MSNBC faced a backlash from its own anchors and employees that caused it to decide not to have Ronna McDaniel on the network.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
Rashida Jones, the cable network’s president, has been trying to deal with internal criticism after NBC News announced that McDaniel would contribute to all NBC News platforms.From the internal memo by political chief Carrie Budoff Brown, it was clear that McDaniel's hiring had caused concern among some of the network’s hosts and staff. MSNBC is part of the NBC News division.
Jones informed employees that the cable network has no plans to feature McDaniel on the channel. A number of MSNBC anchors and producers have expressed worry about McDaniel’s connection to former President Donald Trump and the RNC’s involvement in his attempts to challenge the 2020 election results.
The original plan to have McDaniel contribute across all NBC News platforms, including MSNBC, was met with strong disapproval due to her ties to the events of January 6th. Comcast then decided to withdraw this plan.
McDaniel will be interviewed by Kristen Welker on Sunday morning’s Meet The Press, and she will likely be included in NBC’s political coverage on shows like Today and on their streaming channel NBC News Now.
As intense as the employee backlash might have been, the viewer backlash was worse.
Comcast, NBC’s corporate owner, clearly sees MSNBC’s leftward bias as nothing more than a marketing strategy that they can disregard.
Ronna McDaniel was still given a plum job in corporate media to cater to Trump, but at least MSNBC viewers don’t have to worry about her showing up on their channel.
