NBC News' decision to hire former Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a political commentator has drawn intense criticism from her new colleagues in recent days. Key figures at NBC and its cousin MSNBC, including Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow, took the unusual step of publicly condemning their bosses' decision.
These internal critics argue that by hiring McDaniel, the network is condoning election denialism. Days after the 2020 election, Mr. McDaniel touted several false theories promoted by then-President Donald J. Trump, including that there had been miscounts of votes in key battleground states, and that the state of Michigan had been miscounted. Helped pressure election officials in one county to refrain from voting. Prove your results. Since then, she has sought to downplay her own role in questioning the integrity of her election, saying on “Meet the Press” on Sunday that President Biden defeated Trump “fairly and squarely.” said.
Many mainstream news outlets have focused on the tensions within NBC. But the turmoil at the station has played out differently among many conservative commentators, illustrating how overwhelmingly liberal NBC News journalists are and intolerant of conservative views. claims.
fox news
In one segment, after Todd and MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski aired a clip expressing their opposition to McDaniel's hiring, the Fox News show “America's Newsroom” Panelists expressed disbelief at the backlash.
“If someone said that on Fox News, they would get kicked out,” said Bill Hemmer, the show's anchor.
Kayleigh McEnany, co-host of the Fox show “Outnumbered,” who served as White House press secretary during President Trump's administration, said, “When I heard journalist Chuck Todd make such comments about this matter, I was really disappointed.” . “If you look at the polls, does your network, his NBC or his MSNBC, represent his 46.7 percent of the country who say they support Trump on RealClearPolitics average?”
“The liberal media can't stand the idea of having different points of view on their airwaves,” said Jeanine Pirro, host of Fox's “The Five.” Pirro went on to point out that MSNBC and NBC commentators did not object to the station's hiring of fellow former RNC chairman Michael Steele in 2011.
bill o'reilly
Former Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly told NewsNation on Monday that McDaniel “made a huge mistake” in trying to persuade Michigan's electors not to certify the 2020 election results.
But he said she was still being unfairly paid for that decision, and that Sunday's comments that Biden did win the 2020 election were too much for the network's talent to accept her appointment. He said that should have been enough.
“That's not good enough for NBC,” O'Reilly said. “She has to be cancelled. She has to evaporate, she has to disappear.”
Newsmax, Breitbart, National Review
Newsmax, which has spread false theories about the 2020 election, featured the reaction to McDaniel's appointment in a news article, describing the MSNBC host as “scorched earth” the former RNC chairman.
Conservative news site Breitbart focused on Maddow's response to McDaniel's hiring, calling the host's monologue about McDaniel a “rant.”
National Review, a conservative magazine that has often expressed opposition to Trump, pointed out that MSNBC had used multiple hosts who held key positions in the Biden administration.
“Such outrage did not exist when MSNBC hired former White House press secretary Jen Psaki and former Kamala Harris communications staffer Simone Sanders,” one article said.