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NBC fires Ronna McDaniel, former RNC chair.

Bill Haskell | March 27, 2024 4:27 pm

Education

Politics

Gee, whata surprise. Did this even make sense in the beginning? NBC empties the trash can before it starts to smell.

Ronna McDaniel’s tenure at NBC lasted four days. It ended last night, after network anchors and reporters blasted NBC’s decision to hire her last Friday. They argued that hiring her gave a green light for election deniers to spread lies as paid contributors. The New York Times said the episode underscored the challenge to news organizations “of fairly representing … pro-Trump viewpoints in their coverage.”

But can there be any “fair” representation of pro-Trump Republican viewpoints when those viewpoints center on a big lie about the 2020 election? More broadly, can a party that baselessly denies the outcome of an election have any legitimate future?

“Office Hours: NBC fires Ronna McDaniel, former RNC chair. Does the Republican Party have a future?”

4 Comments

Joel Eissenberg says:

March 27, 2024 at 5:42 pm

So 0.4 Scaramucci.
Ten Bears says:

March 28, 2024 at 6:43 am

You think she’ll blink cashing that $600,000 check?
- Joel Eissenberg says:
  
  March 28, 2024 at 7:32 am
  
  @Ten,
  
  According to Politico: “. . . her single, not-quite-20-minute interview Sunday could cost NBC more than $30,000 per minute, or $500 per second.“
  
  Nice work if you can get it.
  
  https://www.politico.com/news/2024/03/27/ronna-mcdaniel-nbc-contract-00149274
Fred C. Dobbs says:

March 29, 2024 at 1:00 pm

Washington Post – March 26

Amid a chorus of on-air protest from some of the network’s biggest stars, NBC announced Tuesday night that former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel will no longer be joining the network as a paid contributor.

In a memo, NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde told staff that he had listened to “the legitimate concerns” of many network employees. “No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned,” he wrote. “Over the last few days, it has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal.”

The network had only just announced four days earlier that they were bringing McDaniel on board to provide “expert insight and analysis” on politics. “It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team,” one NBC News executive told staff at the time.

But the company’s on-air personalities — especially those on NBC’s liberal-leaning cable affiliate MSNBC — disagreed vehemently, saying that McDaniel’s promotion of former president Donald Trump’s media-bashing and false election-fraud claims disqualified her from a role in their news divisions.

And one by one, they took to the airwaves to deliver that message to their bosses in front of their live audiences Monday.

“Take a minute, acknowledge that maybe it wasn’t the right call,” MSNBC’s top-rated star Rachel Maddow said on her show that night. “It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to acknowledge when you are wrong.”

NBC delivered the news of its course correction to its employees before informing McDaniel, according to a person familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preserve confidence.

McDaniel was surprised by the backlash to her hiring and NBC’s handling of the matter, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. She plans to hire a lawyer to deal with contractual issues.

Also strenuosly objected to by NBC News stalwart Chuck Todd, who also appears on MSNBC.

Charles David Todd is an American television journalist who was the 12th moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press. He also hosted Meet the Press Now, its daily edition on NBC News Now and is currently the Chief Political Analyst for NBC News. (Wikipedia)