This is not journalism. This is not “telling both sides.” It is crass commercialism devoid of ethics and anyone who wants serious responsible dialogue from a variety of view points should tune Ronna McDaniel out.
WHAT THE HELL?!
NBC news has hired Ronna McDaniel, former Republican National Committee chair, as a paid commentator? Where will this Donald Trump sycophant, thrown under the bus like so many, be doing her commenting? Hopefully not on the news side with Lester Holt and other journalists?
And if she is on MSNBC how many current staffers and commentators will sit down on the same set with her? Initial reaction indicates not many will.
Let’s get past any sympathy for Ronna for having been dumped from her job in favor of Trump’s daughter-in-law. She deserves no sympathy. Let’s not dismiss this with “well, you can’t fault her for trying to earn a living.” No, you can’t. But you certainly can fault NBC for throwing any pretenses about ethical journalism and commentary out the window.
In a statement Carrie Budoff Brown, senior vice-president of politics at NBC News said, “It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team, an insider’s perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party.”
Bull. Double Bull. McDaniel, in her role as a Trump advocate, helped destroy what once was the Republican Party and was a key player in turning it into a Trump fundraising operation and a cult. As for her “record,” the party has lost big in the last four years when it comes to governorships, the House and Senate, not to mention Trump’s 2020 loss.
But let’s do mention it because McDaniel was helping lead the charge in claiming the election was corrupt and Joe Biden was an illegitimate president. She even went so far as to offer election deniers in Michigan, her home state, legal help from the party in trying to overturn election results. She was caught on tape doing that, and engaging in other election denial efforts and that tape was played at a hearing of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Attack.
Speaking of which, this granddaughter of former Michigan Republican Governor George Romney and niece of current Senator Mitt Romney, orchestrated a censure of the Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for serving on that committee The censure described the attempted coup as citizens engaging in “legitimate political discourse.”
Critics of this decision have said NBC is hiring McDaniel to gin up ratings and, the company hopes, draw in more conservative viewers. In that television is all about ratings, that should come as no surprise. But, as for drawing in more conservative viewers, MSNBC already has a list of credible conservatives and Republicans who appear regularly on air.
Nicole Wallace hosts “Deadline White House” each day at 4 p.m. EST and is on most big-time political coverage. She served as White House communications director under George W. Bush and was a senior advisor to John McCain’s White House run.
Michael Steel, former lieutenant governor of Maryland former RNC chair, is a regular commentator and co-hosts a weekend show on the network.
Charlie Sykes is a well-known conservative writer and broadcaster who also is a regular.
The list could go on. What these commentators, and other conservatives who appear on both MSNBC and CNN, have in common is they come from places of experience and from a time when the Republican Party still was a sane and functioning entity. McDaniel does not come from places of serious experience or sanity.
Tannen, professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, published a book called “The Argument Culture – Stopping America’s War of Words.” The book was centered on how the nation, even in 1998, had evolved into a culture of argument as opposed to understanding.
In that book Tannen pointed out that some arguments just should not happen. Not all issues have “two sides.” Some have many more than that and some, not even that. She cites Holocaust denial as an example of a fact that is beyond argument. She said the media’s position that all issues have at least two sides, and those sides deserve to be heard, has not just fed into an argument culture but have helped create then nurture it.
That is where we are today with the Trump Cult. That Trump is a pathological liar now is proven fact. It also has become evident that there are those in his orbit who exist only to further his ends and myths. McDaniel has been one of those.
As I write this post the internet and news shows are blowing up with reaction to McDaniel’s hiring, and almost all of it evidences shock and outrage.
MSNBC “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough: “We weren’t asked our opinion of the hiring but, if we were, we would have strongly objected to it for several reasons. We hope NBC will reconsider its decision.”
“Morning Joe co-host” Mika Brzezinski: “To be clear, we believe NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance in their election coverage. But it should be conservative Republicans, not a person who used her position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier.”
Former Meet the Press host and current political analyst Chuck Todd: “There’s a reason why there are a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination. So when NBC made the decision to give her NBC News’s credibility, you got to ask yourself, ‘What does she bring NBC News?’”
Boston Globe columnist Kimberly Atkins Stohr: “She habitually lied. She habitually joined Trump in attacking the press, members of the press, including this network, in a way that put journalists at risk, in danger.”
You get the idea.
There is nothing new about politicians showing up on camera after they leave office. The same is true of staffers. But when it comes to someone like McDaniel, No. She said on “Meet the Press” Sunday she might not have agreed with all she said and did in service to Trump (“Sometimes you have to take one for the team.”) and she now could look forward to saying what she believes.
Right. But should viewers believe her? As a viewer, I don’t. As a journalist, I am sickened by her hiring. I will not be watching any shows she appears on. But I will be watching, as I have in the past, responsible commentary from a diverse range of credible sources.
Rich Heiland, has been a reporter, editor, publisher/general manager at daily papers in Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and New Hampshire. He was part of a Pulitzer Prize-winning team at the Xenia Daily (OH) Daily Gazette, a National Newspaper Association Columnist of the Year, and a recipient of the Molly Ivins First Amendment Award from the Walker County (TX) Democrat Club. He taught journalism at Western Illinois University and leadership and community development at Woodbury College in Vermont. Since 1995 he has operated an international consulting, public speaking and training business specializing in customer service, general management, leadership and staff development with major corporations, organizations, and government. Semi-retired, he and his wife live in West Chester, PA. He can be reached at heilandrich1@gmail.com.
Public pressure seems to be working. This is such a boneheaded decision by NBC and I’m sorry to say but some heads should roll over this. If Carrie Budoff Brown really thinks this is a good idea, she is not someone who should be making these kinds of decision for this network-I think not only should MSNBC continue to object to her hiring, as they are doing, but they need to issue a sincere apology