RRMcD is a shape-shifting snake in the grass. What is going on with the bosses at NBC, were they high when they hired her? Did they think their anchors and their viewers were so stupid that they wouldn’t notice a trumpy insurrectionist election denier slipped into their weekly line-up of contributors? I don’t have any evidence of this, but I wonder if she pals around with the bosses at NBC? Was that her “in” to get hired for that position? It’s all very strange that this even happened. Something isn’t right upstairs at 30 Rock.
All good questions...but the news just broke a bit ago that NBC News is cutting ties with Eva Braun...er, Ronna Romney McDaniel. So, a bit of good news in this thoroughly fucked-up world we live in. It's nice to see a corporation recognize their mistake and make things right.
Yes, it's great that NBC listened and responded by nipping this foul bud before it grew into the rancid weed that it was destined to be. But the reason why this offense happened at all is because NBC News, like all the big-time news networks, is profit motivated. They stupidly thought that having a recognizable name from the Right would garner them some conservative viewers that would otherwise not tune in. What they failed to consider are two things. The 1st is that even if the gambit had gone forward and they got more viewers, which as Jack as noted is dubious at best, the reputational hit they would have taken would have been so immense that it might not have been recoverable. Second, the other miscalculation is that they totally didn't anticipate their analysts coming out publicly against Romney-McDaniel's hiring. They figured that there might be some upheaval, but they expected it would be internal and that news of it would be rumored unrest. But that's not what happened. NBC and MSNBC analysts came out publicly in force and in unison against the hiring; bravo to them. This episode has shown me that at least some journalists do understand the threat that we are facing, and that when it counts they'll act accordingly. What started out so sordidly has turned into a win for responsible journalism.
What impressed me was that so many journalists realized they could use their platform for something other than just news-reading. They could use it for good, for exposing what could happen if an ideologically-driven profit motive became the Prime Directive. They exposed Romney McDaniel for the morally bereft, integrity-free partisan she is...and it paid off.
Timothy Snyder called NBC's move to hire "a trial run for appeasing an authoritarian regime." While this trial run didn't come off so well, but that doesn't mean there may not be others.
I agree, that's a good observation that these journalists actually used the platforms that they've always had, only now they saw the light and did it. The trial run for authoritarianism idea is intriguing, and eerie because upon reflection it doesn't seem so farfetched. I don't know if this was a part of the calculus, but I also can't discount it.
Bad enough that NBC wants to play the "both sides" game, but to play it without even a pretense of regard for basic facts has long since become pathetic and tedious.
RRMcD is a shape-shifting snake in the grass. What is going on with the bosses at NBC, were they high when they hired her? Did they think their anchors and their viewers were so stupid that they wouldn’t notice a trumpy insurrectionist election denier slipped into their weekly line-up of contributors? I don’t have any evidence of this, but I wonder if she pals around with the bosses at NBC? Was that her “in” to get hired for that position? It’s all very strange that this even happened. Something isn’t right upstairs at 30 Rock.
All good questions...but the news just broke a bit ago that NBC News is cutting ties with Eva Braun...er, Ronna Romney McDaniel. So, a bit of good news in this thoroughly fucked-up world we live in. It's nice to see a corporation recognize their mistake and make things right.
Yes, it's great that NBC listened and responded by nipping this foul bud before it grew into the rancid weed that it was destined to be. But the reason why this offense happened at all is because NBC News, like all the big-time news networks, is profit motivated. They stupidly thought that having a recognizable name from the Right would garner them some conservative viewers that would otherwise not tune in. What they failed to consider are two things. The 1st is that even if the gambit had gone forward and they got more viewers, which as Jack as noted is dubious at best, the reputational hit they would have taken would have been so immense that it might not have been recoverable. Second, the other miscalculation is that they totally didn't anticipate their analysts coming out publicly against Romney-McDaniel's hiring. They figured that there might be some upheaval, but they expected it would be internal and that news of it would be rumored unrest. But that's not what happened. NBC and MSNBC analysts came out publicly in force and in unison against the hiring; bravo to them. This episode has shown me that at least some journalists do understand the threat that we are facing, and that when it counts they'll act accordingly. What started out so sordidly has turned into a win for responsible journalism.
What impressed me was that so many journalists realized they could use their platform for something other than just news-reading. They could use it for good, for exposing what could happen if an ideologically-driven profit motive became the Prime Directive. They exposed Romney McDaniel for the morally bereft, integrity-free partisan she is...and it paid off.
Timothy Snyder called NBC's move to hire "a trial run for appeasing an authoritarian regime." While this trial run didn't come off so well, but that doesn't mean there may not be others.
I agree, that's a good observation that these journalists actually used the platforms that they've always had, only now they saw the light and did it. The trial run for authoritarianism idea is intriguing, and eerie because upon reflection it doesn't seem so farfetched. I don't know if this was a part of the calculus, but I also can't discount it.
Yeah, they really screwed the pooch on this one. She tried to rape our democracy, and now they give her a platform to birth another devil child? 👎
Bad enough that NBC wants to play the "both sides" game, but to play it without even a pretense of regard for basic facts has long since become pathetic and tedious.