As Sarah Ellison and Josh Dorsey reported in the Post last week, McDaniel has expressed a desire to limit her appearances to NBC News, rather than MSNBC, where “she was given a particularly grueling interview. “And liberal-leaning viewers won’t think that way.” Make her respond positively to her. ” Whatever her misgivings, she signed on for her dual role on a contract that pays her about $300,000 a year. Carrie Budoff Brown, NBC News’ senior vice president of political reporting, celebrated the development, saying, “There is no more important moment to have a voice like Rona join our team.”
The “team” disagreed. And the internal criticism took on an external appearance, with several MSNBC anchors taking airtime to criticize McDaniel’s contract. On March 26, NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde wrote in a staff memo: No organization, especially a newsroom, can succeed without cohesion and collaboration. “Although this was a joint recommendation by some members of our leadership team, I approve it and take full responsibility for it,” he said in a quasi-illegal act. Pack media reporter Dylan Byers said: broke the news of McDaniel’s firing.said nearly the entire NBC News leadership team “encouraged or at least approved” McDaniel’s hiring.
This unpleasant episode hasn’t shaken NBC from its time-tested principles of bringing diverse voices to its airwaves, or at least from repeating its clichés. “We remain committed to the principle that we must have diverse perspectives on our programs, and to that end we redouble our efforts to seek voices representing different parts of the political spectrum,” Condé said in a staff memo. “I will.”
I hope the company doubles down on its efforts, including checking some transcripts. After all, looking back at McDaniel’s statements on the MSNBC airwaves, she did give us a hint or two that major talent might be against sharing office space with her. Masu. For example, in November 2020, host Chris Hayes showed a video on CNN in which McDaniel was questioned by Republican voters in Georgia wondering why she should bother voting when the outcome was already decided. It pointed out. “That’s not set in stone,” McDaniel replied. “Here’s the key,” Hayes went after the Republican chairman, saying, “She’s looking into the eyes of the addicts she created. They consumed the drugs she sold.”
On her show in January 2023, MSNBC host Ari Melber called McDaniel a “coup enabler.” The Republican chairman was a third-tier supporter of President Donald Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 election. Although he wasn’t as vocal and activist as President Trump, he was still someone who left his mark on the business. For example, the selection committee’s final report on January 6 cited McDaniel’s cooperation in the scheme to submit false electoral rolls to Trump. The federal indictment charging President Trump with conspiracy to defraud the United States also alludes to McDaniel’s involvement, with host Maddow mentioning in a monologue on MSNBC that McDaniel was on the company’s payroll. He also mentions this point in which he argued why it should not be done. “What was that project? It was to use the power of the Republican Party to reject the election results, take over the government and seize power by other means,” Maddow said.
Like his modern-day Paul, McDaniel monitored the media and occasionally spoke out against it. In one of her tweets over the years, she denounced:MSNBC prime time publicist,” accused the network of spreading “lies” about Trumpand convert it to “completely free stateI slapped it for “”Amazing “prejudice”.
So McDaniel didn’t need a master’s degree in library science to figure out whether he would land on the MSNBC set with a thud. The company’s executives are paid millions of dollars each year to provide high-level direction. This includes identifying contributors who can add value to the network and estimating how broadcasters will respond to potential strategic hires. It was a complete failure here. ABC News political analyst (and former Republican National Committee Chairman) Reince Priebus, who appeared on “This Week” last Sunday, commented: He didn’t have a signed contract, so he was deciding whether or not to go off topic. ” NBC News declined to comment when asked whether such action had been taken.
Lawyers take a doomed step: Politico reported last week that McDaniel has a legal strategy to recover damages beyond what he’s owed in his contract, possibly by pursuing defamation and hostile workplace claims. It was reported that the company is seeking an agent. These sound like weak options, in part because defamation charges require proving that MSNBC’s accusations are false. They were not only true, they were convincing. I also don’t want to call McDaniel his colleague.
But Ms. McDaniel’s search for legal options appears not only reasonable, but justified. She had good reason to believe that the people who hired her would support her, but they were released on bail almost immediately. If there is any wrongdoing in negligent management, McDaniel will receive the punishment he deserves.