NBC’s Chuck Todd unleashed on the network’s hiring of former RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel moments after she made her Sunday debut on “Meet the Press.”
Todd told NBC host Kristen Welker that NBC should apologize for having her interview McDaniels, who he said many journalists at the network were “uncomfortable” with being a paid contributor.
“Let me deal with the elephant in the room,” Todd began. “I think our bosses owe you an apology for putting you in this situation because I don’t know what to believe.”
“She is now a paid contributor by NBC news,” Todd told Welker. “I have no idea whether any answer she gave to you was because she didn’t want to mess up her contract.”
“She wants us to believe that she was speaking for the RNC when the RNC was paying for it. So, she has credibility issues that she still has to deal with. Is she speaking for herself or is she speaking on behalf of who’s paying her? Once at the RNC, she did say that. ‘Hey, I’m speaking for the party.’ I get that, that’s part of the job. So, what about here?” he asked.
Todd told Welker that she “did a good job” of “exposing” McDaniel’s “contradictions” during the interview. He said that several NBC News employees were concerned about the network’s hiring of the former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman.
“Look, there’s a reason why there are a lot of journalists at NBC News uncomfortable with this,” Todd said. “Because many of our professional dealings with the RNC over the last six years have been met with gaslighting and have been met with character assassination.”
“When NBC made the decision to give her NBC News’ credibility, you got to ask yourself, what does she bring NBC News? And when we make deals like this, and I’ve been at this company a long time, you’re doing it for access. Access to audience. Sometimes it’s access to an individual. And we can have a journalistic ethics debate about that. And I’m willing to have that debate,” Todd added.
Journalist Glenn Greenwald pointed out that “melodrama” never occurs when Democratic “operatives” are hired by major networks like ABC and NBC. He cited former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who negotiated her deal with MSNBC before leaving the Biden administration, as an example. Greenwald also mentioned ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, who was hired with “no journalism experience” immediately after serving under President Bill Clinton.
NBC also hired John Brennan as a contributor in 2018 after serving as CIA chief during the Obama administration.
There has been “internal backlash” at NBC and MSNBC following McDaniel’s hiring, as various MSNBC anchors and producers expressed concern about the former RNC chair’s attachment to former President Donald Trump. MSNBC President Rashida Jones said that she “has no plans to have McDaniel on the channel,”according to The Wall Street Journal.
McDaniel stepped down from her post on March 8 after it became clear that former President Donald Trump would clinch the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination. Former North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Michael Whatley currently serves as RNC chairman after being elected to replace McDaniel.
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