I submitted the following remarks to the two NBC executives identified in Robert's post along with the suggestion to contact them:
I find it appalling that NBC would hire an individual who supported an attempted coup, to serve as alleged political analyst or expert whose opinion has any credibility or value.
No media outlet that values the truth, and does not want to be subjected to Donald Trump's retribution and the "Hungary-fication" of the U.S., should provide a platform to Ronna McDaniel.
This election is not one with two equally valid views of how best to pursue U.S. policy. It is one party doing that and the other party under the complete control of a narcissist who has pledged to engage in numerous anti-democratic actions. BTW, have you read Project 2025?
The page of quotes of Ronna McDaniel at BrainyQuote show what you get from her - no analysis or facts - just counter-factual assertions that are demonstrably false.
"The Republican Party is not the party for the wealthy."
"There is no fairness out there. There is no balance in the media."
"It's very unfortunate to see the amount of obstruction the Democrats have put forward...Even when they see their own constituents suffering because of their failing healthcare."
"It's very easy to unite a party around opposition or wanting to get the White House back. That's a unifying message, and you're seeing the Democrats uniting around being the party of 'no' and the party of 'resist.'"
"The future of the Republican Party is female right now." [Citing herself and KellyAnne Conway]
"...I firmly believe our policies and our principles and the way we govern is better for every American."
"Donald Trump is a champion of women."
"Donald Trump has added a whole different factor that we've never seen before, but the audience loves it. We've seen the energy around our state, so many crowds coming; it's good for democracy to have so many people engaged." [OMG!]
This is what you will get from Ronna McDaniel. It's worse than worthless, it is corrosive. Donald Trump attempted a coup and what he is planning for the U.S. if re-elected is horrific. Ronna McDaniel stands with him. DO NOT NORMALIZE THE INSURRECTION.
Ronna McDaniel lied before she joined NBC and smeared NBC’s journalists for telling the truth.
Keeping her from having any formal or informal role at NBC is is imperative.
Great! I suspect though that those at the top are not stupid. They knew exactly what the were doing and are prepared to simply sit this wave of rightful disgust out.
It therefore might be helpful if those mails directed at the top executives are cc'd to all the known hosts and journalists at NBC and MSNBC. If Chuck Todd's statements on yesterday's Meet the Press is any indication there is a huge amount of unease and criticism among the journalists with regard to the decisions made by the bean counters at the top. They need our support.
It might be more effective to cc their bosses or the board of directors at the parent company. NBC Universal is a subsidiary of Comcast. This wiki artice has a list of executives and board members:
Many of us also cc the editors already. This list is very helpful. I think that cc-ing the other hosts, other opinion writers and so forth is also another good suggestion (above) which the dynamic as described by Mr. Hubbell certainly made me think of. Surely reinforcing concerns other employees have for the reputation of their employer is a way to continue applying incremental pressure just a small way out from the fulcrum.
I hadn't even heard those things McDaniel said, and I wrote in anyway. What a hypocrite! The future of the Republican Party is women??? After that Republican woman gave the response to the State of the Union, and tried to take womanhood back to the 50s? Or worse? I don't think so!
After the Republican Party led to the end of Roe? After Trump said women who get an abortion should go to jail? After Trump said he can grab women by the P? Add those to your list!
Fantastic! I too wrote sharp letters to the NBC executives questioning their strategy for this appalling hire. But you took it to new heights and for that thank you. And good work Robert for giving us those names. My guess is they are facing significant backlash. 💙🇺🇸
Susan O made it easy! I even used some of her words and proud to say, sent them all my thoughts!!
I’ve been wanting to say something here for a while. First of all, I’m NOT complacent! But I feel in my heart of all hearts that we will win this election AND not even being that *close*!! There are just tooooo many of us out here that know right from wrong, that have a conscience, that do believe in this great experiment called democracy and will vote accordingly!
It will only be close because of the EC and 3rd party vote bandits. Biden will win by 10 million votes but it will come down to 50,000 voters across 5 or 6 states. It's tragic.
Inspired by you and others to write my own emails:
Dear Ms. Blumenstein,
As regular—former--viewers of the NBC nightly news with Lester Holt, we want to communicate our extreme distress over your decision to contract with Ronna McDaniel as a commentator on your network.
We understand that Ms. McDaniel will not be appearing on MSNBC but to have her as ANY sort of presence on a major news source such as NBC is UNACCEPTABLE!
Ms. McDaniel engaged actively in an effort to discredit and overturn the result of the 2020 election, a blatantly unconstitutional and illegal act. If this is viewed by you and other decision makers at NBC as “just hardball politics,” shame on you. Our democracy is at stakes and your viewers deserve to be confronted by facts, not by eyeball catching mistruths.
Maybe if Ted Bundy were still alive you would be contracting with him to provide commentary on our Nation’s crime problem?
Undo your decision. In the meantime we will not be watching Lester.
The right response to this insult to the integrity of journalism (or what’s left of it), would be for a majority of NBC journalists to declare their willingness to resign if the decision isn’t fully reversed. The situation isn’t all that different morally from if a known traiter was promoted to leadership in the military. The true valor and morality of an individual is whether you are willing to give up your job rather than work for an organization which spurns the values you purport to hold dear.
