MSNBC President Rashida Jones says she is stepping down after 4 years main the liberal information community, her transfer approaching the eve of a second Trump administration and after modifications in company possession.
Jones, in a memo to workers on Tuesday, mentioned that she is leaving to “pursue new alternatives.” She’ll get replaced on an interim foundation by Rebecca Kutler, a former CNN government who joined MSNBC in 2022.
In Jones’ tenure, MSNBC has usually displaced CNN because the second-rated cable news-focused community behind Fox Information Channel.
Its rankings are sharply down since Donald Trump’s election.
MSNBC’s lineup has remained pretty constant since Jones, the primary Black government to steer a cable information community, moved from NBC Information to take over there in 2021. Former Biden administration press secretary Jen Psaki is her highest-profile addition.
In November, Comcast introduced it was breaking MSNBC and CNBC away from NBC Information into its personal firm, led by government Mark Lazarus, that means Jones was answering to new company management.
At a morning assembly on Tuesday, Jones mentioned she was “enthusiastic about what we’ve performed. I’m enthusiastic about what comes subsequent.” She shed little mild on the timing, though company modifications and political transitions usually set off modifications within the information enterprise.
“When Rashida shared this with me on the finish of final week, I used to be stunned,” Lazarus mentioned within the assembly, in line with MSNBC. “I used to be just a little saddened for the corporate however very joyful for her to have the ability to come to grips with a tough determination — a really private determination.”
Lazarus additionally instructed workers Tuesday that MSNBC will hold its title. There had been some discuss that it might be modified underneath new company management; the title was a results of a partnership with Microsoft when the community began in 1996. There have been few different indications of seen change for viewers but as a result of uncoupling from NBC Information.
Jones usually stored a low public profile as MSNBC chief. She made appreciable modifications to the community’s weekend lineup and, throughout the weekday, prolonged the size of two of MSNBC’s extra widespread exhibits: “Morning Joe” and Nicolle Wallace within the afternoon.
She needed to take care of the inner fallout over NBC Information’ determination final yr to rent former Republican Nationwide Committee head Ronna McDaniel as a paid contributor, which was reversed after an open mutiny amongst many MSNBC personalities.
MSNBC’s viewership has dropped 57% since Trump’s election.
The community notes that the post-election viewers for cable networks intently related to a dropping candidate usually sinks, and that there are already indicators that issues are selecting up once more.
Whether or not it can to the extent that it occurred for MSNBC in 2017 is an open query, notably with extra individuals eliminating their cable service.
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MSNBC introduced on Monday that its hottest persona, Rachel Maddow, is returning to host her present 5 nights for the primary few months of the brand new administration. Since 2022, she has usually performed her present one night time per week.