Four days after Ronna McDaniel was controversially appointed as a political pundit, NBC News has cut its connections to the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee.
It was the result of a barrage of protests from the company's tier-1 anchors as well as an even larger segment of the audience, including many MSNBC viewers.
When news of McDaniel's employment broke last Friday, the NBC reporters and the social media community were clearly displeased. The criticism, which peaked at MSNBC, was largely on MSNïiel's role in the Republican Party during the Trump administration and her assistance in his ludicrous allegation that the 2020 election was rigged.
Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor: NBC boss
In a staff memo on Tuesday, NBCUniversal News Group chairman Cesar Conde addressed the matter. He stressed that no organization, especially a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned, and said, "After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor." It has become evident over the past few days that this appointment is counterproductive to that objective.
Conde, who has been in charge of the NBC news division since 2020, found it extremely difficult to overcome the controversy surrounding McDaniel. Initially, McDaniel's hiring was supported by the staff and the candidate as part of an effort to demonstrate the public the range of political viewpoints available throughout election season. These kinds of situations are common; take CNN's Katie Goodman as one example. Additionally, ABC News recently signed former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus as a commentator.
Conversely, that issue set off a fight in which several of NBC's most esteemed major anchors voiced strong opposition to McDaniel's employment. They said that the fact that she was connected to Trump's attempts to tamper with the results of the 2020 election rendered her ineligible. In actuality, American elections tend not to be as contentious as those in other countries.
The anchor of MSNBC's highest-rated program, Rachel Maddow, devoted a significant amount of her Monday night's broadcast to talking about McDaniel's hire. In a 29-minute episode, Maddow called McDaniel a historical character with totalitarian intentions and called the decision “inexplicable”. Take a moment, admit that perhaps this wasn't the best decision, Maddow said, imploring the network executives to think twice.
Nicolle Wallace, Joe Scarborough, and Mika Brzezinski, three other MSNBC hosts, expressed dissatisfaction in unison with Maddow's views. Former Republican and ardent supporter of George W. Bush Wallace chastised NBC for allowing "election deniers" to spread false information over what she called "our sacred airwaves."