I used to watch MSNB and NBC. No more. You should be asking of yourself as head of an organization that should be proud of itself how you just lost our confidence and interest. You destroyed your own reputation and your first company (as CEO) in just over a year. You hired a known “insurrectionist” supporter and election denier. Shame shame shame on you.
Then you said: we’ll "see what happen’s”, right out of Trumps dictionary. Well, Rona McDaniels does not deserve this chance. Nor are we interested to “see what happens”. She has already proven who she is, you should believe her.
She lied before she joined NBC and smeared NBC’s journalists for telling the truth. She participated in at least one act designed to overturn the election. She should not be trusted with any news platform that reaches persuadable voters—because we have no reason to believe that she will tell the truth going forward. If you can, just think about your employees that were and are maligned, now have having to work with her.
As a former CEO, I know that what I do becomes part of the culture of my firm. Maybe you haven’t learned that tough lesson yet, Ms. Blumenstein. I’m here to mentor you any time. If you remember your Econometrics, you can calculate the time it takes for services to collapse when they have lost the trust of their clients and public.
One of the best decisions I ever made was to start reading your newsletter, Robert. I wrote Rebecca Blumenstein this morning and feel much better! I am so weary of most corporations and the blind loyalty they demand of their employees and their treachery to whistleblowers. Groupthink was not the blueprint of the Founding Fathers and Mothers, nor should it be ours.
Amen! I, too, find that joining Robert’s blog was helpful to be in touch with sanity and most importantly information that has enabled me to take action rather than standing on the sidelines since 2016 wringing my hands. Rock on, Robert & Jill.
1. Your suggestion that hiring Ronna McDaniel at NBC would "help examine diverse perspectives of American voters" is akin to hiring Charles Manson for his views on population control.
2. Odds are great that any increased viewership experienced will be wiped out by the departing viewers racing for the door.
3. Don't spend that bonus until it hits your account.
Your lack of ethical judgement in hiring a known liar, election obstructor and coup supporter is shockingly damaging to NBC's reputation. For you not to see that providing a platform for corruption and misinformation smears all of your reporters, commentators and employees at NBC is journalistic malpractice.
You've proved that NBC is no longer a reliable source of news. We can't believe anything aired on NBC; you've become exactly like FOX News - the only difference is you haven't yet had to pay out 3/4 of a billion dollars for the lies.
Reputations are hard-won and easily destroyed; your failure to understand the stakes in this unique election are evidence that you don't understand or care about the threat to our 235 year old constitutional democracy. Until Ronna McDaniel is completely rejected by NBC, we will not watch your programming, and will reach out to your advertisers to urge that they drop NBC.
Your cowardly inclusion of dishonest insurrectionists on your platform is a major low point for a once-honorable news organization. Huntley, Brinkley, Chancellor, Brokaw etc. must be ashamed; you should be, too.
Dave, I hope you wrote and told them that. I just wrote letters to Ms Blumenstein and Ms Budoff with a similar message, except that I said that giving McDaniel a platform is different only in degree but not in kind from doing the same for Steve Bannon and Alex Jones. And this time, I sent a version of the letter to my local paper, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
I am glad that she has been pulled from MSNBC, but there's a way in which this is worse. It positions telling the truth as a "left-wing" thing to do. Liars are put on their "mainstream" network, but not their left-leaning one. We need to keep fighting this one. To be honest, I think Ms Budoff should lose her job over this, but as long as Ronna Don't-Call-Me-Romney McDaniel goes, I will be satisfied.
You are right, Terry, and it is also about the reputation and credibility that leads to money. Your comment, which is one of my wife's most repeated observations, is worth unpacking. As the good work that so many on Today's Edition and other groups did shows, the pundit class does listen....to one another, to their bosses, to their advertisers, and to the winds of change and disgust with Trump that are flowing across the country. And they don't like looking stupid. So we make them hurt by showing that their decision to hire McDaniel is stupid and dangerous and we follow up by continuing to monitor what they are doing. Democracy dies in darkness, but it also dies when people say only the rich have any influence.
As I understand the Jessica Tarlov situation, Terry, she has not changed her spots: she continues to speak out as a liberal voice. That may make her a token, but McDaniel is trying to rewrite her past and the past of the Republican party by saying, in effect, "that was just my job," and literally, "I had to take one for the team," even though that "team" was spreading lies. This is perilously close to "I was only following order" and therefore you can't blame me for fomenting an insurrection slandering all the folks who are not my esteemed news colleagues of MSNBC and doing my best to further the ambitions and lies of a man I now know to be a threat to democracy. Would I think it a better call if NBC/MSNBC hired McDaniel as a Maga voice? NO? But it would at least it would be, for her, a more intellectually honest position. (Thanks for sharing the Tarlov story. I'm not up on the goings on at FOX. I suppose I should pay more attention.)
Exactly right, Ellen. Putting McDaniel on the network means the truth doesn’t matter except to all the lefties that watch MSNBC. Corporate amorality at its worst. Gads! And they call themselves a news corp. bull.
Thanks also for sending your letter to the Strib. Hopefully, they will publish it!
Jessica's been there for a long time, and was one of the few reasons to watch occasionally. I'm not aware of her ever supporting a fascist dictator wannabe.
