The journalism disgrace at NBC/MSNBC is historic. Do not doubt that. The hiring of a fascist, Ronna McDaniel, who is an election denier and serial liar who conspired to overthrow democracy in America is as cynical and corrupt as it gets. Here is an excerpt from a speech by Edward R. Murrow to the Radio-Television News Directors Association Convention, delivered in 1958:
They are certainly not heading the wisdom of Murrow...I would be surprised if the morons who made this decision even know who he was..As you pointed out in your earlier piece, the current anchors at NBC/MSNBC now must show us who they are..Or as you might put it.."who's side they are on"..
"I would be surprised if the morons who made this decision even know who he was."
Agreed, and the most charitable read of this is sheer cluelessness. It's doubtful Ronna was hired as a punching bag, yet I can't imagine any of the current MSNBC anchors engage Ronna in conversation with a straight face. I anxiously await the next salvo, but this looks bad. Really bad.
Maybe. But there's been a lot of pushback about that crap-decision. And I don't see them parting ways with Rachel Maddow, aka she who has the power and guts to push back from the inside.
It’s quite a shit storm on the Internet. I don’t do X but threads. Oh my Lord I just wish anybody at MSNBC would say something. Particularly Rachel, Nicole, and Lawrence.
As noted above, it would take some kind of tone-deafness and blindness to sever ties with Rachel. Which raises an interesting (possibly rhetorical) question: To what extent (if any) were anchors consulted or at least informed about this before the feces hit the fan?
Well, when her contract was up there was talk about her leaving and i guess they agreed to the one night a week and the election coverage. I would bet money non of them were consulted. I can't imagine any of them, Mike, Joe, Nichole, Lawrence and Rachel - i don't know the others well enough - would have ever agreed (not that i know any of them!)
Thank you Steve. The failure of today’s MSM is a sad chapter on how little those who run the media care about the democratic future of our nation. History will not be kind.
Thank you. I've written to NBC, and to Lawrence O'Donnell. The first to castigate them for their decision. And to Lawrence to ask what he thought of McDaniel's hiring. I am going to watch his show on Monday and see what, if anything, he has to say about this situation. I hope he has the courage to give an honest opinion of the network management: I don't believe he approves. I'll also be interested in what Rachel Maddow has to say. And Chris Hayes. Those are the only ones I will continue to watch: the rest of the talking heads don't warrant my time. I look forward to having more free time for other pursuits: NBC won't be taking up as much of my time. And I'll be saving on electricity.
And yet the very same network (though I don’t know if it is the same network heads) fired Keith Olbermann for speaking of how Fox News and Sarah Palin were “amplifying violence” in his reporting of the Jared Loughner shooting of Gabby Giffords. Unbelievable!
Can you imagine an act more cruel than separating a child from his/her mother? This was a Trump policy justified by "this emotional torture will teach these people to come to our country illegally."
Can you imagine an act more destructive than sexual assault and then defaming the victim?
Can you imagine an act more damaging to national patriotism than insulting military heroes who have given their lives and limbs to support their country?
This amoral brutality is a hallmark of Trump World. Giving legitimacy, deference and respect to Trump and his allies is active promotion of cruelty and brutality and fraud.
The Roy Cohn/Roger Stone/Steve Bannon "win at all costs" strategy is AMORAL. It isn't immoral. To be "evil" one has to have an appreciation for good and bad, right and wrong. The amoral MAGAs are worse than evil. They don't care about right and wrong.
Like the disinterest of the bloodsucking tick or vampire, MAGAs and their apologists, like Ronna, don't give one shit about good faith. They will lie, cheat, deceive without scruple. That's why giving a bad-faith-actor a media platform promotes fascism. Free speech only works when the speaker isn't spreading fraud. Words are more powerful than violence. (Dante's 8th Circle of Hell is reserved for Frauds like Donald.)
NBC, you want to give "both sides" a voice? Like right and wrong? Like honesty and lies? Like truth and fraud? If you allow Ronna to tell lies and not run a chyron under her face that says "THIS IS A LIE" then you are complicit in spreading the lies.
How can we contact the idiot Board chair, CEO, and COO of NBC and MSNBC to send letters or texts about what a travesty this is and how it harms any credibility those networks have had?
