NBC CANS RONNA RMONEY

For those who took the “Over” that unindicted January 6 co-conspirator Ronna Rmoney McDaniel would be gone by Friday, you shoulda taken the “Under”. She’s gone gone gone as of today.

NBCUniversal News Group Chairman Cesar Conde made the announcement in a memo and said he had made the decision after listening to “the legitimate concerns” of many network employees.

“There is no doubt that the last several days have been difficult for the Newsgroup. After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor.

“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.

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

I am still amazed that it was former Meet the Press moderator, and current NBC News political analyst Chuck Todd, who really took the opportunity to lambast the decision to hire McDaniel. Right after the interview finished, Todd said that many journalists at NBC News were “uncomfortable” with McDaniel’s hiring, citing her “credibility issues” during her time as RNC Chair. “Many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting, have been met with character assassination,” Todd said.  Give the man credit where credit is due, he did the right thing, at a moment when it wasn’t clear that his act would not be taken as an attack on NBC News.

I think the true killer of the deal was Rachel Maddow. Last night, Maddow - the highest-rated anchor on MSNBC - dedicated nearly 30 minutes to what she described as an “inexplicable” decision to hire McDaniel. 

“I want to associate myself with all my colleagues, both at MSNBC and NBC News, who have voiced loud and principled objections to our company putting on the payroll someone who hasn’t just attacked us as journalists, but someone who is part of an ongoing project to get rid of our system of government,” she said. “Someone who still is trying to convince Americans that this election stuff, it doesn’t really work.”

Hurrah for Rachel!

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