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“NBC News cut ties Tuesday with former Republican National Committee chief Ronna McDaniel less than a week after hiring her as an on-air political contributor, a decision that followed a furious protest by some of its journalists and commentators… NBC [had] announced [last] Friday that McDaniel would contribute commentary across network platforms. It said it wanted the perspective of someone with inside knowledge about the Republican Party and former President Donald Trump heading into the 2024 election…
“In announcing the [reversal] in a memo, NBC Universal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde apologized to staff members who felt let down by the hire, acknowledging he had signed off on it. ‘No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned. Over the last few days, it has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal,’ Conde said. But he said the network remained committed to centering ‘voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum.’” AP News
The right is critical of the decision, arguing that it reflects the mainstream media’s liberal bias.
“While having a slanted network agenda is not at all unusual, the hostility to Republican voices and clear favoritism toward Democrats and ‘ex-Republicans’ like Liz Cheney and Michael Steele is. Even Fox News has a long list of Democratic Party operatives who are paid contributors for the network. For NBC and MSNBC, Republican voices can only come on the air if their opinions are approved by the network’s neoliberal brain trust. McDaniel’s voice, however milquetoast for a Republican it may be, was seen as a threat to the permitted order.”
Jeremiah Poff, Washington Examiner
“You could almost understand the pushback if NBC had decided to hire someone completely unqualified for the position, though even then the debate would probably be handled through private channels internally. But McDaniel was hired to provide opinions and commentary about politics and elections after having literally presided over one of the two major American political parties. She's an eloquent speaker and knows all of the inside players, whether you care for her political views or not.”
Jazz Shaw, Hot Air
“If these harrumphing stars felt so strongly that challenging election results is unforgivable, they wouldn’t have given respectful, at times fawning, interviews to Stacey Abrams, long after she refused to concede the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial race, which she lost by 54,723 votes…
“We don’t recall hearing these defenders of democracy criticizing Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, for denying that Donald Trump was the legitimate winner in 2016, or the 31 Democratic House members who, on Jan. 6, 2005, attempted to stop certification of Ohio’s electors and so deny George W. Bush re-election.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“The hypocrisy isn’t confined to NBC, either; it’s widespread across media networks: Terry McAuliffe went from proudly calling 2000, 2004, AND 2016 all ‘stolen elections’ — oftentimes in his capacity as head of the Democratic National Committee, curiously enough — to being a paid CNN contributor in 2019…
“In an earlier era, George Stephanopoulos moved immediately from being one of Bill Clinton’s most gleefully vicious and amoral hatchetmen (his particular specialty was in quelling Bill Clinton’s ‘bimbo eruptions’) to ABC News, swiftly becoming the host of This Week and later Good Morning America. He did truly awful things to the reputations of multiple women merely because they had the misfortune to be bedded (or allegedly raped) by his boss. But his friends understand that it was just a job to do, you see… So please, NBC — spare us your sanctimony.”
Jeffrey Blehar, National Review
The left supports the decision, arguing that McDaniel is not a credible commentator.
The left supports the decision, arguing that McDaniel is not a credible commentator.
“[McDaniel’s former] boss is the same person who called the very product NBC and MSNBC produce ‘fake news’ and the journalists who produce it ‘enemies of the people’ and ‘scum’ as his White House and some of his followers lied to, mocked and threatened them. NBC reportedly planned to pay his enabler nearly $300,000 to join NBC and MSNBC and sit side-by-side with some of those same journalists and analysts…
“NBC has damaged its credibility as a news institution by planning to elevate someone who played a key role in trying to thwart the peaceful transfer of power to the same status as journalists who have spent much or all their professional lives trying to inform citizen-voters with fact-based, verified information and analysis — journalism in service to democracy… In the end, the company took the only decision it could have on Tuesday when it reversed its decision.”
David Zurawik, CNN
“One theory is that the network, like some other large companies and institutions, is trying to position itself for the possibility that Trump will win in November. I’m not sure that makes sense, though. For one thing, McDaniel’s stock has crashed in Trumpworld and she is on the outs. It was Trump who orchestrated her defenestration at the RNC, replacing her with a tandem that includes an even more loyal lackey alongside Trump’s daughter-in-law…
“More broadly, the whole world must know by now that trying to appease Trump is a fool’s errand. Any gesture of rapprochement is acknowledged only until the next time you say or do something that angers him — and then, yet again, you become an ‘enemy of the people.’ Anyone who thinks being nice to Trump will keep him from trying to destroy them should call Mike Pence and ask how that worked out.”
Eugene Robinson, Washington Post
Some posit, “The decision to hire McDaniel (and the subsequent decision to get rid of her) raises a deeper question for mainstream media outlets: How do you represent the views of the tens of millions of people who support Donald Trump on your airwaves?…
“74 million of our fellow Americans voted for Donald Trump in 2020. They knew what he was. What he represented. And they voted for him anyway…
“To write off one of the two major political parties in this country doesn’t sit right with me. At the same time, platforming people who have achieved prominence in the party by spouting a lie about the last presidential election also seems wrong. I wish I could offer a workable solution for my fellow journalists. I would if I have one. Do you have ideas of how the media can navigate this? Or is it fundamentally un-navigable?”
Chris Cillizza, Substack
