McDaniel was a step too far in the news gabfest

NBC News got into a major kerfuffle this week by hiring, and then quickly firing, ex-Republican National Committee boss Ronna McDaniel. 

Network chiefs thought it was a swell idea to bring a prominent Republican onboard as a well-paid contributor. McDaniel had just been dumped from her GOP job by Donald Trump as he completed his total takeover of the party apparatus. But top network stars, including Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd, went public with their strong objections to the hiring, pointing out the inconvenient truth that McDaniel had very actively supported Trump’s lies about the 2020 election and the January 6 invasion of the U.S. Capitol, as well as his attacks on the news media.

As Maddow said, bringing McDaniel into a journalistic organization was akin to hiring a pickpocket to work as a TSA screener or a mobster to work in a district attorney’s office.

It was bad judgment to think McDaniel was a worthy addition to the NBC team, but not a surprising misstep considering how programming on the major cable news channels has become a 24-hour-a-day gabfest in which a repetitive lineup of alleged experts and insiders swap predictable opinions, conventional wisdom and largely unenlightening observations about politics. In that warped “news” environment, it is not hard to understand why network execs would see McDaniel as a perfect fit.

Is it far-fetched to wish that there might be more actual reporting on the news channels and more professional journalists giving dispassionate analysis? Apparently so.

See more of David Horsey’s cartoons at: st.news/davidhorsey

View other syndicated cartoonists at: st.news/cartoons

Editor’s note: Seattle Times Opinion no longer appends comment threads on David Horsey’s cartoons. Too many comments violated our community policies and reviewing the dozens that were flagged as inappropriate required too much of our limited staff time. You can comment via a Letter to the Editor. Please email us at letters@seattletimes.com and include your full name, address and telephone number for verification only. Letters are limited to 200 words.