The one good thing to come out of the Ronna McDaniel- NBC News mess
Many journalists fought back and reminded us all that without truth, there is no journalism. Without truth, there’s only lies and propaganda.
I am proud of the journalists who this week stood firmly for the idea that journalism is about the truth. Reporting hard facts is always difficult, and it requires one kind of courage. Standing up to corporate bosses whose decisions call into question journalism's commitment to truth requires another.
Those many loud, thoughtful, tough and defiant defenses of the journalism profession and its critical role in a healthy democracy were the one and only good thing to come out of the mind- boggling NBC news decision to hire former RNC chair and Trump co-conspirator Ronna McDaniel.
Journalists typically think the work should speak for itself. And it should. But this past week, journalism itself was on fire. NBC failed in its core responsibility when it decided to make a serial liar, a participant in crimes against the truth, a part of its news organization. Members of the profession, to their credit, fought back and reminded us all that without truth, there is no journalism. Without truth, there’s only lies and propaganda.
One of the loudest voices standing up for journalism was coming from within NBC itself. Chuck Todd led the way with a very public on-air condemnation of his corporate bosses just minutes after Romney made her NBC debut on the same program. Todd also wrote this on social media:
“The issue isn’t about ideology, it’s about basic truth. Those trying to make this a left-right issue are being intentionally dishonest. This is about whether honest journalists are supposed to lend their credibility to someone who intentionally tried to ruin ours.”
As of this writing, Todd is still the only NBC News on-air talent to stand up publically for journalistic principles. More did so on the sister-network, MSNBC. Rachel Maddow was characteristically on target:
“... we do defend ourselves as an institution not because we.re personally offended by the way that we are treated but because a free and unbowed press is necessary for our democracy. A free and unbowed press is part of our system of government. We stand up for ourselves as a way of standing up for our country and our constitution. The first amendment which makes it possible for us to exist at all.”
MSNBC 11pm host Stephanie Ruhl also weighed in:
“You know we like to say on this show that the truth matters but only if you hear it. I care deeply about facts. For facts sake it has been the only thing it is about. Our team carefully considers the reporters and the analysts we bring on every night to explain what's happening. One goal is to try to get better and smarter. So I can promise you this: we will keep elevating the truth and the facts.”
But here’s the thing. NBC cannot outsource its news bonafides to MSNBC. That opens the critique of the McDaniel hire to charges of partisanship. NBC itself, and folks like Lester Holt and Savannah Guthrie must speak out publicly in defense of the idea that news is about telling the truth. They must make clear that no news organization can survive if it becomes associated with lies and propaganda, much less if it brings that stuff in house.
Photo credit: William B. Plowman/NBC via Getty Images
And the executives who made the decision to hire McDaniel need to go. Without that, Americans will rightly wonder about the commitment to seeking truth and reporting it. As Mark Jacob says, “NBC News fell out of the generally trustworthy category last week.” The network now has an enormous amount of work to regain the trust of its audience. Journalist Margaret Sullivan suggests making a public statements that:
“...affirms the commitment to covering politics truthfully and rigorously. It could appear once at the top of the nightly news and once on, let’s say, Morning Joe and Meet the Press.Then, go further. Prove that commitment in the network’s presidential campaign coverage. How? By using extreme care in giving a platform and a megaphone to proven liars, including the former president, and by providing sustained coverage about the stakes of the election, not just the horserace.”
The McDaniel hiring was the result of some misguided idea that NBC needed access to and information about Trump to help round out its 2024 election coverage. We saw the company making moves in that direction last year when it agreed to host a GOP candidates debate -albeit minus Trump who refused to participate. I wrote about how NBC was compromising its journalist values with this odd media partnership that featured not just extremist Republican candidates by some of the most vile right wing media platforms. It turns out that’s where NBC execs connected with Ronna McDaniel and started hatching this terrible plan to bring her on as a paid contributor.
Trying to find a Trump whisperer in the misguided pursuit of ‘balance’ or ‘access’ is a waste of time as David Graham wrote in The Atlantic: “...finding people who are still connected to Trump and can also speak with intellectual honesty is exceedingly difficult, if not inherently impossible.”
Instead of insider Trump scoops which often turn out to be lies or misdirection (remember the Trump pivot?) I'd argue we need more and better coverage about Trump’s actual plans if he’s re-elected. Now that would be meaningful, fact-based journalism worthy of NBC News.
This was originally published by Heartland Signal.