Mediaite’s Winner and Loser of the Day
THE DAILY NEWSLETTER – MONDAY, AUGUST 23, 2021
MEDIA WINNER: Rachel Maddow
Rachel Maddow is staying at MSNBC, having just signed a new multi-year contract.
The news comes a few days after The Daily Beast reported that she was considering leaving the network, possibly to start her own media company or to join a streaming or podcasting venture.
Mediaite’s Joe DePaolo was highly skeptical Maddow would leave her comfortable, well-paid — and highly rated — spot at MSNBC, predicting that she was “all but a lock to re-sign with her network of the past 16 years.”
DePaolo was right, with Business Insider reporting the news on Monday. Mediaite later confirmed the story.
Her fans who were hoping to see a Maddow-helmed podcast may still be in luck. Her new deal will keep her hosting her top-rated evening show, as well as exploring new side projects to be developed with MSNBC’s parent company, NBC Universal.
It’s a win for Maddow, a win for MSNBC, and a win for new network president Rashida Jones in the first major move of her tenure.
MEDIA LOSER: Rob O’Neill
An overinflated ego, casual endorsement of murder, and a scoop of conspiracy mongering on the side: that’s quite the trifecta from Fox News guest and former U.S. Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill.
The situation in Afghanistan is a complicated, heartbreaking mess, with a very real human cost to the politicians’ decisions. We expect debate and criticism from TV’s talking heads, but O’Neill’s comments on Primetime stood out for all the wrong reasons.
O’Neill’s proposed solution was to take nine of his fellow SEALs and “I’m gonna walk through the streets and I’m gonna kill everyone I see, and I’m gonna grab the Americans.” He also dropped a brief comment touting the big lie about the 2020 election.
Killing “everyone” he sees would undoubtedly include many innocents and is a violation of both international law and our own codes for military engagement. Perhaps this should be no surprise from a guy who was publicly criticized for violating the SEALs’ Ethos for his self-promotional claims that he killed Osama bin Laden.
Correction: the original version of this newsletter referred to O’Neill as a Fox News contributor. He is no longer a contributor for the network.
