Ronna's out. But it's not over.
NBC News head Cesar Conde has learned nothing. Except don't piss off Rachel Maddow
L’affaire McDaniel has ended at NBCNews. Or more likely paused. Ronna McDaniel, former head of the Republican National Committee, was hired and fired within days after an intense firestorm of criticism, with the most searing calls for her ouster coming from inside the house. (By Anthony Scaramucci’s own reckoning, McDaniel lasted barely 0.3 Scaramuccis.)
Chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group, Cesar Conde announced her departure in a staff memo last night that shows zero awareness of why it was a mistake to hire her in the first place. He made it clear that we can expect NBC News to continue their efforts to normalize and embrace the ongoing work of the right to undermine our democracy
Cesar’s memo is not above suspicion. Here it is with my annotations:
Hey all,
Faux chummy casual greeting. We’re all in this together, aren’t we? A strong, “Greetings, fellow kids,” vibe.
There is no doubt that the last several days have been difficult for the News Group.
No doubt at all, judging only from what was visible on-air and on social media. The move to hire McDaniel was denounced by Chuck Todd on NBC’s Meet the Press, and by Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Nicolle Wallace, Joy Reid, Jen Psaki, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, and Stephanie Ruhle on their respective MSNBC programs.
The Washington Post characterized it as an insurrection—the same word that most of us apply to the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2011.
We don’t yet know what was said off the air at NBC News—in the internal conversations, Zoom calls, texts, and emails and in the hallways of 30 Rock—but we can assume it was plenty. I’m hopeful that Ronan Farrow is on the case to ferret out the inside story. Beyond the internal dissent at NBC News, there was an explosion of attacks on social media, and wide criticism from other major-media outlets. Difficult days indeed.
After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor.
Conde made the right—frankly the only—move in terminating McDaniel. Unfortunately, nothing in his memo acknowledges that he had either listened to or comprehended any of “the legitimate concerns of many of you.”
Of all the concerns raised, the longest, most carefully reasoned, most historically grounded and strongest was voiced by the network’s superstar, Rachel Maddow on Monday night. Fortuitous that Maddow’s one-day-a-week program fell the day after McDaniel’s first (and last) appearance as an NBC News contributor. Chris Hayes and Alex Wagner had the night off. They lost their chance to pile on.
Maddow made it clear, that the objection to McDaniel is not based on her positions or opinions but on her actions helping Trump to overturn the 2020 election—a project for which he has been indicted in both federal and state courts. In her repetitive I-want-you-to-remember-this style, she drilled the point of Trump’s project “That 2020 election, it wasn’t okay. Those election results were not correct. We shouldn't believe American elections. We shouldn't believe American elections are real elections. American election results should not be seen as real. They should not be respected.”
Crucially, Maddow added that we’re still in an ongoing danger—that project is still underway. The coup isn’t over. And McDaniel is still abetting it.
In Maddows words, “That's the project now. It didn't work to overthrow the government last time; but as long as you can build on that first effort, as long as you can keep up the anti-election mythology, then you are priming your people; You're priming the American public to not accept the results of the next election.”
Cesar Conde acknowledged none of that. I’m sure he was briefed about Maddows A-block. He shows no evidence that he watched it and took it onboard.
No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned. Over the last few days, it has become clear that this appointment undermines that goal.
Weird, isn’t it. What bothers Cesar Conde is dissent. He fired McDaniel to quell dissent inside his organization.
I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down.
Ah, the classic non-apology apology. We’re not sorry for doing something wrong. We’re sorry that what we did bothered you. There is no apology without acknowleding the fault. This is no apology.
While this was a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full responsibility for it.
I can say nothing better here than what Keith Olbermann mentioned in today’s pod. Keith quoted—and impersonated—David Frye impersonating Nixon. “I accept the responsibility but not the blame. Let me explain the difference. Those who are to blame lose their jobs. Those who are responsible do not.” Conde is safe, but “some members of our leadership team” (NBCUniversal News Group President, Rebecca Blumenstein, senior vice president of politics, Carrie Budoff Brown, President of MSNBC Rashida Jones) would do well to update their résumés. Jones, I should add, is reported to have told the MSNBC talent and producers that McDaniel would not be forced onto their shows.
Our initial decision was made because of our deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a widely diverse set of viewpoints and experiences, particularly during these consequential times.
Once again, Conde refuses to acknowledge the crux of what makes these times consequential. Yes, there is always a spectrum of positions and opinions in politics. But right now, there is also a bright binary divide between those who accept the fundamental compact of democracy and those who reject it. On one side are those who accept the outcome of elections. On the other are people whose philosophy is, “when we win, we rule; when we lose we storm the Capitol.
Jay Rosen of NYU says the main project of journalism is verification and that the main project of Trump world is “negative verification.” Convincing us that what we know is not so. That what we rely on is unreliable. Until our major media outlets understand that, we are still in peril.
We continue to be committed to the principle that we must have diverse viewpoints on our programs, and to that end, we will redouble our efforts to seek voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum.
Be warned. The project of NBC News remains the normalization of Trump and MAGA. Do they want to see him elected? Probably not. But are they planning how to survive and even thrive in case he is? That couldn’t be more clear.
Take Care,
Let me just translate “take care” into African American Vernacular English: “Stay woke.” Stay woke, NBC News staffers—and viewers. Take Care
Cesar