Hi, Terry. Good point that Fox added a liberal voice to The Five. But I don't really think people are objecting to McDaniel's conservative political views as much as her support / endorsement of the coup attempt. I don' think Jessica Tarlov has been involved in any questionable activities.
I didn't say they were good at it. I just think some bright boy executive came up with the idea to broaden their audience...make more $$. These people are numbers people and can't really think it through as they should. Remember Chris Licht at CNN? Another bright boy who thought a Trump Town Hall was worth a try. These people are bright but wrong headed. PS, I still don't like the idea of making McDaniel some kind of right wing martyr.
Does anyone know what happened to bright boy Chris Licht?
But I doubt she is changing any minds over there. We cheer for her though.
So if Ronna Romney unleashed her rhetoric do you think it would be truthful like Tarlov? Would you agree with her? With her "legitimate political discourse"?
Boy I needed this this morning. It was all I could do to not smash TV sets upon hearing of Rona MsCoupdeJure McDanniel was hired by NBC. Thanks for those email addresses. Fired off two as incendiary as I could make them emails. Who the actual F do these NBC “news” executives think they are? Still furious. Maybe I’ll write again. Grrrrr
I will be writing the NBC executives as well and thank the reader who provided addresses:
At the most basic level, I have no trust in a news organization that knowingly hires a new employee who lied over many months, helped finance the spreading of that lie, and threw innocent people (e.g., elections workers, journalists) in harm's way in the process.
A NEWS organization? How absurd. Why would anyone believe any broadcaster on NBC now? Is it up to viewers to research your employees’ qualifications and background before we know whether to trust that they are not lying?
Just an absurdly, offensive, bad decision that has put NBC in the same category as FOX.
I am horrified that you have hired her. While she didn't personally participate in the insurrection -- in which several people died and the transfer of power to Joe Biden was at grave risk -- she was a major supporter and apologist. Her excuse that she was just "taking one for the team" rings hollow. She was not some low-level employer who risked being fired and then not being able to pay the rent if she failed to support Trump, she was the leader of the RNC.
I grew up in the era of Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and John Chancellor -- people who covered the news with honesty, integrity and dignity. My has NBC fallen!
The backlash to the McDaniel hiring is instructive in terms of messaging. Sometimes, I think those of us who read these center-left Substack columns tend to be a bit isolated from the political world and that our reactions to political stimuli are not indicative of the larger whole of the body politic. This backlash transcended that notion. In some ways, it validated that the desire to fight for democracy goes beyond politics and that there is a more unified morality in play.
NBC crossed a line at a time when it was unclear there was one. It should instruct our messaging going forward. Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter this morning put this demarcation in a historical context by comparing it to the backlash to the “yellow journalism” of the 1890s. She marks the shifting tide of that era with the purchase of the New York Times by Adolf Ochs. She concludes: “In an era so much like our own, the national mood had changed.” Let’s hope that this incident will spur the same kind of era of objectivity in journalism. Or, at the very least, helps us to turn the tide in this election year.
MSNBC hiring Ronna6 McDaniel is the equivalent of Fox News hiring James Carvel whose only job would be to say, " That's bullshit" after every comment made. Now that I think about it, that would be perfect.
Later this morning, I retracted my statement about Carville. My sister told me to read the article by Maureen Dowd (whom I now also dislike) in Sunday's NY Times, and I tried to read it. I had to stop! I don't think he's right or smart about what's happening right now. We should be done talking about Biden's age! And talking about what he's done for our country.
Your last two lines are exactly what I heard Carville say the last time he was on with Ari Melber.
He certainly has a down home Louisiana way of communicating. Not sure about the preachy females comment - didn't hear the context - but he has often said something about Dems bringing out a hanky to counter the Repubs handguns. Definitely expresses that the left needs to toughen up.
After read yesterday's Maureen Dowd's column yesterday on Carville, I decided I no longer like him. He has become mean about Biden. I wonder, did he watch the State of the Union? It's likely he did not, or that this interview was done PRIOR to that, where Biden acquitted himself better than people 40 years younger than he would have! I'm also off Maureen Dowd now. It seems the NY Times has given bonuses to people on their staff who insult Biden on a regular basis.
I personally think Carville’s down-to-earth style and insights are bracing, even when I disagree with him or suspect that he’s pulling the interviewer’s leg. He offers insights that have escaped most ‘progressives’/liberals. And I think he’s funny in an off-beat way.
Many prominent so-called ‘progressives’ need to take themselves less seriously; if they’re genuinely interested in winning elections, rather than just preening, they need to realize that most voters are not college ‘educated’ and that many people with college credentials aren’t well-educated, either.
Democrats need to meet voters where they are; first, they (including me) need to find out where voters are, mentally and emotionally. I think Carville ‘meets’ many voters who I and most liberals/‘progressives don’t meet. He’s valuable.
We will have to agree to disagree, Michael. I see no value when, in this media environment, so many so-called journalists and pundits put down Biden AND the Democrats, while saying nothing about Trump, a criminal, narcissist, psychopath and a sick person mentally. The best candidate, the current President., is nothing like that. Yes, he is older, but by belaboring that or bringing up any other deliberately negative stuff about Biden while a good chunk of the country may not vote at all because of what people like Carville are saying, is irresponsible, I believe. To say Carville is valuable, to me, is wrong! He was brilliant when he worked to get Clinton elected; he is not any more. And I am sad to say that!
