There’s no doubt that Ronna McDaniel will create a lot of sound and fury at NBC News. Shakespeare can tell you what it would all mean.
NBC News surprised the nation’s legions of news pundits (in these days of social media, it seems anyone can be one) on Friday when it unveiled a new deal with McDaniel, who was most recently chairman of the Republican National Committee, and during that Period, a denier of the validity of the 2020 presidential election and a frequent fault-finder when it comes to the American media. One outlet McDaniel has long held in contempt is the left-leaning MSNBC, part of NBCUniversal’s news operations.
“It could not be a more important moment to have a voice like Rona’s on the team,” Carrie Budoff-Brown, the NBC News executive who directly oversees political coverage and “Meet the Press,” said in a memo on Friday. Noting that McDaniel will provide “an insider’s view on national politics and the future of the Republican Party.” McDaniel’s arrival sparked so much chatter that MSNBC President Rashida Jones felt compelled to calm upset anchors and producers with an internal memo, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, indicating that the former RNC chairman would not appear on the left-leaning cable outlet. .
On Sunday, McDaniel acknowledged during an interview with “Meet The Press” moderator Kristen Welker that the 2020 election was in fact legitimate, though she pointed to “issues” that were largely unexplored. But Chuck Todd, the program’s former director, told Welker on air: “I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this position.” “There’s a reason why a lot of journalists at NBC News are uncomfortable with this, because many of our professional dealings over the last six years have been met with character assassination,” he added. He noted that McDaniel’s contribution deal was made in exchange for “access.”
McDaniel’s appointment would have raised more eyebrows if NBC News had not practiced this tactic in recent years of attracting talent in bids aimed at winning over conservatives.
Megyn Kelly joined NBC News from Fox News in 2017 in what was seen at the time largely as a gambit to appeal to voters — suburban women among them — who had recently put Donald Trump in the Oval Office. In May of that year, Nicolle Wallace, previously known as a powerful Republican political operative in the George W. Bush White House, took the reins of a new afternoon program on MSNBC called “Deadline: The White House.” CNBC made a bet in 2020 by handing its 7 p.m. airtime to Shepard Smith, the former lead news anchor at Fox News, for an hour-long general newscast.
Only one of the three maneuvers achieved long-term success. Wallace is popular among MSNBC fanatics like Rachel Maddow.
There were other maneuvers as well, such as running a town hall with President Trump versus another ABC News broadcast featuring then-candidate Joe Biden. Trump has rejected the idea of another joint debate during the 2020 presidential election. NBC News recently raised eyebrows when, early in her tenure on Meet the Press, Welker chose to interview Trump. Pundits have long maintained that the networks are relatively powerless to confront a disingenuous, rambling Trump while the cameras are rolling — even if the interview is recorded.
Other television news outlets have tried to achieve similar successes with conservative viewers. These contributor agreements are often described as a way for news organizations to gain insight and a voice into the mix that they often lack access to. In the cases of Republican consultant Mark Short’s recent appointment as a contributor to NBC News and CNBC, or the appointment of former national security adviser H.R. McMaster as a contributor to CBS News, the news departments are actually getting people with extreme difficulties. . Gain knowledge about how government works; How does the Trump campaign make its decisions? And what Republicans long for. People who stir up controversy are often caught supporting lies or being unjustifiably critical of the media.
However, make no mistake: some of these appointments are driven in part by economic pressures. In the age of streaming, venerable television news outlets face as much competition in new technology as their prime-time counterparts. Getting on the right and far right could boost audiences and advertising during coverage leading up to the next election, a cycle that typically brings broader crowds to NBC News, CNN, Fox News and their competitors.
The above reasons no doubt played some role in CBS News’ 2022 decision to hire Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s former White House chief of staff, and CNN’s 2019 effort to bring in political activist Sarah Isgur, a former US Justice Department spokeswoman under Trump. Jeff Sessions, in the role of managing editor.
These two moves never worked. Within a year, Mulvaney was no longer a contributor to CBS News, most recently taking on a similar role at Nexstar’s NewsNation. Flores never got the full-time job CNN executives originally envisioned. She worked instead as a political analyst, later landing roles at both The Dispatch and ABC News.
Cautionary tales aside, the media likes to look at these candidates and others like them because they add drama. As CNN proved in the run-up to the 2016 election, stacking the screen with red and blue bickering heads can turn heads. The viewing public rarely thinks about the idea of ”pitching” in a news broadcast, but there is more of it happening these days, especially as Fox News finds success with “roundtable” programs like “Five,” “Supernumerary” and “Gutfeld!”
So there may come a day in the not-so-distant future when MSNBC anchor Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary, and McDaniel find themselves sitting on the same stage during a major caucus or election night. Both are supposed to participate in NBC News’ political coverage.
It’s not clear whether including hard-line partisans makes for great journalism, but it probably makes for good television.