Current:Home > MarketsNBC has cut ties with former RNC head Ronna McDaniel after employee objections, some on the air -TrueNorth Capital Hub
NBC has cut ties with former RNC head Ronna McDaniel after employee objections, some on the air
View
Date:2025-04-22 06:21:45
NEW YORK (AP) — 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 came following a furious protest by some of its journalists and commentators.
In announcing the decision 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,” Conde wrote. “Over the last few days, it has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal.”
There was no immediate comment from McDaniel. She found out she lost her job through media reports, not from NBC directly, said a person close to her who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about it publicly.
NBC announced Friday that McDaniel would contribute commentary across network platforms, saying that it wanted the perspective of someone with inside knowledge about the Republican Party and former President Donald Trump heading in to the 2024 election.
The response from journalists and others within the network was swift — and public. Former “Meet the Press” moderator Chuck Todd criticized his bosses on the air Sunday for the hire, saying he didn’t know what to believe from her after she supported former President Donald Trump in “gaslighting” and “character assassination” following the 2020 election.
An extraordinary succession of MSNBC hosts — Joe Scarborough, Rachel Maddow, Joy Reid, Nicolle Wallace, Jen Psaki and Lawrence O’Donnell — all publicly protested the decision to hire McDaniel on their shows Monday.
“It is a sign of strength, not weakness, to acknowledge that you’re wrong,” Maddow said on her show.
Republicans countered that the protest indicates that people at NBC News, particularly at MSNBC, were unwilling to countenance opposing viewpoints. The hiring, and quick firing, represents one of those rare instances likely to unite the left and right — in anger.
“NBC caving in to the censors,” Elon Musk, owner of X, formerly Twitter, posted on his platform.
Those who protested her hiring claimed that it wasn’t because McDaniel is a Republican, but it was because she helped promote Trump’s lies about the 2020 presidential election and assisted in efforts to overturn the results.
Efforts by news organizations to hire former politicians is hardly new. NBC News hired Psaki directly from her job as press secretary to President Joe Biden, and another former Republican National Committee chairman, Michael Steele, hosts a weekend show on MSNBC.
But there are concerns that the McDaniel episode may make it difficult for networks to find voices this year that can provide insight into Trump and his campaign.
___
David Bauder writes about media for The Associated Press. Follow him at http://twitter.com/dbauder
veryGood! (27)
Related
- Macy's says employee who allegedly hid $150 million in expenses had no major 'impact'
- Court voids fine given to Russian activist for criticizing war and sends case back to prosecutors
- Fireworks on New Year's Eve send birds into a 'panicked state,' scientists discover
- How are Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea affecting global trade?
- Louvre will undergo expansion and restoration project, Macron says
- Finland to close again entire border with Russia as reopening of 2 crossing points lures migrants
- Florida teachers file federal suit against anti-pronoun law in schools
- Congress passes contentious defense policy bill known as NDAA, sending it to Biden
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- How should you talk to kids about Santa? Therapist shares what is and isn’t healthy.
Ranking
- Romantasy reigns on spicy BookTok: Recommendations from the internet’s favorite genre
- SEC announces team-by-team college football schedules for the 2024 season
- Far-right Polish lawmaker Grzegorz Braun douses menorah in parliament
- AP PHOTOS: Crowds bundle up to take snowy photos of Beijing’s imperial-era architecture
- New Zealand official reverses visa refusal for US conservative influencer Candace Owens
- 'The Crown' ends as pensive meditation on the most private public family on Earth
- Carbon monoxide leak suspected of killing Washington state college student
- In Giuliani defamation trial, Ruby Freeman says she received hundreds of racist messages after she was targeted online
Recommendation
Which apps offer encrypted messaging? How to switch and what to know after feds’ warning
Dwayne Johnson to star in Mark Kerr biopic from 'Uncut Gems' director Benny Safdie
Twins who survived Holocaust describe their parents' courage in Bergen-Belsen: They were just determined to keep us alive
Live updates | Israel will keep fighting Hamas ‘until the end,’ Netanyahu says
As Trump Enters Office, a Ripe Oil and Gas Target Appears: An Alabama National Forest
Pope, once a victim of AI-generated imagery, calls for treaty to regulate artificial intelligence
Firefighters rescue dog from freezing Lake Superior waters, 8-foot waves: Watch
Shawn Johnson Gives Birth, Welcomes Baby No. 3 With Husband Andrew East