My note will highlight their indirect approval for the demise of the United States of America and therefore their complicity in gutting the First Amendment. Freedom of the Press is under attack by Ronna McDaniel and the other dishonorable Trump lovers. Inviting her to help destroy America is, therefore, Comcast corporate suicide.
The next series of emails will go to the managers of the hedge funds and mutual funds that own big chunks of Comcast. As shown on their latest Proxy Statement.
Stunningly disgraceful to hire this moral-less, election liar and denier, who has been undermining our very Democracy's fundamentals by her fascistic and repugnant behavior as RNC chair. In her years as Chairman, she assaulted and damaged our society with her barrage of relentless cruelty and viciousness, her ceaseless lying as the "chaos agent" (Steve's wording) for Trump's authoritarian cult. She is supremely unfit to be anywhere near the hallowed hallways of NBC, where integrity and journalistic ethics are the sacred "North Star", not her firehose brand of B.S and disinformation. This hire wreaks and smells with a stench of epic proportion.
This is a slap in the face to the principled and honorable republicans at MSNBC like Chairman Steele, Nicole Wallace, and Joe Scarborough. It disrespects us viewers, who have counted on MSNBC for seeing people of honor, character and integrity. It disrespects Rachel Meadows, Richard Engel, and all of the other fine journalists who seek to be truthful and honorable at all times (things that Ronna gladly gave away in servitude to Trump world).
Management has disgraced their brand.
Shame on you, NBC News president Rebecca Blumenstein, NBC News chairman Cesar Conde and MSNBC president Rashida Jones for soiling your Networks' legacy of journalistic truth, integrity and character (none of these qualities Ms McDaniel processes). Shame on you..................
I would think NBC/MSNBC could learn from CNN after allowing Trump the opportunity to spew his vile, hatred and bigoted lies on a sponsored and televised town hall.
I stopped watching CNN forever. Not that I was ever much of a viewer of them. Mostly during commercials on MSNBC. Now I record and skip through commercials to watch MSNBC.
My viewing will go the same way as CNN if Ms. Romney appears on MSNBC. It might be time to pull myself away from all the insanity laid down by Trump and his minions. I am positive Ms. Romney will be as honest as SmellyAnn Conherway(Kelly Ann Conway). Normally I give a person the benefit of a doubt before condemning them but she has already demonstrated by her actions, associations and comments, her true nature.
Stop watching all of those twisted TV news channels and their talking heads. Start watching the Midas Touch Network on YouTube! Start learning the truth!!
If you want to watch 15-20 minutes of fluff to get to their 3-4 minutes of decent information, go ahead. I stopped watching after suffering through a dozen, bloated, over hyped, non-informative talk postings.
The book on the Murrow Boys was very good. It all comes down to capitalism influencing truth versus dictatorships defining truth. It is a heavy slog to spread truth when money and or madness is has more capital. Can the media and writers counter with good values, ethics and skill? I hope it swings back to ethical journalism and willing readers. Evolution and the survival of the fittest…
NBC's hiring Ronna McDaniel is vile.
Vile because it shreds what little credibility that remains with corporate news.
Vile because it eliminates the already weak pretense of delivering facts without bias.
Vile because it announces to the world what we already suspected but strenuously hoped wasn't true:
These beancounters don't give a tinker's damn about what they tell us, as long as we're listening (and watching) them tell us.
What's next? Hannity doing guest spots on the Today show?
Or maybe Laura Ingraham can muscle in on Hoda and Jenna a few times a week?
It's bad folks....
Real bad.
Sure as hell is!!!
That really sticks in my craw.
The talent at MSNBC should be raising pure Hell about this. It makes them all look like a bad joke.
I’m not convinced about msnbc.
They are certainly not heading the wisdom of Murrow...I would be surprised if the morons who made this decision even know who he was..As you pointed out in your earlier piece, the current anchors at NBC/MSNBC now must show us who they are..Or as you might put it.."who's side they are on"..
"I would be surprised if the morons who made this decision even know who he was."
Agreed, and the most charitable read of this is sheer cluelessness. It's doubtful Ronna was hired as a punching bag, yet I can't imagine any of the current MSNBC anchors engage Ronna in conversation with a straight face. I anxiously await the next salvo, but this looks bad. Really bad.
"Really bad." Indeed Gar, take a look as The Hartman Report, also on Substack from this morning speaking of really bad..
