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A new report alleges that some NBC News journalists and staffers fear Republican sources will stop interacting with the network after the firing of former RNC head Ronna McDaniel.
On Friday, the network announced McDaniel would be joining the Peacock family as a political analyst across all NBC platforms, including its far-left sister network MSNBC. That opened the floodgates of on-air backlash from the company’s biggest liberal stars, including Rachel Maddow.
On Tuesday, NBC announced that McDanel would no longer be working for the network.
While NBC and MSNBC anchors cheered on the decision, some staffers reported being worried the move would further alienate Republicans, noting that they were already “fielding texts from angry GOP sources.”
Ronna McDaniel was fired as an analyst on NBC after only five days. (Screenshot/NBC)
According to Semafor, the firing “threatens to undo years of [NBC News] repositioning itself as friendly to Republican officials and viewers,” with some journalists saying “they believe the move will only continue to strengthen complaints by Republicans that the network doesn’t want to hear their perspectives.”
“Political reporters here didn’t take part in the backlash, nor did they get to give input on the hire,” one NBC News journalist told Semafor. “But they’ll be the ones who have to pick up the pieces with sources who are now dismayed with the organization.”
The outlet also reported, “Four NBC News staffers expressed concern that instead of fixing the problem, hiring and then firing McDaniel had only alienated liberal viewers while confirming Republican fears. Two Republican aides told Semafor they’d texted their NBC News contacts to express their anger with the decision.”
McDaniel’s firing allegedly furthered tensions between NBC News and MSNBC leadership. Senior NBC figures purportedly voiced anger at MSNBC president Rashida Jones for dropping McDaniel on Saturday after backlash despite not initially opposing McDaniel’s hiring. By contrast, MSNBC figures expressed frustration that NBC did not predict the internal uproar over the decision to hire her.
NBC’S OUSTING OF RONNA MCDANIEL REINFORCES STATUS AS ANTI-TRUMP, PRO-BIDEN NETWORK
NBC journalists reportedly told Semafor that they are facing backlash from their GOP sources. (GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images/Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reached out to NBC News for a comment.
NBCUniversial News Group Chairman Cesar Conde sent a memo to staff Tuesday announcing McDaniel was no longer with the network.
“I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down,” Conde wrote in the memo. “While this was a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full responsibility for it.”
After McDaniel’s firing was announced, MSNBC hosts Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow, who had publicly denounced the network for hiring her, celebrated the decision live on Reid’s show.
“And I just have to say, when somebody does the right thing, I feel like it should be acknowledged as publicly as we acknowledged our outrage,” Reid said. “I know how I feel about it. I’m grateful to Cesar for actually making the right decision. I think it was the right decision.”
Nicolle Wallace, Jen Psaki, Joy Reid and Rachel Maddow are among the MSNBC hosts to criticize Ronna McDaniel. (Getty Images)
“To see essentially the unanimous feeling among all the journalists in this building and all the senior staff and all the producers and everybody in this building about this was one thing,” Maddow said. “But then to see the executives and the leadership hear that and respond to it and be willing to change course based on it, based on their respect for us and hearing what we argued, I have deep respect for that.”
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Fox News’ Joseph Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to lindsay.kornick@fox.com and on Twitter: @lmkornick.
