When NBC News hired former GOP Chair Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor, its parent company faced public, scathing critiques from some of its biggest stars like Chuck Todd, Jen Psaki, and Rachel Maddow.
NBC Universal fired McDaniel on Tuesday… and the rank-and-file staffers are shouldering the consequences of the network’s fickleness.
Some staffers are scrambling to rebuild their relationships with inside sources in the GOP, and they may see their reporting suffer even more.
One NBC News reporter told Semafor, “Political reporters here didn’t take part in the backlash, nor did they get to give input on the hire… But they’ll be the ones who have to pick up the pieces with sources who are now dismayed with the organization.”
A former executive at the network told the outlet, “It’s a star system and there’s no bench.” Media personality Geraldo Rivera went on NewsNation to blame McDaniel’s ouster on “a cabal of aging superstars.”
During this election cycle, NBC News has tapped some well-connected figures inside the GOP. The network even broke the story of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to announce his presidential campaign on Twitter Spaces alongside website owner Elon Musk. Then, the outlet became the first of the Big Three broadcast networks to host one of the GOP’s presidential debates.
Now, the network may need to kiss those GOP sources goodbye.
Two aides to GOP officials told Semafor that they’d texted their contacts at NBC News to express their frustrations.
Conservatives have long slammed the Big Three networks for refusing to take seriously the beliefs of half the country. Some of Trump’s allies expected nothing better from NBC News.
“A great move for NBC,” Trump’s former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney told Semafor. “It allows them to completely shed their image as a legitimate news outlet, once and for all.”
In Mulvaney’s view, we would all be better off if NBC News got worse and not better.
Fortunately for Mulvaney, NBC News looks likely to get much, much worse.
The Horn editorial team