Crisis at NBC News
Soon, every detail around what happened inside the executive suites at NBC/MSNBC around the hiring, backlash and disappearance of Ronna McDaniel from MSNBC before she could tell her first lie, will be known.
The scramble to be seen as the most defiant and impactful resistor against the incandescent cynicism of Rebecca Blumenstein, Carrie Budoff Brown and Rashida Jones will play out across Manhattan and DC newsrooms. Agents, anchors and reporters will work their iPhones, texting and spinning their version of the moment they found out credibility didn’t matter to the executives.
As a consultant, I have advised some of the world’s most prominent CEOs, athletes, political leaders, corporations and individuals during some of the very biggest front page crisis stories of the last generation. I laughed out loud when I read this New Yorker profile a while back called “Get me Risa Heller!” about the latest pretender pretending to be a real-life Kerry Washington from ‘Scandal.’ Apparently her specialty was “dick pics” and affairs, which was manageable — until she found her way into advising Ivy League universities and their presidents about answering questions before a congressional committee about anti-semitism. The rest, as they say, is history.
I’m mentioning this because the real firms and real people who get called when stupidity breaks its chains don’t announce their clients, and don’t celebrate their victories. These folks, including me, deal with real crises, and give advice when careers are on the line, reputations at stake, and corporate brands on fire. This situation is above the capacities of New York’s PR industry and LA’s publicists. It will be tremendously interesting watching the recriminations play out publicly in a story that will shine a spotlight on how far away the management of broadcast networks have drifted from the most basic concepts of journalistic integrity.
The three most frequent pieces of advice I have given over the course of my crisis management career are as follows:
Most people drown because they panic — not because they can’t swim. Breathe.
If you are going to cave — and you are — cave early. It is much less painful that way.
Your crisis is no one else’s emergency.
With few exceptions, in any given situation, all three apply, but in the case of the NBC/MSNBC debacle, let’s start by focusing on Rashida Jones and the first mover away from the disaster.
This makes sense. Jones is the longest-tenured NBC/MSNBC executive among the trio of decision makers involved in the debacle, rising through the ranks to the MSNBC captain’s chair. Rebecca Blumenstein arrived from the world’s largest word puzzle company, The New York Times, just over a year ago. Carrie Budoff Brown, who announced the hiring of the MAGA fascist with some of the most infamous and famous words in the history of NBC News — “It couldn’t be a more important moment to have a voice like Ronna’s on the team” — joined from Politico in 2021.
Jones would have the best intuitive feel for the rhythms of the company and its history. She knows the magnitude of the disaster at hand, the intensity of the rebellion, and maybe something about grizzly bears. Everyone in bear country knows that you can’t outrun the bear. However, there is an exception to the rule of never running from the bear. If you are in a group, all you have to do is outrun the slowest member. I’ll apply it in this case. Jones doesn’t have to outrun the bear; she just has to outrun Blumenstein and Brown, both of whom must be aghast as they watch her proverbial parachute float away from the burning plane they are both still on.
Jones has done something remarkable at MSNBC that would have seemed impossible just a week ago. She has elevated the ethics of the opinion appendage — MSNBC — above the standards of NBC News in a lightning move.
NBC is the upper house at 30 Rock. It is the House of Lords to the House of Commons, the US Senate to the US House, prime beef to ground chuck, and the “Crown Jewels” of the whole enterprise. The equivalent of the British monarch’s Empress of India diamond in the middle of the crown are the “Today Show” and “Meet The Press.” The stewardship of the brand and the responsibility for those shows was something that was taken with the utmost seriousness and highest purpose by everyone with whom I ever associated at any of those shows. Integrity wasn’t just expected, it was demanded. Here’s why:
There comes a moment when something terrible is going to happen. It will shock our conscience and hearts. Perhaps it will terrify us, and maybe people will lie about the matter to seek advantage in a way that could hurt all of us. Maybe, just maybe, there will be an hour of grave danger during which a terrible menace bears down on democracy. Imagine a lawless president who tries to intimidate the media, or shut down a broadcast network. That could never ever happen in America, right? It is as crazy as a president triggering an insurrection, or inciting violence, or calling for a campaign of revenge. Nothing like that could ever happen because in the United States the news would tell us, right?
Clearly, directly and unsparingly, right?
Lester Holt matters in America, and so does Savannah Guthrie, because they have over many long years established the credibility necessary to lead global news coverage from a desk in New York City to tell the American people what is happening upon the occasion of the darkest hours. It is a great responsibility and a profound public trust. This is why the vapid, dishonest disgrace that dared say the following on Meet the Press as an NBC News employee, responding to why she stayed silent and indifferent as the chairwoman of the third oldest political party in the world when Trump promised to release scores of violent felons who staged a coup should never appear on television with a serious NBC journalist as a colleague who, according to Carrie Budoff Brown, is now “on the team.”
When you are the RNC chair, sometimes you have to take one for the whole team, right?
Yet, the mix of stupidity, cynicism and incompetence that led to the hiring, and Jones’ ability and agility to scramble away from it has left NBC News holding a giant steaming pile of, well…
Heads will roll, as they say.
I don’t think Ronna McDaniel is going to be seen again on NBC News’ air. She can’t be because, if she is, the world will be truly turned upside down at 30 Rock.
In case you missed today’s episode of “Meet the Press” featuring Ronna McDaniel, I will be sharing my reaction to it later today.
Ronna ROMNEY McDaniel should never appear in front of a camera ANYWHERE, ever again. She is a traitor, but somehow doesn't seem to understand that. She needs to read Rick Wilson's book, "Everything Trump Touches Dies," including her.
In this tumble and thunder, all should be reminded that this, THIS issue precludes all others. The integrity of the media is the integrity of America. It is the arrow in the quiver that can bring down the beast. Sincere thanks and respect to Steve, whose most brave efforts reflect his archer's aim.