WOW: NBC hosts REVOLT over hiring of Ronna McDaniel

David Pakman Show
25 Mar 202410:52

Summary

TLDRThe transcript discusses the controversy surrounding NBC News' decision to hire Ronna McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee Chairwoman, as a political analyst. Critics argue that her involvement in attempts to undermine the 2020 election results makes her an inappropriate choice for the role. Key MSNBC hosts, including Chuck Todd, Joe Scarborough, and Mika Brzezinski, express their disapproval, questioning her credibility and motives, and highlighting the internal revolt against her hiring.

Takeaways

  • 📢 There is a call for NBC News to include conservative Republican voices in their election coverage for balance, but with concerns about the choice of individuals.
  • 🤔 Ronna McDaniel, the former Republican National Committee Chairwoman, has been hired by NBC despite her controversial actions regarding the 2020 election.
  • 💭 Critics argue that McDaniel's role in attempting to facilitate a fake slate of electors to overturn the 2020 election makes her an inappropriate choice for a political analyst position.
  • 🗣️ MSNBC hosts and journalists have expressed their disapproval and are revolting against the hiring, questioning the network's decision.
  • 🎙️ Chuck Todd, an NBC journalist, openly questioned McDaniel's credibility and motives, suggesting her paid contributor status might influence her statements.
  • 🚫 Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of Morning Joe have declared that McDaniel will not be a guest on their program due to her past actions.
  • 🤝 The demand for conservative voices is not disputed, but the selection of someone who has been accused of undermining democracy is seen as a mistake by some.
  • 🧐 Concerns about McDaniel's past actions and whether they impact her current role and the trustworthiness of her contributions to NBC News are raised.
  • 📌 The hiring has sparked a debate about journalistic ethics and the balance between access to influential figures and maintaining the integrity of news reporting.
  • 🙅‍♀️ McDaniel's defense of her actions during her tenure as RNC chairwoman is met with skepticism, and her current statements are questioned for their authenticity.
  • 🌟 The overall sentiment from the transcript is one of dissatisfaction and concern from within the NBC News and MSNBC community regarding the hiring of Ronna McDaniel.

Q & A

  • What is the main concern raised about NBC News hiring Ronna McDaniel?

    -The main concern is that Ronna McDaniel, who was involved in facilitating a fake slate of electors to overturn the 2020 election, has been hired by NBC News as a political analyst. Critics argue that her role in attempting to subvert democracy should disqualify her from such a position, especially in a media organization that is expected to uphold democratic values.

  • What was the reaction of MSNBC hosts to Ronna McDaniel's hiring?

    -MSNBC hosts expressed strong disapproval of Ronna McDaniel's hiring. Some hosts, such as Chuck Todd, questioned her credibility and motives, while others, like Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, publicly stated that she would not be a guest on their program, 'Morning Joe,' due to her past actions.

  • What was the criticism directed at Chuck Todd regarding his interaction with Kristen Welker?

    -Chuck Todd was criticized for expressing disbelief to Kristen Welker about her having to interview Ronna McDaniel. Todd's reaction was seen as an indication of discomfort and disagreement with the decision to hire McDaniel, reflecting a broader unease within NBC News about her role as a contributor.

  • What is the argument made by those who oppose Ronna McDaniel's hiring at NBC News?

    -Opponents of Ronna McDaniel's hiring argue that it is inappropriate to hire someone who actively participated in attempts to undermine the democratic process. They believe that her role in the fake elector scheme and her failure to denounce former President Trump's false claims about the election make her an unsuitable representative of balanced election coverage.

  • What was Ronna McDaniel's response to criticism about her involvement in the 2020 election controversy?

    -Ronna McDaniel defended her actions by stating that she was speaking for the Republican National Committee at the time and that she now feels more free to express her personal opinions since she is no longer in her position as the RNC chair. She also expressed regret over the threats made against election workers and the pressure they faced.

  • What was the nature of the phone call between Ronna McDaniel and election officials?