Carville is an ass. I've felt that about him for awhile but this cinched it:
"A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females. Don’t drink beer. Don’t watch football. Don’t eat hamburgers. This is not good for you - the message is too feminine," Carville said. "If you listen to Democratic elites — NPR is my go-to place for that — the whole talk is about how women, and women of color, are going to decide this election. I’m like: ‘Well, 48 percent of the people that vote are males. Do you mind if they have some consideration?"
Preachy females? Seriously? I'm done with him. STFU.
Dean, I totally forgot to mention that! Does he realize that for millennia women have been treated like chattel, and that the Supreme Court would like to treat them that way again. Women have fought and clawed their way up to where they are now listened to - some of the time. That remark makes me question Carville's intelligence at this point in HIS life. If it's not his intelligence, then it's his certain hatred for women, which I'm sure he'd argue with. He does seem to really love his wife!
Is there truth to some of that? Sure, but this is hardly the time to yap about it. He’s gone off on “wokeness” before, too. It's not helpful. The only way we beat Trump is with a cohesive coalition, and Carville isn't helping.
My sent comments to NBC Blumenstein and the other one:
Utterly outrageous that NBC hired RNC election denier Rona McDaniels for anything much less for her opinion. The attempted coup was the first in our election history. It was stunning. We watched it. She denied it and now says "Oh, well. I had to take one for the team," So lying is acceptable if you are paid to do it.
You now have a contract with her and you were fools to make that agreement. She is a paid liar. Tom Brokaw would be outraged. You should correct your heinous error and fire her and pay the price. We will not turn on NBC for anything. Period.
Carole Ferguson and Jim Conlin5 Day St, S Dartmouth
Robert, wonderfully written. It remains true that lots of women (and men) "care about having their reproductive liberty controlled by religious zealots, allowing weapons of war to be carried in public without a permit, rolling back climate protections after the hottest year on record, disenfranchising Black voters, denying equal dignity to LGBTQ people, or allowing Americans to choose their leaders."
I sent the following message to Ms Blumenstein and Ms Budoff.
Huntley, Brinkley, Chancellor, Cronkite, Murrow and every other TV journalist who ever graced the air in the service of informing the public and supporting democracy in the battle to eradicate fascism are surely rolling in their graves.
Sever all ties with Ronna McDaniel. She has no place “on the air” at NBC or any legitimate media outlet. She is an unethical liar and she may be subjected to criminal prosecution. She is a cancer that is poisoning the body politic and should be condemned, not rewarded and hired, for promoting the lies that the events of January 6, 2021 reflected “legitimate political discourse.”
McDaniel should not be trusted with any news platform that reaches persuadable voters—because we have no reason to believe that she will tell the truth going forward. Stop contributing to the unconscionable, immoral divisiveness that is undermining truth and justice in America.
SO fun! I just sent off an email to NBC and echoed what everyone else here is saying: that (1) this is not a game and (2) McDaniel would still be spewing lies and supporting MAGA if she hadn't basically been fired by Trump from the RNC. I also suggested they might spend time more profitably -- both bottom-line and democracy-holding -- by presenting analyses, discussion, what-have-you about the Trump Crime Family (Kushner et al. in particular) for which there are clear documented facts and Project 2025 which lays out very neatly how MAGA intends to transform American democracy into White Christian Nationalism. Thanks for providing the contact information.
I submitted the following remarks to the two NBC executives identified in Robert's post along with the suggestion to contact them:
I find it appalling that NBC would hire an individual who supported an attempted coup, to serve as alleged political analyst or expert whose opinion has any credibility or value.
No media outlet that values the truth, and does not want to be subjected to Donald Trump's retribution and the "Hungary-fication" of the U.S., should provide a platform to Ronna McDaniel.
This election is not one with two equally valid views of how best to pursue U.S. policy. It is one party doing that and the other party under the complete control of a narcissist who has pledged to engage in numerous anti-democratic actions. BTW, have you read Project 2025?
The page of quotes of Ronna McDaniel at BrainyQuote show what you get from her - no analysis or facts - just counter-factual assertions that are demonstrably false.
"The Republican Party is not the party for the wealthy."
"There is no fairness out there. There is no balance in the media."
"It's very unfortunate to see the amount of obstruction the Democrats have put forward...Even when they see their own constituents suffering because of their failing healthcare."
"It's very easy to unite a party around opposition or wanting to get the White House back. That's a unifying message, and you're seeing the Democrats uniting around being the party of 'no' and the party of 'resist.'"
"The future of the Republican Party is female right now." [Citing herself and KellyAnne Conway]
"...I firmly believe our policies and our principles and the way we govern is better for every American."
"Donald Trump is a champion of women."
"Donald Trump has added a whole different factor that we've never seen before, but the audience loves it. We've seen the energy around our state, so many crowds coming; it's good for democracy to have so many people engaged." [OMG!]
This is what you will get from Ronna McDaniel. It's worse than worthless, it is corrosive. Donald Trump attempted a coup and what he is planning for the U.S. if re-elected is horrific. Ronna McDaniel stands with him. DO NOT NORMALIZE THE INSURRECTION.
Ronna McDaniel lied before she joined NBC and smeared NBC’s journalists for telling the truth.
