NBC News severed ties Tuesday with former Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel less than a week after bringing her on as a political contributor, following an intense protest by some of its journalists and commentators.
In a memo announcing the decision, NBC Universal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde apologized to staff members who felt disappointed by the hiring, admitting that he had approved it.
Conde stated, “No organization, especially a newsroom, can thrive unless it is united and in agreement. In recent days, it has become evident that this appointment undermines that objective.” However, he affirmed the network's commitment to featuring “voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum.”
There was no immediate response from McDaniel, who resigned as RNC leader just over two weeks ago. A source close to her, speaking anonymously, mentioned that she learned about losing her job through media reports and not directly from NBC.
Last Friday, NBC announced McDaniel would provide commentary across various network platforms. It cited the importance of having the perspective of someone with insider knowledge about the Republican Party and former President Donald Trump as the 2024 election, in which Trump is seeking re-election, approaches.
The reaction from journalists and others within the network was swift and public. Former “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd criticized his superiors on air Sunday for the hiring, expressing skepticism about her given her support for former President Donald Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
A remarkable number of MSNBC hosts — Joe Scarborough, Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid, Nicolle Wallace, Jen Psaki, and Lawrence O’Donnell — all publicly objected to McDaniel's hiring on their shows Monday.
Republicans argued that the protest suggests individuals at NBC News, particularly at MSNBC, were unwilling to tolerate opposing viewpoints. The hiring, and subsequent dismissal, represents one of those rare occurrences likely to anger both the left and the right.
“NBC giving in to the censors,” Elon Musk, owner of X, previously known as Twitter, posted on his platform.
On his Truth Social site, Trump stated, “These Radical Left Lunatics are CRAZY, and the top people at NBC ARE WEAK.”
Those who objected to her hiring claimed it was not because McDaniel is a Republican, but because she aided in spreading Trump’s false claims about the 2020 presidential election and contributed to efforts to overturn the results.
News organizations hiring former politicians is not unusual. NBC News recruited Psaki directly from her role as press secretary to President Joe Biden, and another former Republican National Committee chairman, Michael Steele, hosts a weekend show on MSNBC.
However, there are worries that the McDaniel incident may make it hard for networks to find voices this year who can offer insight into Trump and his campaign. Former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebius is an ABC News contributor, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former White House communications director during the Trump administration, is a CNN commentator.
Conde stated that NBC News is still dedicated to the idea that there should be a variety of voices on the network. "And because of that, we will work even harder to find voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum."
McDaniel's time at NBC may have been very short, but the problems surrounding it could last a long time. She was removed on Tuesday by Creative Artists Agency, whom she had hired to negotiate her TV deal, and has been seeking advice from lawyers since finding out about the end of the deal.
The series of MSNBC stars who criticized McDaniel and the hiring reached its peak during the weekly show by Maddow, the network's most popular personality. She spent nearly half an hour on the issue, drawing a comparison between dubious efforts by authoritarians to gain power in the U.S., and the GOP support of Trump under McDaniel’s leadership. She described her hiring by NBC News as "inexplicable," comparing it to a mobster being given a position in a district attorney's office.
Maddow appeared on Reid's show on Tuesday. Reid said she was thankful for the decision to remove McDaniel, and Maddow repeated that sentiment.
"To witness essentially the unanimous sentiment among all the journalists … and all of the senior staff and producers and everybody in this building about this was one thing," she said. "Then to see the executives and the leadership hear that and respond to it and be willing to change course … I have deep respect for that."
___
David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder
