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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Ronna [Romney] McDaniel, she had a contract, she will not be used as a news commentator, so what's NBC/MSNBC owe her?

 The hiring/unhiring story has had wide coverage. Her unsuitability to present news was a topic covered. Really, what's the contract say?

Presumably the terms were a period of time, a fixed pay plan and benefits, and in turn her willingness to appear on camera as and when network producers deemed it beneficial to their business earnings and goodwill to present her to the viewing public. With some limit on overworking the poor dear.

They owe her a settlement, she's arguably a case for reputation harm, but suing on that would not help her reputation significantly. 

Politico: McDaniel eyes big payout after NBC drama -- The former RNC chair is in talks with a prominent media talent lawyer about potential legal claims.

Another Politico item:

WHAT SHE SAID — Will it be the $600,000 interview?

The ramifications of NBC’s decision yesterday to part ways with contributor RONNA McDANIEL just two days after her paid network debut on “Meet the Press” are just starting to shake out. But they could be expensive.

McDaniel expects to be fully paid out for her contract, two years at $300,000 annually, since she did not breach its terms, we’re told — meaning that her single, not-quite-20-minute interview Sunday could cost the Peacock more than $30,000 per minute, or $500 per second.

That’s just one tidbit we’ve picked up from McDaniel’s side of things following yesterday’s announcement from NBCUniversal News Group Chair CESAR CONDE, and it might be just the beginning of the fallout. McDaniel spoke yesterday with BRYAN FREEDMAN, renowned lawyer to the estranged cable-news stars, to discuss legal options even beyond recouping the dollar value of her original contract.

While no arrangement is final, a person close to McDaniel tells us, Freedman would be an obvious choice: He represented MEGYN KELLY in her own acrimonious parting with NBC, as well as ousted anchors CHRIS CUOMO, DON LEMON and TUCKER CARLSON in disputes with their respective former networks.

McDaniel, we’re told, is exploring potential defamation and hostile work environment torts after MSNBC’s top talent — momentarily her colleagues — took turns Monday blasting her on air. (NBC declined to comment about the $600,000 figure or her potential claims.)

McDaniel was silent yesterday as the fallout from the internal network revolt mounted, and her perspective and role in the deal was largely lost as it unraveled in real time. She and her allies are, unsurprisingly, furious about how everything went down, believing she was misled about how much she’d be welcomed into the fold by executives who had aggressively recruited her. They blame the same NBC brass for botching the situation by not having her meet with top network talent ahead of the rollout, then caving to internal pressure from liberal-leaning hosts.

Most of all, they’re furious that the network did little to push back on a multi-day campaign against their new hire on their own airwaves. Host after host cast McDaniel as an enemy of democracy for, among other things, participating in a November 2020 phone call where then-President DONALD TRUMP sought to convince Michigan GOP elections officials not to certify election results.

“The part that pisses me off most about this is not necessarily that they folded; it’s [that] they allowed their talent to drag Ronna through the mud and make it seem like they were innocent bystanders,” the person close to McDaniel said.

We’ll set aside for a moment whether the well-documented “stop the steal” claims could be considered defamation against a prominent party official. McDaniel’s camp is similarly aghast at the finger-pointing that has unfolded inside the network over the past few days.

We’ve already reported that MSNBC President RASHIDA JONES was among those who did an about-face after blessing the initial contract agreement. We’re also told that Conde himself reached out to McDaniel last week after the ink was dry to welcome her into the NBC family with a message that said he was excited to work with her and that her perspective would be valuable to the network’s viewers. (NBC declined to comment.)

McDaniel’s camp is also particularly peeved at “Meet the Press” host KRISTEN WELKER, who said at the top of Sunday’s broadcast that her interview was “scheduled weeks before it was announced that McDaniel had become a paid NBC News contributor,” and declared, “I was not involved in her hiring.”

search = ronna mcDaniel politico Freedman 

Then, Salon

NBC's Ronna blunder: A failed attempt to appeal to MAGA voters — except they hate her too

I spent years in the MAGA tribe: We loathed Ronna Romney McDaniel almost as much as we loathed the media

By Rich Logis  Published March 27, 2024

[...] 

To us, in fact, she was never Ronna McDaniel. As the niece of 2012 Republican nominee turned U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, a well-known Trump skeptic, she was always Ronna Romney, with added emphasis on that name. It was something of a political scarlet letter, and like her uncle, Ronna was regarded as a Vichy-style quisling, a RINO who was worse than almost any Democrat, with the possible exception of Barack Hussein Obama.

In every conversation I had about her with my fellow MAGA countrymen and women, we poured our contempt and mockery on McDaniel; never was there a scintilla of pity or empathy. 

NBC News’ recent attempt to hire McDaniel, after Trump had driven her from the RNC chair, enraged Democrats, liberals and  several of the network’s pundits. From my former MAGA perspective, however, McDaniel’s since-terminated $300,000-a-year contract came as no surprise.

[...] 

The beat goes on. EmptyWheel 

Smithsonian / Wikipedia