Keeping her from having any formal or informal role at NBC is is imperative.
Great! I suspect though that those at the top are not stupid. They knew exactly what the were doing and are prepared to simply sit this wave of rightful disgust out.
It therefore might be helpful if those mails directed at the top executives are cc'd to all the known hosts and journalists at NBC and MSNBC. If Chuck Todd's statements on yesterday's Meet the Press is any indication there is a huge amount of unease and criticism among the journalists with regard to the decisions made by the bean counters at the top. They need our support.
It might be more effective to cc their bosses or the board of directors at the parent company. NBC Universal is a subsidiary of Comcast. This wiki artice has a list of executives and board members:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast
Cesar Conde, Chairman, NBCUniversal News Group appears to be Rebecca Blumenstein's boss.
Thank you for providing this important information.
Many of us also cc the editors already. This list is very helpful. I think that cc-ing the other hosts, other opinion writers and so forth is also another good suggestion (above) which the dynamic as described by Mr. Hubbell certainly made me think of. Surely reinforcing concerns other employees have for the reputation of their employer is a way to continue applying incremental pressure just a small way out from the fulcrum.
Great, Cheryl. I will follow up on that.
Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough already said this morning on MSNBC's Morning Joe that she would "never appear on this show."
I hadn't even heard those things McDaniel said, and I wrote in anyway. What a hypocrite! The future of the Republican Party is women??? After that Republican woman gave the response to the State of the Union, and tried to take womanhood back to the 50s? Or worse? I don't think so!
After the Republican Party led to the end of Roe? After Trump said women who get an abortion should go to jail? After Trump said he can grab women by the P? Add those to your list!
Yes! That list is getting longer, Harvey!
Fantastic! I too wrote sharp letters to the NBC executives questioning their strategy for this appalling hire. But you took it to new heights and for that thank you. And good work Robert for giving us those names. My guess is they are facing significant backlash. 💙🇺🇸
Susan O made it easy! I even used some of her words and proud to say, sent them all my thoughts!!
I’ve been wanting to say something here for a while. First of all, I’m NOT complacent! But I feel in my heart of all hearts that we will win this election AND not even being that *close*!! There are just tooooo many of us out here that know right from wrong, that have a conscience, that do believe in this great experiment called democracy and will vote accordingly!
It will only be close because of the EC and 3rd party vote bandits. Biden will win by 10 million votes but it will come down to 50,000 voters across 5 or 6 states. It's tragic.
Inspired by you and others to write my own emails:
Dear Ms. Blumenstein,
As regular—former--viewers of the NBC nightly news with Lester Holt, we want to communicate our extreme distress over your decision to contract with Ronna McDaniel as a commentator on your network.
We understand that Ms. McDaniel will not be appearing on MSNBC but to have her as ANY sort of presence on a major news source such as NBC is UNACCEPTABLE!
Ms. McDaniel engaged actively in an effort to discredit and overturn the result of the 2020 election, a blatantly unconstitutional and illegal act. If this is viewed by you and other decision makers at NBC as “just hardball politics,” shame on you. Our democracy is at stakes and your viewers deserve to be confronted by facts, not by eyeball catching mistruths.
Maybe if Ted Bundy were still alive you would be contracting with him to provide commentary on our Nation’s crime problem?
Undo your decision. In the meantime we will not be watching Lester.
Sincerely,
Mark Secord
Nordland, WA
Brilliant Mark!
Wow. Thank you!
The right response to this insult to the integrity of journalism (or what’s left of it), would be for a majority of NBC journalists to declare their willingness to resign if the decision isn’t fully reversed. The situation isn’t all that different morally from if a known traiter was promoted to leadership in the military. The true valor and morality of an individual is whether you are willing to give up your job rather than work for an organization which spurns the values you purport to hold dear.
Such an excellent letter! Ty!
My email to them was very short. I like the fact that you threw her lies back in their faces. I was not as polite as you were.
Politeness often works to the advantage of the anti-social. Be impolite all you want.
Good for you
Really well done.
Here are my comments to Ms. Blumenstein:
I used to watch MSNB and NBC. No more. You should be asking of yourself as head of an organization that should be proud of itself how you just lost our confidence and interest. You destroyed your own reputation and your first company (as CEO) in just over a year. You hired a known “insurrectionist” supporter and election denier. Shame shame shame on you.
Then you said: we’ll "see what happen’s”, right out of Trumps dictionary. Well, Rona McDaniels does not deserve this chance. Nor are we interested to “see what happens”. She has already proven who she is, you should believe her.
She lied before she joined NBC and smeared NBC’s journalists for telling the truth. She participated in at least one act designed to overturn the election. She should not be trusted with any news platform that reaches persuadable voters—because we have no reason to believe that she will tell the truth going forward. If you can, just think about your employees that were and are maligned, now have having to work with her.
As a former CEO, I know that what I do becomes part of the culture of my firm. Maybe you haven’t learned that tough lesson yet, Ms. Blumenstein. I’m here to mentor you any time. If you remember your Econometrics, you can calculate the time it takes for services to collapse when they have lost the trust of their clients and public.
