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There is a trend at legacy media companies for progressive employees to start a war with their employers over an editorial position that does not align with their own.

Some of the most memorable clashes in recent years include the social media revolt by New York Times employees over Tom Cotton’s infamous op-ed in 2020 and CNN employees’ open attacks on the network’s Trump Town Hall in 2023.

In 2024, this trend exploded across multiple news outlets. These were the biggest editorial riots of the year:

NBC’s hiring (and firing) of Ronna McDaniel

NBC News was caught in a firestorm fueled by its own employees after the network announced in March that it had hired former Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel as a staffer.

The practice of major news organizations hiring former lawmakers, government officials and political insiders has been going on for decades and is largely uncontroversial. But a chorus of NBC talent, particularly from the liberal cable television division MSNBC, publicly rejected McDaniel’s hiring, citing her alleged actions in trying to block the certification of Michigan’s 2020 election results.

“We were not asked for our opinion on the hiring, but if we had been, we would have objected vigorously to it on several grounds, including, but not limited to, as lawyers would say, Ms. McDaniel’s role in Donald Trump’s sham election scheme and…” “She urged election officials not to certify the election results while Donald Trump was on the phone,” MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough said on “Morning Joe.”

Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s biggest star, criticized NBC’s “inexplicable” decision to hire McDaniel and expressed hope that the network would reverse its decision.

CBS News’ internal turmoil over the Dokoupil Coates interview

In October, left-wing CBS News staffers criticized their colleague, “CBS Mornings” co-anchor Tony Dokoupil, for his harsh but polite interview exchange with progressive author Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Dokoupil, who is Jewish and has children living in Israel, criticized Coates, whose new book “The Message” is harshly critical of Israel and has been rebuked by defenders of the Jewish state for its superficial analysis of a complicated conflict.

“The contents of this section would not be out of place in an extremist’s backpack,” Dokoupil told Coates about a section about his trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories, asking him: “Why leave out so much?” and “What is this ? “That’s what particularly offends you about the existence of a Jewish state that is a safe place for Jews?”

CBS leadership assured offended employees that after a review they concluded the interview did not meet the company’s “editorial standards,” reported the Free Press, which obtained an audio recording of the staff meeting.

While a source familiar with the matter told Fox News Digital that Dokoupil would not be punished over the interview, complaints forced him to meet with the network’s internal race and culture department. According to the New York Times, conversation during the interview “focused on Mr. Dokoupil’s tone, his phrasing and his body language.”

This is an excerpt from an article by Fox News Joseph Wulfsohn