(DailyDig.com) – NBC News has terminated Ronna McDaniel, the former chairperson of the Republican National Committee (RNC), from her paid contributor role. Cesar Conde, the chairperson of NBCUniversal, announced the decision to the staff of NBC News in a memo.
Prominent on-air talent made their displeasure of the hire in the last several days. Some of the talents who made their disapproval known include Chuck Todd, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Joy Reid, Mika Brzezinski, Nicolle Wallace, Jen Psaki, and Joe Scarborough.
McDaniel resigned her position at the RNC when the Republican Party’s likely presumed candidate, former president Trump, stated the need for a new chairperson and restructuring of the RNC. On March 22, NBC hired her as a paid contributor to air on NBC and MSNBC to analyze the political domain during the approaching presidential election.
The abrupt dismissal of McDaniel, as announced in the memo from Conde, was due to concerns that the on-air staff had about her legitimate credibility issues. He said that hiring McDaniel had weakened the goal of their newsrooms to have a united and smooth atmosphere. He personally apologized to his team, who felt betrayed. It was a collective decision from the leadership, but he approved and took responsibility.
Conde continued by saying that the idea to hire McDaniel was to present a diverse background and viewpoint during this momentous election season. To reach that goal, they will continue to search for different voices from various sources reflecting the spectrum of political perspectives.
According to a source within NBC, the only option for resolving the concerns of the NBC talent was to withdraw the hiring decision. The source said that both NBC and MSNBC talent protested the hiring of McDaniel because she was not acceptable to a network that aimed to remain non-partisan.
McDaniel has not heard from NBC about her termination, according to a source who knows her. She became aware of her dismissal only through the news media. The agency that mediated the deal with NBC, Creative Artists Agency (CAA), reported her dismissal.
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