    -The phone call involved Ronna McDaniel, along with then-President Donald Trump, urging election officials not to certify the election results. Critics argue that this constituted a pressure campaign, while McDaniel maintained that she was simply encouraging officials to vote their conscience.

  • What is the ethical dilemma presented by hiring Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor?

    -The ethical dilemma centers around the potential conflict of interest and the message it sends by hiring someone with a controversial history related to the democratic process. Critics argue that it could be seen as rewarding behavior that undermines democracy and that it may compromise the integrity of the network's journalistic standards.

  • What is the argument for hiring conservative Republican voices for election coverage?

    -The argument is that including conservative Republican voices in election coverage is important for balance and representing a wide range of perspectives. However, this should be done with individuals who have not actively worked against democratic principles.

  • What was the reaction of Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski to the hiring of Ronna McDaniel?

    -Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski were critical of the decision, stating that they were not consulted about the hiring and that they would have strongly objected to it. They also made it clear that Ronna McDaniel would not be a guest on their show, 'Morning Joe,' due to her past actions.

  • What is the significance of the on-air criticism from MSNBC hosts towards Ronna McDaniel's hiring?

    -The on-air criticism signifies a significant level of disagreement and discomfort within the network regarding the decision to hire Ronna McDaniel. It highlights the deep divisions and the potential impact on the network's credibility and journalistic standards.

  • How does the hiring of Ronna McDaniel reflect on the journalistic practices of NBC News?

    -The hiring has sparked a debate about journalistic ethics and the balance between providing diverse perspectives and maintaining the integrity of democratic principles. Critics argue that it raises questions about whether access and potential influence are being prioritized over upholding the values of democracy.

Outlines

00:00

📺 NBC News' Controversial Hiring

NBC News and MSNBC face internal backlash over the hiring of Ronna McDaniel, former Republican National Committee Chairwoman, known for her efforts to challenge the 2020 election results. Critics within the network, including prominent hosts like Chuck Todd and Joe Scarborough, express dismay at McDaniel's role as a political analyst, questioning her credibility and the impact on journalistic ethics. The discussion revolves around McDaniel's history of not denouncing election misinformation and her potential influence as a network contributor. The hiring sparks a broader debate on the balance between free speech and responsible journalism, with some NBC personalities outright refusing to feature McDaniel on their shows.

05:03

🔍 McDaniel's Defense and Journalistic Concerns

Ronna McDaniel, in her new capacity, attempts to justify her past actions while at the helm of the RNC, claiming she can now express her true opinions. This claim raises questions about her authenticity and the motives behind her statements, both past and present. The segment includes a critique of her involvement in pressuring election officials alongside Donald Trump, suggesting a disregard for democratic processes. NBC journalists, including Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, publicly challenge the decision to hire McDaniel, emphasizing the inappropriateness of her actions related to the 2020 election. This controversy highlights the tension between editorial decisions and journalistic integrity, reflecting deeper issues of media responsibility in political coverage.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Conservative Republican voices

This term refers to the political perspectives and opinions that align with the conservative faction of the Republican Party in the United States. In the context of the video, it highlights the need for media outlets like NBC News to include a diverse range of political viewpoints to ensure balanced coverage, especially during election periods.

💡Anti-democracy election denier

An 'anti-democracy election denier' is an individual who challenges the legitimacy of democratic processes or election results, often without substantial evidence. In the video, this term is used critically to describe a person who has allegedly used their position of power to undermine democratic norms and processes.

💡Fake slate of electors

A 'fake slate of electors' refers to an attempt to subvert the normal electoral process by creating a false set of electors to alter the outcome of an election. This term is used in the context of the video to describe actions taken during the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, which some individuals allegedly engaged in to try to change the election results.

💡Political analyst

A 'political analyst' is an expert who offers insight and analysis on political events, trends, and policies. They are often called upon by media outlets to provide commentary and context to help the public understand complex political issues. In the video, the term is used to discuss the role Ronna McDaniel has been hired for at NBC News.

