MEDIA WINNER:
Stephanie Ruhle MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle is reportedly replacing Brian Williams on the network’s 11:00 p.m. hour. MSNBC will soon announce Ruhle will be taking over for Williams, who left in December. Sources tell Axios that Ruhle’s 9 a.m. hour of MSNBC Live will be folded into Morning Joe, meaning the program hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski will expand into a 4th hour. MSNBC declined to comment on the Axios report. Williams’ departure came after a 28-year history with NBC. Ruhle’s career with MSNBC began in 2016 when she joined the network after working as an anchor and managing editor for Bloomberg Television. Aside from hosting her MSNBC Live hour, Ruhle has also functioned as a senior business correspondent for NBC News.. On Thursday she reported in that capacity on the latest economic snapshot, "and, boy, does it look good," she said. Ruhle also had an impressive interview with Rep. Pete Sessions this morning over the issue of whether members of Congress should be banned from trading stocks while they’re in office. Hostile to the premise of the interview, Sessions argued, “No one is concerned about how much money members of Congress make. And we do our job. But this is an issue that is a populist notion poppy nut.” "Right now the way the rules are written, you have access to information that the public does not," said Ruhle. "Why is it okay for you to use that information, sensitive information, to enrich yourselves?" "If I was an officer of a publicly-traded company I couldn’t take information I knew about that company and then trade the stock," said Ruhle. Sessions dodged, responding that he's never received insider information and ignoring the implicit contention that being privy to legislation and regulation is having access to sensitive information. It was a great interview, on a day when news is breaking about a potential big move for Ruhle at the network. That's a double win. | 