I hope you can understand my outrage and sadness
Bruce N Klassen
One of the best decisions I ever made was to start reading your newsletter, Robert. I wrote Rebecca Blumenstein this morning and feel much better! I am so weary of most corporations and the blind loyalty they demand of their employees and their treachery to whistleblowers. Groupthink was not the blueprint of the Founding Fathers and Mothers, nor should it be ours.
Amen! I, too, find that joining Robert’s blog was helpful to be in touch with sanity and most importantly information that has enabled me to take action rather than standing on the sidelines since 2016 wringing my hands. Rock on, Robert & Jill.
Just emailed to Ms. Budoff and Ms. Blumenstein:
Dear NBC Executives,
Just 3 quick points:
1. Your suggestion that hiring Ronna McDaniel at NBC would "help examine diverse perspectives of American voters" is akin to hiring Charles Manson for his views on population control.
2. Odds are great that any increased viewership experienced will be wiped out by the departing viewers racing for the door.
3. Don't spend that bonus until it hits your account.
Sincerely,
Emily Kirk
I roared when I read your Charles Manson comparison.
Love it!
Nice humor.....but does this mean you've turned off MSNBC permanently, forever?
Awesome call-out, Emily!
Letter to President of NBC today:
Ms. Blumenstein-
Your lack of ethical judgement in hiring a known liar, election obstructor and coup supporter is shockingly damaging to NBC's reputation. For you not to see that providing a platform for corruption and misinformation smears all of your reporters, commentators and employees at NBC is journalistic malpractice.
You've proved that NBC is no longer a reliable source of news. We can't believe anything aired on NBC; you've become exactly like FOX News - the only difference is you haven't yet had to pay out 3/4 of a billion dollars for the lies.
Reputations are hard-won and easily destroyed; your failure to understand the stakes in this unique election are evidence that you don't understand or care about the threat to our 235 year old constitutional democracy. Until Ronna McDaniel is completely rejected by NBC, we will not watch your programming, and will reach out to your advertisers to urge that they drop NBC.
Your cowardly inclusion of dishonest insurrectionists on your platform is a major low point for a once-honorable news organization. Huntley, Brinkley, Chancellor, Brokaw etc. must be ashamed; you should be, too.
yours-
Possibly it would clarify things if the folks at NBC were told that hiring McDaniel is the equivalent of putting Joseph Goebbels on staff in the 30s.
Dave, I hope you wrote and told them that. I just wrote letters to Ms Blumenstein and Ms Budoff with a similar message, except that I said that giving McDaniel a platform is different only in degree but not in kind from doing the same for Steve Bannon and Alex Jones. And this time, I sent a version of the letter to my local paper, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
I am glad that she has been pulled from MSNBC, but there's a way in which this is worse. It positions telling the truth as a "left-wing" thing to do. Liars are put on their "mainstream" network, but not their left-leaning one. We need to keep fighting this one. To be honest, I think Ms Budoff should lose her job over this, but as long as Ronna Don't-Call-Me-Romney McDaniel goes, I will be satisfied.
And finally - it completely discredits NBC's senior management's integrity and thinking processes.
Remember, its always about the $$....always
You are right, Terry, and it is also about the reputation and credibility that leads to money. Your comment, which is one of my wife's most repeated observations, is worth unpacking. As the good work that so many on Today's Edition and other groups did shows, the pundit class does listen....to one another, to their bosses, to their advertisers, and to the winds of change and disgust with Trump that are flowing across the country. And they don't like looking stupid. So we make them hurt by showing that their decision to hire McDaniel is stupid and dangerous and we follow up by continuing to monitor what they are doing. Democracy dies in darkness, but it also dies when people say only the rich have any influence.
So don't you think NBC is simply attempting to do what Fox did/is doing?
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-09-29/how-jessica-tarlov-became-the-most-progressive-voice-on-fox-news
As I understand the Jessica Tarlov situation, Terry, she has not changed her spots: she continues to speak out as a liberal voice. That may make her a token, but McDaniel is trying to rewrite her past and the past of the Republican party by saying, in effect, "that was just my job," and literally, "I had to take one for the team," even though that "team" was spreading lies. This is perilously close to "I was only following order" and therefore you can't blame me for fomenting an insurrection slandering all the folks who are not my esteemed news colleagues of MSNBC and doing my best to further the ambitions and lies of a man I now know to be a threat to democracy. Would I think it a better call if NBC/MSNBC hired McDaniel as a Maga voice? NO? But it would at least it would be, for her, a more intellectually honest position. (Thanks for sharing the Tarlov story. I'm not up on the goings on at FOX. I suppose I should pay more attention.)
If so, they should have chosen a better spokesperson - not someone whohelped legitimize the "Big Lie" and participated in a coup attempt!
I know I have seen Michael Steele on MSNBC. He is also a former chair of the RNC.
And CNN...
Exactly right, Ellen. Putting McDaniel on the network means the truth doesn’t matter except to all the lefties that watch MSNBC. Corporate amorality at its worst. Gads! And they call themselves a news corp. bull.
Thanks also for sending your letter to the Strib. Hopefully, they will publish it!
You think Lefties watch MSNBC? Maybe Center Lefties LOL
I did.
Actually its more like Fox hiring ....and now featuring....Jessica Tarlov.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2022-09-29/how-jessica-tarlov-became-the-most-progressive-voice-on-fox-news
Jessica's been there for a long time, and was one of the few reasons to watch occasionally. I'm not aware of her ever supporting a fascist dictator wannabe.