💡Journalistic ethics

Journalistic ethics refer to the moral principles and guidelines that govern the practice of journalism. These ethics emphasize accuracy, fairness, and integrity in reporting the news. The term is brought up in the video to discuss the implications of hiring someone with a controversial past and the potential impact on the credibility of the news organization.

💡Access

In the context of journalism, 'access' refers to the ability of journalists or media organizations to obtain information, interviews, or insights from influential individuals or groups. It is a valuable commodity in news reporting and can sometimes lead to ethical dilemmas when it involves negotiations or agreements that might compromise the independence of the media.

💡Moral responsibility

Moral responsibility refers to the obligation one feels to act in a way that aligns with ethical standards and societal expectations. In the video, this concept is used to critique the actions of Ronna McDaniel and to question whether she upheld her moral responsibility during her tenure as the Republican National Committee Chairwoman.

💡On-air talent

The term 'on-air talent' refers to individuals who appear on television or radio programs, such as hosts, anchors, reporters, or contributors. They are the public faces and voices of the media organization. In the video, this term is used to discuss the internal criticism from on-air talent towards the hiring decision of Ronna McDaniel.

💡Subvert democracy

To 'subvert democracy' means to undermine or weaken the democratic process, often through illegal or unethical means. In the context of the video, this term is used to describe actions that allegedly attempted to manipulate or overturn the results of an election, which is considered a serious threat to democratic principles.

💡Credibility issues

Credibility issues refer to doubts or questions about the trustworthiness, reliability, or authenticity of an individual or entity. In the video, this term is used to express concerns about Ronna McDaniel's credibility as a political analyst for NBC News, given her past actions and alleged ties to anti-democratic activities.

Highlights

NBC News is urged to seek conservative Republican voices for balanced election coverage.

There is a revolt within NBC News and MSNBC over the hiring of Ronna McDaniel, former RNC Chairwoman.

McDaniel is accused of attempting to facilitate a fake slate of electors to steal the 2020 election.

MSNBC hosts express their discontent with the hiring, with Chuck Todd questioning her credibility.

Concerns are raised about McDaniel's motivations and whether her statements are influenced by her paid position at NBC.

Journalists at NBC News are uncomfortable with the hiring due to past dealings with the RNC involving gaslighting and character assassination.

The decision to hire McDaniel is questioned, with suggestions that it may have been for access rather than journalistic integrity.

Interviews and vetting with actual journalists within the networks are suggested to assess McDaniel's potential contributions.

Morning Joe's hosts announce that McDaniel will not be a guest on their program due to her controversial past.

McDaniel's role in Trump's fake elector scheme and her actions regarding election certification are criticized.

The hiring of McDaniel is seen as rewarding someone who participated in an attempt to subvert democracy.

McDaniel defends herself by claiming she was speaking for the RNC and that she now feels unshackled to express her true thoughts.

Questions are raised about the authenticity of McDaniel's opinions, both past and present, and whether they are influenced by her financial interests.

McDaniel expresses regret over the threats faced by election officials and the pressure campaign she was part of.

The discussion emphasizes that being a paid contributor on NBC is not a right, but a privilege granted by the network.

The situation with McDaniel is used as an example of the challenges in balancing journalistic ethics with the pursuit of access and audience.

Transcripts

00:00

We Believe NBC News should seek out Conservative  Republican voices to provide balance in their  

00:06

election coverage but it should be conservative  Republicans not a person who used her position  

00:13

of power to be an anti-democracy election  denier and we hope NBC will reconsider its  

00:20

decision Speaker 1: There is revolt happening  at NBC news and MSNBC over the hiring of former  

00:29

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna  McDaniel, who tried to facilitate a fake slate  

00:36

of electors to steal the 2020 election. She  has now been hired by NBC as if she's a. 

