Chelsea Clinton reportedly makes $600,000 yearly from NBC but she hasn’t appeared on air in nearly five months. So what does the daughter of former President Bill and Hillary Clinton do to earn her pay?

So far in 2014 NBC has only aired two stories by Chelsea Clinton–both about education programs. The network is reporting, however, that Chelsea has two more stories that will air very shortly and another two for which filming has just been scheduled. Still–that’s not a lot of work for $600,00 per year.

Just last week it was reported that Clinton is now on a month-to-month contract with NBC. The reason behind this is to ease her departure should mom Hillary Clinton officially announce that she will seek the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential race. NBC wouldn’t comment on this nor would anyone from the Clinton camp.

Chelsea Clinton and her husband Marc Mezvinsky are expecting their first baby later in 2014, but news reporters take maternity leave all the time within the news industry. Surely that isn’t behind her lack of on-air appearances.

Former President George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna Bush Hager is a TODAY Show correspondent. News consultant Andrew Tyndall says it’s clear that Bush’s daughter is very interested in becoming a bona fide television journalist, while it seems Clinton’s daughter is not.

Tyndall, who monitors the content of network evening news programs, says of Chelsea Clinton, “She has a niche on the ‘Nightly News’ profiling philanthropic, volunteer and community service programs, often in praise of these groups. She puts herself in the center of these groups’ activities.”

He compared Clinton’s reporting style with that of a cheerleader.

Is it possible that Chelsea Clinton hasn’t spent much time on NBC because she’s simply not a very good television journalist? Jenna Bush Hager exudes a warmth and a legitimacy that lends itself to that of Katie Couric or Savannah Guthrie. You want to listen to her because you believe what she has to say. And while what Hager makes hasn’t been announced, one has to wonder if it’s comparable with Clinton’s salary. This is a bit of a slap in the face to journalists who have to climb the ranks the old fashioned way.

Needless to say, a novice like Chelsea Clinton being paid $600k is pretty hard for a lot of career journalists to swallow.

— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlakeWP) June 13, 2014

Do you suppose Jenna is making the kind of money Chelsea is? Is there are reason NBC has hired the daughters of two former presidents–a Democrat and a Republican? Sources say there may be an unspoken advantage to doing exactly that. How might this all play out when the presidential primaries are under way?

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