Huffington Post | Jezebel
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski writes in her new book, “Knowing Your Value,” that she realized after the 2008 election that co-host Joe Scarborough was making 14 times as much as she was. Brzezinski says she asked MSNBC President Phil Griffin for a raise multiple times but was rebuffed. Then one day, she discovered extra money in her bank account.
Scarborough had diverted one of the bonuses he received for achieving a ratings goal into Brzezinski’s account. Brzezinski said that, in Scarborough’s mind, he was making a business investment: he didn’t want her to walk, since the show would suffer. She insisted that it was not an act of kindness on Scarborough’s part.
“Trust me, no one likes me that much,” she said. “There are nice people in the world. No one’s that nice.”
However, Brzezinski did not react positively to this sudden infusion of cash.
“I was sickened by it,” she said.
The next time she asked for a raise, she got it. Not every woman who insists is successful, though, as Jezebel notes, due to “the double-bind hard-driving female negotiators face; according to one study (pdf), aggressive negotiating can sometimes backfire on women.” Brzezinski says there’s still a discrepancy in her earnings relative to Scarborough’s, but won’t specify the amount.
Comments