00:44

Speaker 2: Completely normal. Speaker 1: Political analyst,  

00:47

rather than a threat to democracy, who was  unwilling to call out Trump's lies for years  

00:54

about the election. And there are MSNBC hosts who  are saying no. Here is Chuck Todd appearing over  

01:01

the weekend with Kristen Welker and saying to  Kristen Welker, who interviewed Ronna McDaniel  

01:07

on the program yesterday, I can't believe that  you had to do this. They are revolting. And  

01:13

MSNBC and NBC news, take a look at this. Speaker 2: Let me deal with the elephant  

01:17

in the room. Yeah, I think our bosses owe you  an apology for putting you in this situation,  

01:22

because I don't know what to believe. She is now  a paid contributor, right by NBC news. I have  

01:27

no idea whether any answer she gave to you was  because she didn't want to mess up her contract.  

01:34

She wants us to believe that she was speaking for  the RNC when I was paying for. So she has she has  

01:40

credibility issues that she still has to deal  with. Yeah. Is she speaking for herself or is  

01:45

she speaking on behalf of who's paying her what  she wants at the RNC? She did say that. Hey, I'm  

01:49

speaking for the party. I get that that's part of  the job. So, what about here? I will say this. I  

01:57

think your interview, did a good job of exposing,  I think, many of the contradictions. And, look,  

02:03

there's a reason why there's a lot of journalists  at NBC news uncomfortable with this. Because many  

02:08

of our professional dealings with the RNC over  the last six years have been met with gaslighting,  

02:13

have been met with character assassination. So it  is, you know, that's where you begin here. And so,  

02:21

when NBC made the decision to give her NBC  news this credibility, you got to ask yourself,  

02:27

what does she bring NBC news. And when we make  deals like this, and I've been at this company  

02:32

a long time, you're doing it for access. Access to  audience. Sometimes it's access to an individual.  

02:38

And we can have a journalistic ethics debate  about that, and I, I, I'm willing to have that  

02:44

debate. And if you told me we were hiring her as  a technical adviser to the Republican convention,  

02:51

I think that would be certainly defensible if  you told me where we're talking to her. But let's  

02:57

let's see how she does in some interviews and  maybe vet her with actual journalists inside the  

03:01

networks to see if it's a two way, what she can  bring the network. So I do think, unfortunately,  

03:08

this interview was always going to be looked  through the prism of who is she speaking for? 

03:12

Speaker 1: There is no question here that what  Chuck Todd is saying is absolutely right. And it  

03:18

doesn't seem, at least as of right now,  that they care over there at MSNBC and  

03:23

NBC. Here is this morning, from Morning Joe,  Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski saying,  

03:30

she's not going to be a guest on this program. It  is not typical to see on air talent criticize the  

03:39

hiring of other on air talent in this way.  Will it make a difference? I don't know.  

03:43

Let's listen to what Joe Scarborough had to say. Speaker 2: Be surprised to know that we've been  

03:46

inundated with calls this weekend, as have, most  people connected with this network about NBC's  

03:53

decision to hire her. We learned about the hiring  when we read about it in the press on Friday. We  

04:00

weren't asked our opinion of the hiring, but if  we were, we would have strongly objected to it for  

04:04

several reasons, including but not limited to, as  lawyers might say, miss McDaniel's role in Donald  

04:13

Trump's fake elector scheme and her pressuring  election officials to not certify election  

04:19

results while Donald Trump was on the phone. Speaker 1: Right. What he's saying here is,  

04:25

you could argue that Ronna McDaniel is  effectively an unindicted coconspirator  

04:31

in one of the greatest and most deplorable  attempts to subvert democracy in American  

04:36

history. Now she's going to be commenting on NBC. Speaker 2: Be clear. Oh, we believe NBC news  

04:42

should seek out conservative Republican voices  to provide balance in their election coverage.  

04:49

But it should be conservative Republicans,  not a person who used her position of power  

04:55

to be an anti-democracy election denier. And we  hope NBC will reconsider its decision. It goes  

05:03

without saying that she will not be a guest  on Morning Joe, in her capacity as a paid  

05:09

contributor. Here's why. But to the question,  though, do you disagree with Trump saying he's  

05:16

going to free those who have been charged? I do  not think people who committed violent acts on.  

05:20

Your sex should be freed. So you disagree with  that? He's been saying that for months. Bronagh,  

05:25

why not speak out earlier? Why? Just speak  out about that now? When you're the RNC chair,  

05:31

you kind of take one for the whole team. Right  now. I get to be a little bit more myself, right? 

