In recent days, there’s been a lot of media gossip in and around MSNBC and NBC News. One big story is that Lester Holt is stepping down as the anchor of NBC Nightly News. This was announced on Monday, with Holt writing a letter to NBC News’ staffers:
Lester Holt, the veteran NBC newscaster and anchor of the “NBC Nightly News” over the last decade, announced on Monday that he will step down from the flagship evening newscast in the coming months. Mr. Holt told colleagues that he would remain at NBC, expanding his duties at “Dateline,” where he serves as the show’s anchor.
“It has truly been the honor of a lifetime to work with each of you every day, keeping journalism as our true north and our viewers at the center of everything we do,” Mr. Holt, 65, wrote in a memo to colleagues.
He said that he would continue anchoring the evening news until “the start of summer.” The network did not immediately name a successor.
Mr. Holt provided a steady hand to “NBC Nightly News” when he ascended to the job in 2015. The evening newscast was mired in a scandal after it was revealed that Brian Williams, the anchor at the time, had embellished a story about a helicopter attack in Iraq.
While there was some criticism of Holt last year for the ways in which he conducted various interviews in and around the presidential election, Holt was absolutely seen as a steady hand and an old-fashioned news anchor. I also don’t think those controversies are why he’s stepping down? Page Six claims that Holt’s successor will be Tom Llamas or Hallie Jackson, but Llamas will probably get it.
Holt was also NBC’s first Black anchor of their nightly news. Which brings me to the shenanigans at MSNBC – apparently, a few of the anchors of color got sh-tcanned in recent days. To be fair, everyone knew the ax would fall on some of these people, especially now that the bottom dropped out for every cable news network except Fox News. Millions of voters did not appreciate MSNBC’s election coverage and those people (myself included) have simply stopped watching cable news entirely. MSNBC has seen absolutely decrepit viewership numbers post-election and everyone knew that people would be fired and replaced and that major shakeups were coming. I’m not sure people predicted that MSNBC would replace or fire all of the non-white anchors though.
MSNBC announced a series of programming changes Monday that amount to a major shake-up to the network’s daytime, evening and weekend lineups. Most significantly, the network is canceling the 7 p.m. show hosted by Joy Reid, the progressive commentator who in 2020 became the only Black woman to host a daily prime-time cable news program.
In her place, the network will air a show hosted by Symone Sanders Townsend, the former chief spokesperson to then-Vice President Kamala Harris; Michael Steele, the former Republican National Committee chairman; and veteran journalist Alicia Menendez. The trio currently host a show titled “The Weekend.”
The network has also decided to end Alex Wagner’s tenure as part-time host of the 9 p.m. hour. Since 2022, Rachel Maddow has hosted the 9 p.m. hour on Monday nights and Wagner hosted the rest of the week. As part of the network’s coverage of the first 100 days of the new Trump administration, Maddow has been hosting her show five nights per week, moving Wagner to a role as a roving correspondent covering the early impacts of Donald Trump’s presidency.
When Maddow’s every-evening stint ends at the end of April, former White House press secretary Jen Psaki will instead host the 9 p.m. hour Tuesday through Friday going forward, the network announced, with Wagner remaining with the network as a senior political analyst. Psaki, who is seen as a rising star at the network, currently hosts “Inside with Jen Psaki,” which airs on Sunday afternoons and Monday evenings.
A source with knowledge of the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment, said that Reid’s departure should not be read as a move to the political center, considering that Reid has long been an outspoken critic of the president.
So Joy Reid is the only one being fired outright, while other anchors are being shifted around. Are they also saying Alex Wagner will be completely gone or are they giving her something else to do? Jonathan Capehart will still have a weekend show and so will Ayman Mohyeldin. Anyway… yeah… I watched MSNBC last year during the election and let’s just say, I’m not mad that Joy is being pushed out. MSNBC has needed a big shakeup for a while, but honestly, it’s too late at this point (for me, at least). It’s also wild that Mika & Joe are apparently going nowhere??
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
