MSNBC’s Ari Melber Tells Viewers NBC News Has Terminated Ronna McDaniel’s Employment

MELBER: “I want to turn now to an update from NBC News. NBC News leadership has announced that former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor. We have a new E-mail and update that’s come out just within this hour, so this is sort of breaking news here within our organization on a story that has garnered significant attention and criticism. What I’m going to do now, to be very clear, is read the entire update from NBC Universal News Group chairman Cesar Conde. He has written in this new E-mail: ‘There’s no doubt that the last several days have been difficult for the news group. After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor.’ He goes on to write that, ‘No organization, particularly a news room, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned. Over the last few days, it has become clear that disappointment undermines that goal.’ The news chairman continues to say, ‘I want to personally apologize to our team members who felt we let them down. While this was a collective recommendation by some members of our leadership team, I approved it and take full responsibility for it,’ says Cesar Conde, the chairman. He explains, ‘Our initial decision was made because of our deep commitment to presenting our audiences with a widely diverse set of viewpoints and experiences, particularly during these consequential times.’ And then in closing, this message, which, again, is brand-new, we’re airing it for the first time here on MSNBC, having come out this hour, ‘We continue to be committed to the principle that we must have diverse viewpoints on our programs, and to that end, we will redouble our efforts to seek voices that represent different parts of the political spectrum.’ If you watch MSNBC, as you probably do if you’re listening to me right now, or you follow news media and politics, this has been a roiling debate since that initial announcement was made on Friday. Many people have weighed in and now the news chairman says, in response to the legitimate criticism, including on this channel, Ms. McDaniel will not be a contributor here. That is the news update.”