05:36

Speaker 1: So listen, she's making the argument. I  said what I had to say when I was running the RNC,  

05:41

and now I'll say what I have to say, or now I  guess she's saying she'll tell the truth about  

05:46

what she thinks now because she's now unshackled  or whatever. But as Chuck Todd said, was it her  

05:53

real opinion then or now? Or are all of these just  things she's saying because she's getting paid?  

05:57

But I think the bottom line of it is this I get  being a spokesperson for something else, but to  

06:04

be a spokesperson for the lowest anti-democracy,  conspiracy that I remember. I mean, I don't I  

06:15

can't remember a worse one being attempted by  a sitting president ever in the United States  

06:20

to say, I'm just a paid spokesperson. This is my  job. At a certain point you have to say, this is  

06:27

too low, this is too low. I get that I'm the RNC  chairwoman and I have to defend, I guess, what the  

06:33

Republican Party is doing. But these attempts  to subvert democracy, I'm not just going to do  

06:37

it because I'm getting money. And she never did  that. So we don't know what she thought then what  

06:42

she thinks now, what she really thinks. Here's  a little bit of a of another excerpt from her  

06:46

interview with Kristen Welker over the weekend. Speaker 2: I live in Wayne County. Are you okay?  

06:52

Are you all right? Vote your conscience. Not  pushing them to do anything. And then let  

06:56

me finish. Let me add one other thing. She was,  threatened to such a degree, Monica, that somebody  

07:04

is going to jail. I'm not going to say the threats  that she had, but. But we can't as parties say we  

07:10

shouldn't be attacking election workers. Election  workers need to be safe. And then when it happens  

07:14

to Republicans, ignore it and only, only report  it when it happens. I don't want to j I understand  

07:22

what these attacks. I understand what you're  saying about the concerns about her safety,  

07:26

but you got on the phone with her with the then  president of the United States. How can anyone  

07:32

say that other than change your vote? But you  said, how do you not sign it? If you can go home  

07:38

tonight, do not sign it. How can people read that  as anything other than a pressure campaign? No.  

07:44

The pressure was being put on them from the hours  and hours of threats and abuse they were receiving  

07:49

that forced them to change their vote, and they  shouldn't have had to do it. But if they're on the  

07:54

phone with you and Donald Trump, who was then the  president, I will not tell them anything. What I'm  

07:59

saying is, I support you voting your conscience.  Do you wish, knowing what you know now? Do you  

08:03

regret making that phone call? I regret the  fact that people are being threatened for  

08:09

doing their job in this country. There you go. Speaker 1: Do you regret making that phone call  

08:14

to start urging election officials not to sign  off on the results? I regret that people were  

08:18

getting threatened. So, Joe Scarborough, Mika  Brzezinski, Chuck Todd, they are all absolutely  

08:24

correct. This is not a free speech issue. I know  that we will get the right wingers saying, oh,  

08:29

David, you want her speech taken away, being  a $300,000 a year paid contributor on NBC is  

08:37

not a right. It's not the government who is  suppressing her speech. If they don't hire her,  

08:43

much like I don't have a right to speak at  whatever college I might want to speak at,  

08:49

she doesn't have a right to make these comments on  em on NBC or MSNBC, so I don't even care if they  

08:55

fire her. I just I don't watch this crap, and I  don't plan to pay any attention to the things she  

09:00

says, beyond the fact that it's interesting that  there was an on air revolt against her. But it is,  

09:06

it it really shows the gamification. Oh, well,  you know, this was someone in a position of power,  

09:14

so she would make for a good analyst. Now,  she participated in a vile and disgusting  

09:19

attempt to overturn democracy. And she's now  being rewarded as someone who is going to  

09:24

give us insight into what is taking place  at the Republican Party. Give me a break

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NBC NewsMSNBCRonna McDanielElection ControversyMedia EthicsPolitical AnalysisFree SpeechDemocracyJournalistic DebatePublic Reaction
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