Maddow said MSNBC staff were “unanimously and immediately outraged” after McDaniel’s hiring was announced Friday, but executives at the cable network “heard us, understood and course-corrected.”
“We’ve been told outright that Ronna McDaniel will not be on our air, Ronna McDaniel will not be on MSNBC,” Maddow said.
Deadline reported earlier Monday that MSNBC president Rashida Jones told her staff that it would to individual shows Whether or not to order McDaniel. A person familiar with the thinking of cable network executives said Jones has always had editorial control over the shows, and contributors’ ordering decisions can change based on news.
Maddow said she wanted to explain the claims MSNBC executives shared about McDaniel not appearing on the cable network’s air because “there was a level in other parts of the company that was blurring it out in the press and it didn’t seem like it was happening. on MSNBC. I can assure you that this is what happened at MSNBC.”
NBC News and MSNBC declined to comment Monday evening.
Joy Reid, host of MSNBC’s “The ReidOut,” said McDaniel’s connection to Trump “isn’t about having Republicans on NBC News platforms or ‘fairness and balance.’
Hiring him in the run-up to the 2024 election, when Trump is the presumptive Republican nominee, Reid said, “is already surrendering to an autocrat, ‘Yes, we’re going to take your hardware and let them be promoted and on the platform with us.’ journalists.'”
Nicole Wallace, host of MSNBC’s “Deadline: The White House” and former White House communications director under President George W. Bush, said McDaniel’s appearance would embolden “election deniers.”
“What we’re saying to election deniers is not just that they can do it on our airwaves, they can do it as one of us, as a dedicated employee of NBC News, as paid contributors to our sacred airwaves.” Wallace, who has criticized the party under Trump, said.
On Monday, MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski said they would not ask McDaniel to be a guest.
“To be clear, we believe that NBC News should seek the votes of conservative Republicans to provide balance in its election coverage,” Brzezinski told the audience. “But it should be conservative Republicans, not someone using a position of power to be an anti-democracy election denier.”
“And we hope that NBC will reconsider its decision,” he said.
On Sunday, McDaniel joined “Meet the pressIn the first media speech after “ Resigns as RNC Chairman this month.
“Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker told viewers that McDaniel was there for a news interview and that his appearance had been planned weeks before his role as a paid contributor to NBC News was announced.
Welker asked McDaniel if he had been removed from his seven-year post as RNC chairman.
“He absolutely wanted me to step aside and wanted Michael Whatley and Lara Trump to come in,” McDaniel said, referring to Trump and the current RNC chairs.
In parting with Trump, McDaniel said during the interview: “I don’t think people who commit violent acts on January 6th should go free.”
McDaniel also said President Joe Biden won the 2020 election “fair and square,” adding that “he is the legitimate president.”
His appearance on the program later drew criticism from NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd, who took issue with his appearance as a paid contributor.
“He is now a paid contributor to NBC News. I don’t know if any answer he gave you was because he didn’t want to break the contract,” Welkere said in a roundtable after an interview with Todd McDaniel. “He wants us to believe he speaks for the RNC when he pays for the RNC. So it still has credibility issues to address.”
In announcing McDaniel’s role at NBC News, Kerry Budoff Brown, senior vice president for policy, said McDaniel will “support our anchor coverage by providing an insider’s perspective on national politics and the future of the Republican Party. the most turbulent and difficult moments of political history”.
“NBC News has a heritage of serving its audience through reporting that reflects and explores the diverse perspectives of the American electorate,” the announcement said, citing other political analysts who represent a diverse range of views at the network, including CEO Marc Short. staff of Vice President Mike Pence and Ben Rhodes, President Barack Obama’s deputy national security adviser.
Another former RNC chairman, Michael Steele, became a political analyst on MSNBC in 2011 after his leadership of the party ended. He currently hosts a show on the network on weekends. Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki began during the Biden era Appears on MSNBC 2022 and also hosts a show on the network.