'The View' co-hosts argues media doesn't need to cover both sides evenly after NBC cut ties with McDaniel
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin argued the media didn't need to cover both sides in the aftermath of former RNC chair Ronna McDaniel's firing from NBC News.
Sunny Hostin argued the media didn't need to cover both sides on Wednesday while praising former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel being cut from NBC News.
Hostin cited NBC News' Lester Holt, who said in 2021, that "the idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in." Holt received praise at the time from liberal journalists fed up with so-called "bothsidesism."
Hostin doubled down on Holt's statement and said that's what was missing in NBC's decision to hire McDaniel, which it reversed after a staff-wide outcry.
"That the sun sets in the west is a fact. Any contrary view does not deserve our time or attention," Holt said in 2021. "Decisions to not give unsupported arguments equal time are not a dereliction of journalistic responsibility or some kind of agenda. In fact, it’s just the opposite."
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin criticized NBC News again on Wednesday for their hiring of Ronna McDaniel and said both sides do not need to be covered. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
Hostin said journalism for years had been about giving both sides "equal weight" and showing "objectivity."
"Journalism has changed because people no longer agree on basic facts," she said. "So journalism has to respond to that."
Whoopi Goldberg said she didn't know what NBC News was thinking when it hired the former RNC chair in the first place. She wasn't alone, as external critics and network hosts cried foul over McDaniel getting a lucrative contract.
"This is on NBC, what is it that you were trying to do? Because you can find Republicans, but you didn't find a Republican, you found someone who was part of trying to take down the country?" Goldberg said. "Why would you think your people wouldn't be upset about it?"
Co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin, who worked in President Trump's administration, argued it was important to have Republicans on cable news, but said the problem with McDaniel is that "her career was built around supporting Trump."
Ronna McDaniel joins NBC News' Kristen Welker for an interview on March, 24, 2024. (Screenshot/NBC)
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"I appear on CNN with Republicans regularly, who still support Donald Trump, but they never lied about the election, they denounced January 6th, and when he says things or talks about policies that are dangerous, they call it out because they're independent from him," she continued.
"You don't know who she's beholden to, is she going to say one thing because NBC is there, is she holding out for future opportunities in the Republican Party?" Griffin continued.
The co-hosts similarly criticized NBC's hiring of McDaniels on Monday, and said it was a "despicable" decision, Fox News Digital previously reported.
After mounting backlash from MSNBC and NBC hosts, NBC News officially cut ties with McDaniel on Tuesday.
Ronna McDaniel, the outgoing Republican National Committee chairwoman, gives her last speech in the position at the general session of the RNC Spring Meeting Friday, March 8, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)
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"There is no doubt that the last several days have been difficult for the News Group," NBCUniversial News Group Chairman Cesar Conde wrote Tuesday in the staff memo obtained by Fox News Digital. "After listening to the legitimate concerns of many of you, I have decided that Ronna McDaniel will not be an NBC News contributor."
Conde acknowledged McDaniel's hiring had undermined the goal of a "cohesive and aligned" newsroom and offered an apology to his staff.
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn and David Rutz contributed to this report.