In Hartmann I trust...
If they do, they'll go the way of Mehdi Hasan . . .
Maybe. But there's been a lot of pushback about that crap-decision. And I don't see them parting ways with Rachel Maddow, aka she who has the power and guts to push back from the inside.
Insert Boxing metaphor..”The tail of the tape” is upon us..
It’s quite a shit storm on the Internet. I don’t do X but threads. Oh my Lord I just wish anybody at MSNBC would say something. Particularly Rachel, Nicole, and Lawrence.
Hoping that Rachel will address this on Monday.
Ali Velshi is fearless and speaks truth to nitwittery.
Yes I forgot about him - i hope to hell he says something - they can't fire them all - they are going to lose so many viewers
Yes, they need to lose lots of viewers NOW. Monday should be an interesting but I will not be watching,
I do hope they lose a ton of viewers — they need punishment.
Love Nitwittery
It's a shitstorm on X too believe me!!
The shitstorm is the point on Xitter.
At times it can but I still fight for Democracy. I try to educate best I can but if the Magas get really nasty I have to block them.
Don't count on it. They will remember Mehdi Hasan.
Good point. Still pisses me off
As noted above, it would take some kind of tone-deafness and blindness to sever ties with Rachel. Which raises an interesting (possibly rhetorical) question: To what extent (if any) were anchors consulted or at least informed about this before the feces hit the fan?
Well, when her contract was up there was talk about her leaving and i guess they agreed to the one night a week and the election coverage. I would bet money non of them were consulted. I can't imagine any of them, Mike, Joe, Nichole, Lawrence and Rachel - i don't know the others well enough - would have ever agreed (not that i know any of them!)
Thank you Steve. The failure of today’s MSM is a sad chapter on how little those who run the media care about the democratic future of our nation. History will not be kind.
They care about 🤑🤑🤑
Amen Charlie!!
Thank you. I've written to NBC, and to Lawrence O'Donnell. The first to castigate them for their decision. And to Lawrence to ask what he thought of McDaniel's hiring. I am going to watch his show on Monday and see what, if anything, he has to say about this situation. I hope he has the courage to give an honest opinion of the network management: I don't believe he approves. I'll also be interested in what Rachel Maddow has to say. And Chris Hayes. Those are the only ones I will continue to watch: the rest of the talking heads don't warrant my time. I look forward to having more free time for other pursuits: NBC won't be taking up as much of my time. And I'll be saving on electricity.
Great, the Starter Gun!
And yet the very same network (though I don’t know if it is the same network heads) fired Keith Olbermann for speaking of how Fox News and Sarah Palin were “amplifying violence” in his reporting of the Jared Loughner shooting of Gabby Giffords. Unbelievable!
And Mehdi Hasan, one of the best they ever had. I'd give up Ayman, Velshi, Alex, Stephanie, and Symone first.
When Mehdi left I thought, "Uh-oh. I wonder what's next?"
Now we know.
Can you imagine an act more cruel than separating a child from his/her mother? This was a Trump policy justified by "this emotional torture will teach these people to come to our country illegally."
Can you imagine an act more destructive than sexual assault and then defaming the victim?
Can you imagine an act more damaging to national patriotism than insulting military heroes who have given their lives and limbs to support their country?
This amoral brutality is a hallmark of Trump World. Giving legitimacy, deference and respect to Trump and his allies is active promotion of cruelty and brutality and fraud.
The Roy Cohn/Roger Stone/Steve Bannon "win at all costs" strategy is AMORAL. It isn't immoral. To be "evil" one has to have an appreciation for good and bad, right and wrong. The amoral MAGAs are worse than evil. They don't care about right and wrong.
Like the disinterest of the bloodsucking tick or vampire, MAGAs and their apologists, like Ronna, don't give one shit about good faith. They will lie, cheat, deceive without scruple. That's why giving a bad-faith-actor a media platform promotes fascism. Free speech only works when the speaker isn't spreading fraud. Words are more powerful than violence. (Dante's 8th Circle of Hell is reserved for Frauds like Donald.)
NBC, you want to give "both sides" a voice? Like right and wrong? Like honesty and lies? Like truth and fraud? If you allow Ronna to tell lies and not run a chyron under her face that says "THIS IS A LIE" then you are complicit in spreading the lies.
Well said!