Isn't the fact that she's the contra person in the room the real issue?
Hi, Terry. Good point that Fox added a liberal voice to The Five. But I don't really think people are objecting to McDaniel's conservative political views as much as her support / endorsement of the coup attempt. I don' think Jessica Tarlov has been involved in any questionable activities.
I didn't say they were good at it. I just think some bright boy executive came up with the idea to broaden their audience...make more $$. These people are numbers people and can't really think it through as they should. Remember Chris Licht at CNN? Another bright boy who thought a Trump Town Hall was worth a try. These people are bright but wrong headed. PS, I still don't like the idea of making McDaniel some kind of right wing martyr.
Does anyone know what happened to bright boy Chris Licht?
A quick search suggests that he is "at liberty" to use the industry term.
They've had a liberal on the Five for years and years. It's always 4 on 1...the kind of bullying that Republicans thrive on.
Thanks Robert.
No, McDaniel’s being the “contra” person is *not* the *real* issue. In my opinion, the real issue is that she’s been a *liar*.
Being “contra” responsibly does not include lying.
So you're saying this effort was flawed?
With odds of 4 to 1! That's how Republicans roll...
It's not really like that.
Tarlov is a token but she's a force.
But I doubt she is changing any minds over there. We cheer for her though.
So if Ronna Romney unleashed her rhetoric do you think it would be truthful like Tarlov? Would you agree with her? With her "legitimate political discourse"?
Yes!!!
How'd that turn out?
This is how it begins. Timothy Snyder noted today that many times Authoritarians are handed power, they don't have to take it.
Add cowardly USA abstention in UN ceasefire vote today.
Boy I needed this this morning. It was all I could do to not smash TV sets upon hearing of Rona MsCoupdeJure McDanniel was hired by NBC. Thanks for those email addresses. Fired off two as incendiary as I could make them emails. Who the actual F do these NBC “news” executives think they are? Still furious. Maybe I’ll write again. Grrrrr
I will be writing the NBC executives as well and thank the reader who provided addresses:
At the most basic level, I have no trust in a news organization that knowingly hires a new employee who lied over many months, helped finance the spreading of that lie, and threw innocent people (e.g., elections workers, journalists) in harm's way in the process.
A NEWS organization? How absurd. Why would anyone believe any broadcaster on NBC now? Is it up to viewers to research your employees’ qualifications and background before we know whether to trust that they are not lying?
Just an absurdly, offensive, bad decision that has put NBC in the same category as FOX.
At your suggestion, here's what I wrote to NBC:
I am horrified that you have hired her. While she didn't personally participate in the insurrection -- in which several people died and the transfer of power to Joe Biden was at grave risk -- she was a major supporter and apologist. Her excuse that she was just "taking one for the team" rings hollow. She was not some low-level employer who risked being fired and then not being able to pay the rent if she failed to support Trump, she was the leader of the RNC.
I grew up in the era of Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and John Chancellor -- people who covered the news with honesty, integrity and dignity. My has NBC fallen!
I've lost all respect for your network.
The backlash to the McDaniel hiring is instructive in terms of messaging. Sometimes, I think those of us who read these center-left Substack columns tend to be a bit isolated from the political world and that our reactions to political stimuli are not indicative of the larger whole of the body politic. This backlash transcended that notion. In some ways, it validated that the desire to fight for democracy goes beyond politics and that there is a more unified morality in play.
NBC crossed a line at a time when it was unclear there was one. It should instruct our messaging going forward. Heather Cox Richardson’s newsletter this morning put this demarcation in a historical context by comparing it to the backlash to the “yellow journalism” of the 1890s. She marks the shifting tide of that era with the purchase of the New York Times by Adolf Ochs. She concludes: “In an era so much like our own, the national mood had changed.” Let’s hope that this incident will spur the same kind of era of objectivity in journalism. Or, at the very least, helps us to turn the tide in this election year.
To Ms. Blumenstein and Ms. Budoff: Ronna McDaniel hire = NBC News credibility undone.
The network of Chuck Todd. enough said.
MSNBC hiring Ronna6 McDaniel is the equivalent of Fox News hiring James Carvel whose only job would be to say, " That's bullshit" after every comment made. Now that I think about it, that would be perfect.
Posting late at night produced typos. "Ronna" and "Carville".
But, the points the same..Why?
That's ok, Bob. Carvel brought to mind our favorite soft serve ice cream place that we had growing up in NJ. Thanks for the memories.
Carville expresses down-to-earth, common-sense ideas that Democrats should heed.
Later this morning, I retracted my statement about Carville. My sister told me to read the article by Maureen Dowd (whom I now also dislike) in Sunday's NY Times, and I tried to read it. I had to stop! I don't think he's right or smart about what's happening right now. We should be done talking about Biden's age! And talking about what he's done for our country.
Your last two lines are exactly what I heard Carville say the last time he was on with Ari Melber.
He certainly has a down home Louisiana way of communicating. Not sure about the preachy females comment - didn't hear the context - but he has often said something about Dems bringing out a hanky to counter the Repubs handguns. Definitely expresses that the left needs to toughen up.
I've seen him talk out of the other side of his mouth now. So I don't trust him. There are plenty of people I do trust. Just not him.
