EXTRA: Internal revolt and a hot mess at NBC

What were network executives thinking?

Photo illustration by yours truly. -Wikipedia

As a former full-time member of the press corps at-large and a longtime media watcher, I can tell you there are few things more entertaining than watching media outlets experience messy dissent within their ranks.

Sometimes the strife seems to be much ado about nothing, as when the snowflakes in the New York Times newsroom exploded over the decision of then-editorial page editor James Bennet to publish an op-ed by the conservative Republican Sen. Tom Cotton calling for the invocation of the Insurrection Act and the use of troops to restore the peace in the wake of riots prompted by the 2020 death of George Floyd, who was brutalized by Minneapolis police.

Sometimes, however, the outrage is genuine and utterly justified. Such was the case when NBC News executives recently hired (free link) Ronna McDaniel, the former chair of the Republican National Committee, as a paid contributor.

As I wrote on Threads, I oppose the practice, now routine, of television networks hiring these political hacks and spokespersons in the first place. Whether outright or by omission, they all got paid to lie. So when they go on television, how do we know whether we can count on them to tell the truth or not?

Indeed when McDaniel went on Meet The Press yesterday and was interviewed by moderator Kristen Welker, she was asked why she recently changed her mind and disagreed with former President Donald Trump, who called the January 6 rioters “hostages” and vowed to pardon them if he won election to another term. And at one point in her tenure at the RNC, McDaniel even suggested the January 6 mob was engaged in “legitimate political discourse.”

“When you’re the RNC chair, you kind of take one for the whole team,” McDaniel said “Now I get to be a little bit more myself.” Translation: “I got paid to lie then; now I can get paid to tell the truth.” Evidently, she’s quite comfortable zigzagging between the two.

Even worse, in my view, McDaniel facilitated Trump’s fake elector scheme in her native Michigan, making false claim after false claim and joining Trump in a phone call to pressure two Wayne County elections board members not to certify the county’s 2020 results.

Was that another case of taking one for the team? I’m sorry, but no one with a history of engaging in such chicanery should be a paid contributor for any news outlet.

Another interesting angle to the story is the full-scale internal revolt it has sparked at NBC News. Chuck Todd, Welker’s predecessor as host of MTP, bluntly told Welker during the panel segment that the network owed her “an apology for putting you in this situation.”

It was an astonishing moment, or as Northeastern University journalism prof Dan Kennedy described it, it was “a remarkable takedown of NBC News executives for hiring McDaniel in the first place.” As I wrote on Threads:

To those who think Chuck Todd might lose his job over this, I really doubt it. Todd isn't the bravest soul in the world. I'm sure he has spoken with many others at NBC News and perceives some safety in numbers. Bottom line is NBC fucked up so badly that it has spawned an internal revolt. But in a world of brief news cycles, how long will the outrage even last? Tomorrow Trump will say stupid shit and it will all be forgotten.

Adding to the air of open revolt, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski today vowed not to have McDaniel on their MSNBC show, Morning Joe.

According to Politico, which published a piece this morning headlined “NBC’s McDaniel mess threatens to explode”:

Network insiders are now watching to see if other hosts and contributors speak their minds, as well, with eyes particularly peeled for MSNBC’s prime-time lineup Monday, where tent-pole anchor Rachel Maddow is set go live at 9 p.m.

That fits nicely into my schedule. The UConn women’s basketball team plays Syracuse at 6 p.m., hoping to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. I’ll be working on my second glass of wine by the time Maddow eviscerates NBC’s top brass.

I’ll also need some popcorn.