How can we contact the idiot Board chair, CEO, and COO of NBC and MSNBC to send letters or texts about what a travesty this is and how it harms any credibility those networks have had?
Here are their email addresses:
President, MSNBC: Rashida.Jones@nbcuni.com
Chairman, MSNBC: cesar.conde@nbcuni.com
President, NBC: Rebecca.Blumenstein@nbcuni.com
SVP of Politics: carrie.budoff@nbcuni.com
Send an email to each of the Comcast (the holding company that owns NBC) directors.
https://www.cmcsa.com/corporate-governance/board-of-directors
My note will highlight their indirect approval for the demise of the United States of America and therefore their complicity in gutting the First Amendment. Freedom of the Press is under attack by Ronna McDaniel and the other dishonorable Trump lovers. Inviting her to help destroy America is, therefore, Comcast corporate suicide.
The next series of emails will go to the managers of the hedge funds and mutual funds that own big chunks of Comcast. As shown on their latest Proxy Statement.
Please post those. ASAP.
Thanks! I’ve emailed all of them.
Many thanks.
Thanks so much. ❤️🇺🇸💙
Thank you. ❤️🇺🇸💙
Wasted effort, IMO.
Stunningly disgraceful to hire this moral-less, election liar and denier, who has been undermining our very Democracy's fundamentals by her fascistic and repugnant behavior as RNC chair. In her years as Chairman, she assaulted and damaged our society with her barrage of relentless cruelty and viciousness, her ceaseless lying as the "chaos agent" (Steve's wording) for Trump's authoritarian cult. She is supremely unfit to be anywhere near the hallowed hallways of NBC, where integrity and journalistic ethics are the sacred "North Star", not her firehose brand of B.S and disinformation. This hire wreaks and smells with a stench of epic proportion.
This is a slap in the face to the principled and honorable republicans at MSNBC like Chairman Steele, Nicole Wallace, and Joe Scarborough. It disrespects us viewers, who have counted on MSNBC for seeing people of honor, character and integrity. It disrespects Rachel Meadows, Richard Engel, and all of the other fine journalists who seek to be truthful and honorable at all times (things that Ronna gladly gave away in servitude to Trump world).
Management has disgraced their brand.
Shame on you, NBC News president Rebecca Blumenstein, NBC News chairman Cesar Conde and MSNBC president Rashida Jones for soiling your Networks' legacy of journalistic truth, integrity and character (none of these qualities Ms McDaniel processes). Shame on you..................
"When you mix raisins with turds, they are all turds." Charlie Munger, former Vice Chairman, Berkshire Hathaway.
Reminds me of an LBJ quote: You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit.
Yes indeed! A corollary is "You can't keep a free democratic republic by promoting anti-democratic fascism."
@MSNBC must retract this offer.
That clash has long been settled. The public interest is irrelevant unless it can be convincingly shown to enhance profitability.
Capitalism has its limitations. Public interest isn’t among them.
Like your vacation picture..at least you don’t have a monkey on your back.. 🤡
Yuk yuk
I would think NBC/MSNBC could learn from CNN after allowing Trump the opportunity to spew his vile, hatred and bigoted lies on a sponsored and televised town hall.
I stopped watching CNN forever. Not that I was ever much of a viewer of them. Mostly during commercials on MSNBC. Now I record and skip through commercials to watch MSNBC.
My viewing will go the same way as CNN if Ms. Romney appears on MSNBC. It might be time to pull myself away from all the insanity laid down by Trump and his minions. I am positive Ms. Romney will be as honest as SmellyAnn Conherway(Kelly Ann Conway). Normally I give a person the benefit of a doubt before condemning them but she has already demonstrated by her actions, associations and comments, her true nature.
Stop watching all of those twisted TV news channels and their talking heads. Start watching the Midas Touch Network on YouTube! Start learning the truth!!
If you want to watch 15-20 minutes of fluff to get to their 3-4 minutes of decent information, go ahead. I stopped watching after suffering through a dozen, bloated, over hyped, non-informative talk postings.
The book on the Murrow Boys was very good. It all comes down to capitalism influencing truth versus dictatorships defining truth. It is a heavy slog to spread truth when money and or madness is has more capital. Can the media and writers counter with good values, ethics and skill? I hope it swings back to ethical journalism and willing readers. Evolution and the survival of the fittest…