Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Gutless

If NBC News was a parent, then a number of their on-air personalities are their fit-throwing children. In essence, the parent gave in to the demands of their petulant kids. 

NBC News has cut ties with former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel, just days after she was announced as a paid analyst for the network. There had been a growing internal backlash at the division over her hire.

Meanwhile, CAA also has dropped McDaniel as a client, sources familiar with the situation tell Deadline.

A source also confirmed reports that McDaniel was seeking potential legal options for her next steps.

NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde made the announcement about McDaniel’s exit in an memo to staffers. In his missive, Conde took responsibility for what happened, but it was unclear whether there will be further repercussions.

“No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned. Over the last few days, it has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal,” Conde wrote in the memo.

He added, “I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down. While this was a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full responsibility for it.”


I was especially amused by Conde's assertion that it's imperative for a newsroom to be "cohesive and aligned." 


You mean everyone should be as anti-Semitic as Rev. Al Sharpton? Or as bigoted as Joy Reid? Or being prone to spread election disinformation as Little Red Lying Hood Jen Psaki has? 


Look, it's not like McDaniel was going to have her own show. She was set to be a contributor. So if these NBC personalities were so concerned about her viewpoints and the alleged danger they pose, then they should be able to easily refute said views when sitting on the same panel with her. Or better yet if she appeared as a solo contributor on one of the primetime programs (all hosted by far leftists), then any of the program hosts should be able to successfully rebut her commentary. Is there a better, more effective way to poke holes in objectionable worldviews than through intellectual discourse? The fact the network brass would rather acquiesce to their thumb-sucking TV hosts says to me that they're not all that secure in the validity of their personalities' talking points. 


While the NBC & MSNBC personalities can high five each other for standing in solidarity against the hiring of McDaniel while also continuing to receive the proverbial dopamine hit that occurs when shouting into their echo chamber, there are behind-the-scenes employees who have to live in the real world where there's repercussions for such a debacle. 


Now, NBC staffers are bracing for Republican backlash, fielding texts from angry GOP sources.

“Political reporters here didn’t take part in the backlash, nor did they get to give input on the hire,” one NBC News journalist said. “But they’ll be the ones who have to pick up the pieces with sources who are now dismayed with the organization.”

Four NBC News staffers expressed concern that instead of fixing the problem, hiring and then firing McDaniel had only alienated liberal viewers while confirming Republican fears. Two Republican aides told Semafor they’d texted their NBC News contacts to express their anger with the decision.


For a collective that got the vapors over then President Donald Trump declaring them the "enemy of the people," they sure as heck work overtime to give off that impression........at least towards about 74 million people. 


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