Televised political combat existed in earlier times, like Shana Alexander and James Kilpatrick’s “point-counterpoint” segment on “60 Minutes” in the 1970s. Politics and journalism had its share of cross-fertilization with figures such as George Stephanopoulos and the late Tim Russert. Yet the idea of building rosters of paid political contributors took off with cable news. MSNBC, CNN and Fox News Channel are, in large part, political talk channels and seek experts to help fill the time. News streaming has similar needs. Being on call to opine can be lucrative work; several reports had NBC agreeing to pay McDaniel $300,000 a year.
By hiring and then quickly firing the former RNC chair, the organization managed to alienate nearly every constituency that matters. Insiders blame a byzantine structure and a lack of news chops at the top.
The former RNC chair is in talks with a prominent media talent lawyer about potential legal claims.
On Tuesday, NBC News fired former Republican National Committee chief Ronna McDaniel, less than a week after hiring her as an on-air political contributor, a decision that followed 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.
Exclusives
Former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel has appeared only once on NBC News programming in her new capacity as a political news contributor, and already, senior executives are gathering to conduct a review. Top executives from NBC News were expected to meet Tuesday to hash out the growing controversy around her recent hire, according to two people familiar with the matter, in a bid to stop a growing insurrection by the NBCUniversal unit’s editorial staff.
For weeks before NBC News journalists exploded into open revolt Sunday over the network’s hire of a top Donald Trump supporter, the media company that controls three of the top U.S. news networks had been quietly rebuilding its ties to the former president.
The internal furor over NBC News’ decision to hire former Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor spread Monday, with MSNBC personalities Rachel Maddow, Jen Psaki, Nicolle Wallace, Lawrence O’Donnell and Joe Scarborough all using their shows to publicly object. Maddow, MSNBC’s most popular personality, compared it to putting a mobster to work in a district attorney’s office.
Can a political-news contributor succeed after anchors at two prominent political-news program protest her hire? Ronna McDaniel was supposed to be the new star contributor at NBC News. Now her position there is looking increasingly untenable.
NEW YORK (AP) — The internal furor over NBC News’ decision to hire former Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor spread Monday, with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” […]
Former NBC News Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd criticized his network Sunday for hiring former Republican National Committee head Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor, saying on the air that many NBC journalists are uncomfortable with the decision. Todd said many NBC journalists are uncomfortable with the hiring because some of their professional dealings with the RNC during McDaniel’s tenure “have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination.”
Rashida Jones, the cable network’s president, seeks to address employee and talent backlash over the appointment of Ronna McDaniel as an NBC News contributor.
