NBC leadership moved to tamp down an escalating rebellion Monday as some of the nation’s best-known TV anchors took the unusual step of criticizing their network on its own airwaves for hiring Ronna McDaniel, the former chairwoman of the Republican National Committee. as a politician. analyst.
A day after Chuck Todd stunned executives Sunday by denouncing Ms. McDaniel’s appointment on “Meet the Press,” Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski opened “Morning Joe,” one of MSNBC’s most influential shows, with criticism of Mr. McDaniel. The hosts branded her an “anti-democratic election denier” and urged their bosses to reconsider her employment.
“We’ve been inundated with calls this weekend, as have most people associated with this network, about NBC’s decision to hire her,” Mr. Scarborough told viewers. “We were not asked for our opinion on the hiring but, if we were to ask, we would be strongly opposed for a number of reasons.”
Executives were bracing for another round of on-air criticism later Monday, when two other MSNBC stars, Nicolle Wallace and Rachel Maddow, are set to host their shows.
The rebellion was not limited to marquee talent. Inside NBC’s 30 Rockefeller Plaza headquarters in Manhattan, some employees were beginning discussions about how to further pressure network leadership against Ms. McDaniel, a person with knowledge of the talks said.
The firestorm for Ms. McDaniel, who recently resigned from the Republican National Committee at the urging of former President Donald J. Trump, highlights the challenges news organizations face as they try to integrate voices supporting Mr. Trump into their election-year coverage at a time of intense partisanship and racialization among voters and viewers.
NBC’s news division also has to balance a broad audience: viewers of NBC News, the network’s traditional reporting arm, and fans of its cable cousin MSNBC, a 24-hour channel that emphasizes left-leaning views.
Network representatives declined to comment Monday.
Ms. McDaniel met a pair of top NBC News executives — Carrie Budoff Brown, who oversees NBC News’ political coverage, and Rebecca Blumenstein, the president of NBC News — when the network hosted a Republican primary debate. presidential elections. (Ms. Blumenstein is a former New York Times editor.) Ms. Brown announced Ms. McDaniel’s hiring on Friday, writing in a note that ”it couldn’t be a more important time to have a voice like Rona’s in club .”
NBC executives believed that Ms. McDaniel — who has stepped up and clashed with Mr. Trump and comes from the Romney Republican dynasty — would offer a useful perspective to viewers seeking to understand the views of conservative voters, three people with knowledge of said internal conversations.
Rashida Jones, the president of MSNBC, was informed of the hiring and Cesar Conde, the president of NBCUniversal News Group, signed on, the people said. Ms. McDaniel’s deal is worth about $300,000 a year, one of the people with knowledge of the talks said.
Bringing in Washington operatives as commentators is standard practice at the major networks. ABC News, for example, recently hired Reince Priebus, Mr. Trump’s former chief of staff. MSNBC has hired Jen Psaki, President Biden’s first White House press secretary, as an anchor in 2022.
But in Ms. McDaniel’s case, a chorus of Democrats and MSNBC viewers immediately cried foul on social media, citing the management of the Republican Party during Trump’s presidency and its handling of false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.
MSNBC anchors, some of whom have gone so far as to avoid airing Mr. Trump’s comments live on their shows, were concerned that Ms. McDaniel would appear on their shows, said three people with knowledge of their concerns. Ms. Jones made a round of phone calls to reassure anchors that there was no need to shut Ms. McDaniel down.
Then on Sunday, Ms. McDaniel appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” The moderator, Kristen Welker, had booked the interview weeks earlier but was not aware that NBC was negotiating a paid position for Ms. McDaniel until shortly before the network’s announcement. Ms Welker pressed Ms McDaniel on whether she believed Mr Biden had legitimately won the election.
“Fair and right, he won,” Ms. McDaniel replied, though she added, “I think it’s fair to say there were problems in 2020.”
At a panel afterwards, Mr Todd told Ms Welker: “Our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation.” He added that NBC News reporters felt “uncomfortable” working with Ms. McDaniel, given the treatment they received from the Republican National Committee under her leadership.
Mr Todd’s comments opened the floodgates. By Sunday afternoon, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee had weighed in, accusing NBC of “giving one of the key architects of that shameful period in our country the platform to whitewash her role.”
Ms. McDaniel, who declined to comment on NBC’s wrangling, has long walked a fine line on Mr. Trump’s election conspiracy theories.
In the days after the 2020 election, Ms. McDaniel repeated allegations about ballots and voting machines in her home state of Michigan that state officials disputed and later shot down. He participated in a call with Mr. Trump in which he pressured Wayne County officials not to certify the election results, according to a recording reported by The Detroit News.
But Ms. McDaniel also kept the Republican National Committee away from Mr. Trump’s increasingly bold lawsuits to overturn the election. She did not support his more outlandish theories – such as the hacking of voting machines by foreign powers – although she mollified him in other ways, talking about “irregularity” in voting and creating an “electoral integrity” operation within the national commission.
Some Trump allies criticized her for not taking stronger action to challenge the election process. A person close to the former president, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said it appeared Ms. McDaniel was “going through the motions” and never really believed the 2020 election was stolen.
On Monday’s “Morning Joe,” Ms. Brzezinski told viewers, “To be clear, we believe that NBC News should seek out conservative Republican voices to provide balance to their election coverage.” But he said Ms. McDaniel’s actions around the 2020 election disqualified her from such a position.
“It goes without saying,” Ms. Brzezinski added, “that she will not be a guest on ‘Morning Joe’ as a paid contributor.”
Alexandra Berzon, John Coplin and Jonathan Swan contributed to the report.