After read yesterday's Maureen Dowd's column yesterday on Carville, I decided I no longer like him. He has become mean about Biden. I wonder, did he watch the State of the Union? It's likely he did not, or that this interview was done PRIOR to that, where Biden acquitted himself better than people 40 years younger than he would have! I'm also off Maureen Dowd now. It seems the NY Times has given bonuses to people on their staff who insult Biden on a regular basis.
Thanks for your Comment, Kathleen.
I personally think Carville’s down-to-earth style and insights are bracing, even when I disagree with him or suspect that he’s pulling the interviewer’s leg. He offers insights that have escaped most ‘progressives’/liberals. And I think he’s funny in an off-beat way.
Many prominent so-called ‘progressives’ need to take themselves less seriously; if they’re genuinely interested in winning elections, rather than just preening, they need to realize that most voters are not college ‘educated’ and that many people with college credentials aren’t well-educated, either.
Democrats need to meet voters where they are; first, they (including me) need to find out where voters are, mentally and emotionally. I think Carville ‘meets’ many voters who I and most liberals/‘progressives don’t meet. He’s valuable.
We will have to agree to disagree, Michael. I see no value when, in this media environment, so many so-called journalists and pundits put down Biden AND the Democrats, while saying nothing about Trump, a criminal, narcissist, psychopath and a sick person mentally. The best candidate, the current President., is nothing like that. Yes, he is older, but by belaboring that or bringing up any other deliberately negative stuff about Biden while a good chunk of the country may not vote at all because of what people like Carville are saying, is irresponsible, I believe. To say Carville is valuable, to me, is wrong! He was brilliant when he worked to get Clinton elected; he is not any more. And I am sad to say that!
Carville is an ass. I've felt that about him for awhile but this cinched it:
"A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females. Don’t drink beer. Don’t watch football. Don’t eat hamburgers. This is not good for you - the message is too feminine," Carville said. "If you listen to Democratic elites — NPR is my go-to place for that — the whole talk is about how women, and women of color, are going to decide this election. I’m like: ‘Well, 48 percent of the people that vote are males. Do you mind if they have some consideration?"
Preachy females? Seriously? I'm done with him. STFU.
Dean, I totally forgot to mention that! Does he realize that for millennia women have been treated like chattel, and that the Supreme Court would like to treat them that way again. Women have fought and clawed their way up to where they are now listened to - some of the time. That remark makes me question Carville's intelligence at this point in HIS life. If it's not his intelligence, then it's his certain hatred for women, which I'm sure he'd argue with. He does seem to really love his wife!
Well, there are too many preachy males, also.
In my opinion, there are too many prominent preachy, censorious Democrats of all genders; they alienate many people and hurt the cause.
Is there truth to some of that? Sure, but this is hardly the time to yap about it. He’s gone off on “wokeness” before, too. It's not helpful. The only way we beat Trump is with a cohesive coalition, and Carville isn't helping.
My sent comments to NBC Blumenstein and the other one:
Utterly outrageous that NBC hired RNC election denier Rona McDaniels for anything much less for her opinion. The attempted coup was the first in our election history. It was stunning. We watched it. She denied it and now says "Oh, well. I had to take one for the team," So lying is acceptable if you are paid to do it.
You now have a contract with her and you were fools to make that agreement. She is a paid liar. Tom Brokaw would be outraged. You should correct your heinous error and fire her and pay the price. We will not turn on NBC for anything. Period.
Carole Ferguson and Jim Conlin5 Day St, S Dartmouth
Nice! I do love a good take-down ...
Robert, wonderfully written. It remains true that lots of women (and men) "care about having their reproductive liberty controlled by religious zealots, allowing weapons of war to be carried in public without a permit, rolling back climate protections after the hottest year on record, disenfranchising Black voters, denying equal dignity to LGBTQ people, or allowing Americans to choose their leaders."
I sent the following message to Ms Blumenstein and Ms Budoff.
Huntley, Brinkley, Chancellor, Cronkite, Murrow and every other TV journalist who ever graced the air in the service of informing the public and supporting democracy in the battle to eradicate fascism are surely rolling in their graves.
Sever all ties with Ronna McDaniel. She has no place “on the air” at NBC or any legitimate media outlet. She is an unethical liar and she may be subjected to criminal prosecution. She is a cancer that is poisoning the body politic and should be condemned, not rewarded and hired, for promoting the lies that the events of January 6, 2021 reflected “legitimate political discourse.”
McDaniel should not be trusted with any news platform that reaches persuadable voters—because we have no reason to believe that she will tell the truth going forward. Stop contributing to the unconscionable, immoral divisiveness that is undermining truth and justice in America.
———
Thank you Robert!
SO fun! I just sent off an email to NBC and echoed what everyone else here is saying: that (1) this is not a game and (2) McDaniel would still be spewing lies and supporting MAGA if she hadn't basically been fired by Trump from the RNC. I also suggested they might spend time more profitably -- both bottom-line and democracy-holding -- by presenting analyses, discussion, what-have-you about the Trump Crime Family (Kushner et al. in particular) for which there are clear documented facts and Project 2025 which lays out very neatly how MAGA intends to transform American democracy into White Christian Nationalism. Thanks for providing the contact information.