JPMorgan Chase Pulls Promotional Spot Starring MSNBC Host Stephanie Ruhle

JPMorgan Chase on Wednesday removed a promotional video with NBC News’ Stephanie Ruhle, the network’s senior business correspondent and an anchor on MSNBC, and will stop using her likeness after facing questions about her partnership with the company.

“I’m looking forward to my conversations with Chase, where we talk about life’s unpredictable moments and how important it is to save and plan for them,” Ruhle said in a Facebook announcement the company released on Sept. 23. She said her intent was to “dig into all the crazy things we’re dealing with in our lives right now, and how we can best prepare for them.”

The footage on Facebook was removed late Thursday afternoon after Mediaite inquired about Ruhle’s partnership with the banking company, though a message on Twitter containing the footage was still active as of Thursday evening. A source at NBC familiar with the situation denied Ruhle had been compensated for the appearance, and said JPMorgan Chase was going to discontinue using her in its materials.

Ruhle appeared in another video for the company on Sept. 24, titled, “The Power of a Plan: Budgeting for Unpredictability.”

The anchor conducted an interview with JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon as recently as August, a month before the videos were released, to talk about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy. NBC prominently billed that interview — which can be found on NBC’s website — as a network exclusive with the banking executive. That segment began with Ruhle focusing on JPMorgan’s part in a coalition of dozens of companies that had pledged amid the coronavirus pandemic “to hire 100,000 minority New Yorkers,” and ended with a flattering question for Dimon.

“You care an awful lot about policy,” Ruhle noted. “Does that mean you can see yourself as a member of an administration? Maybe a Treasury secretary?” Dimon demurred, saying, “I don’t think I’m suited to politics.”

It isn’t unheard of for high-profile personalities in the media to accept deals involving corporate partnerships, but media companies generally require that they be disclosed. And it is unusual for those personalities to report on topics or to interview individuals associated with their work elsewhere.

Before working at NBC, Ruhle spent 14 years working in finance, with her final job as a managing director at Deutsche Bank. She also worked as a managing editor and anchor at Bloomberg Television before landing at MSNBC in 2016, where she presently anchors the network’s 9:00 a.m. slot.

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