NBC has announced it’s cutting ties with Ronna McDaniel, saying that the decision to bring her on board as an
NBC News contributor outraged some staff and undermined newsroom cohesion. The decision means that Ms. McDaniel, who resigned from her position as chairwoman of the
Republican National Committee (RNC) earlier this month, was part of the NBC team for just four days. NBC officials said when she was hired last week that they hoped Ms. McDaniel would provide an insider’s perspective on national politics and the Republican Party, and that the move was in line with the network’s stated commitment to viewpoint diversity. Mr. Conde said in the memo that the decision to hire Ms. McDaniel was driven by a “deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a widely diverse set of viewpoints and experiences.” However, the decision to bring her aboard proved too controversial for NBC staff. One of those who criticized the move to hire Ms. McDaniel was NBC News “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd, who alleged “credibility issues” and said many NBC journalists were uncomfortable with the move because their contacts with the RNC under her tenure were met with “gaslighting” and “character assassination.” Mr. Conde said the decision to hire her proved too much for too many at NBC. “No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned,” Mr. Conde wrote. “Over the last few days, it has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal.” She gave an impassioned speech on March 8, moments before her resignation was formally accepted, in which she called for unity around former President
Donald Trump and his second-term agenda for America. “I’m stepping aside today because I have long promised to put the nominee and their plans for the RNC first. Winning the
White House back is just too important for me to do otherwise,” Ms. McDaniel said in her last speech as RNC chair, at the general session of the RNC Spring Meeting in Houston,
Texas. She said she’s stepping down because
President Trump, who in mid-February called for a shakeup in the RNC’s leadership, “deserves to have the team he wants in place” at the helm of the organization. Several weeks after her resignation from the RNC, an announcement came that she would be joining NBC’s group of political commentators, bringing her voice as a known Republican advocate to on-air discussions. “It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team,” Carrie Budoff Brown, who oversees NBC News political coverage, wrote in a memo. She added that Ms. McDaniel would provide “an insider’s perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party.” But it turns out this view was far from the consensus at the network. Mr. Todd, who once hosted NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” criticized the move in a March 24 interview on his former show. Mr. Todd said Ms. McDaniel “has credibility issues that she has to deal with: Is she speaking for herself or is she speaking on behalf of who is paying for her?” He added that many NBC journalists objected to Ms. McDaniel’s presence among them because their professional dealings with the RNC during Ms. McDaniel’s tenure “have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination.” Opposition to Ms. McDaniel spilled over into Monday, with other prominent NBC figures adding their voices of criticism. Rachel Maddow, a popular prime-time host on the network, urged NBC to cut ties with Ms. McDaniel, calling the decision to hire her “inexplicable.” “Take a minute, acknowledge that maybe it wasn’t the right call,” Ms. Maddow said Monday evening. “It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to acknowledge when you are wrong. And our country needs us to be strong right now.” While it’s unclear what specifically may have been the final straw for cutting ties with Ms. McDaniel, she did face online criticism for expressing the view during an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker on Sunday that there were problems with the integrity of the 2020 election. NBC hosts have routinely dismissed questions about the legitimacy of the 2020
election as a conspiracy theory or “election denialism.”