Highlights from The New York Times

NRA Shuts Down of Future Production of NRATV

According to a new report, the NRA has shut down future production at NRATV and ended its business relationship with the longtime public relations firm that operates NRATV, Ackerman McQueen.

In a court filing last week in Virginia, Ackerman McQueen claimed that if the NRA did not pay a past due invoice or extend a $3 million line of credit, it would be forced to shut down NRATV. The NRATV shutdown follows weeks of dueling lawsuits between the NRA and Ackerman McQueen, as the NRA finds itself engulfed by widespread allegations of self-dealing and financial mismanagement, and faces an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s Office.

New York Times reports:

“While NRATV may continue to air past content, its live broadcasting will end and its on-air personalities — Ackerman employees who included Dana Loesch — will no longer be the public faces of the N.R.A. It remained unclear whether the N.R.A. might try to hire some of those employees, but there was no indication it was negotiating to do so.

“The move comes amid a flurry of lawsuits between the N.R.A. and Ackerman, and increasing acrimony that surfaced after two prominent N.R.A. board members first criticized NRATV in an article in The Times in March. The separation had become inevitable: The two sides said last month that they were ending their three-decade-plus partnership.

“’Many members expressed concern about the messaging on NRATV becoming too far removed from our core mission: defending the Second Amendment,’ Wayne LaPierre, the N.R.A.’s longtime chief executive, wrote in a message to members that was expected to be sent out by Wednesday. ‘So, after careful consideration, I am announcing that starting today, we are undergoing a significant change in our communications strategy. We are no longer airing ‘live TV’ programming.’”

Since its inception, the NRA used NRATV to attack survivors of gun violence, peddle outrageous conspiracy theories and defend President Donald Trump’s agenda, including on issues having nothing to do with guns or the Second Amendment. In recent years, under NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre’s leadership, NRATV had grown to become the face and voice of the NRA.

Some NRATV lowlights, from its hosts and from its video programming, include: