bardella had exchanged emails from reporters with New York Times reporter Mark Leibovich. Issa, the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a statement: “Though limited, these actions were highly inappropriate, a basic breach of trust with the reporters it was his job to assist, and inconsistent with established communications office policies. As a consequence, his employment has been terminated.”
Well today, Bardella is speaking out to The New Yorker‘s Ryan Lizza, about what it’s like to work with reporters and TV news bookers — those newsroom staffers who work the phones all day trying to bring on big name guests.
Lizza: “Who’s the worst?”
Bardella: “I would say just TV bookers in general are all pretty bad. It cracks me up when MSNBC does it though. I wrote back to them like, ‘I just watched your network like ream Darrell for like nine hours straight, why on earth would I put him on any of your shows?’ … The funny thing is when they do the ‘Can we be your first MSNBC’-they compete against their own shows-so, ‘Please, don’t put him on this show, they suck and their ratings are horrible, but if you wanna be on ours’-…It’s so petty. I just laugh. … Print reporters are the same way.”