This morning, as MSNBC's Morning Joe came to an end, co-host Mika Brzezinski had some praise for colleagues and the company she works for. "We've been talking a lot this week about women and equal pay and all these issues," she said. "I have to say, in all seriousness, I'm very lucky to be working with you [co-host Joe Scarborough] and for a company [MSNBC] who has actually dealt with this problem transparently."
Which basically amounts to Brzezinski saying that she is "lucky" to get paid half as much as Joe Scarborough.
After all, according to the Daily Beast (whose editor, Tina Brown, is a frequent guest on the show), Scarborough makes a cool $4 million per year, while Brzezinski's salary is half as much, coming in at $2 million per year.
Brzezinski's colleague Andrea Mitchell made this point on air yesterday--that pay disparity exists at MSNBC. Politico reports:
During an interview Thursday, Mitt Romney senior adviser Barbara Comstock told Andrea Mitchell that “we know here at MSNBC the guys get paid more" — and the MSNBC host replied, “We certainly do.”
For Brzezinski's part, it's more than a bit odd that she would play down the problems at MSNBC now.
After all, her public dispute with MSNBC about pay equity has been well known. In fact, she's made it herself on her own show.
"We make less than our male counterparts," said Brzezinski last year. "I found out on this show that I made a lot less than Joe. 14 times less."
Yes. And while he was coming from primetime and he was worth a lot more, he's also the creator of the show, I was certainly not 14 times less worth than him. And it was my fault ultimately that I was in that position because I accepted a deal that wasn't right for me. And I didn't have the perception and confidence in myself to communicate that effectively. It took four tries with MSNBC president Phil Griffin who is, you know, a tough manager but doing the right thing for his company to get it right for myself.
Brzezinski says she almost left MSNBC over the pay disparity problem. And she wrote a book about overcoming gender discrimination in the workplace (though, again, she still reportedly makes half as much as her male counterpart).
But in an election year, perhaps playing down pay disparity at a liberal institution by extension makes liberal politicians look better. And Brzezinski's preference for Obama is beyond well established.
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