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.
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- MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, USA – APRIL 23: Lester Holt arrives at the 2019 Time 100 Gala held at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz At Lincoln Center on April 23, 2019 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. (Photo by Image Press Agency),Image: 531651273, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289 – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For querie, Model Release: no, Credit line: Image Press Agency/Image Press Agency/Avalon
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- Childrens n Family Emmys – Arrivals at the Bonaventure Hotel on December 17, 2023 in Los Angeles, CA,Image: 905891078, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Lester Holt, Credit line: Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon
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- The 1619 Project Premiere Screening at the Motion Picture Academy Museum on January 26, 2023 in Los Angeles, CA,Image: 960025526, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: Joy-Ann Reid, Credit line: Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon
UPDATE: Jonathan, Ayman and Katie Phang are all now gone. The racial purge is taking place and they aren’t even hiding their racism anymore.
Fired a lot of anchors of color and put the remaining ones on a panel show, which to me looks like tokenism.
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It’s not wild that Mika and Joe are going nowhere because they went to hell’s mouth and bowed before DT before the election results were even counted.
These networks are bowing down and complying in advance. They are basically state sponsored news.
Mika and Joe particularly fry my ass. They’re responsible for giving Mango unlimited free air time in the 2016 campaign. Additionally, Mika can stuff it with her Know Your Value gig—the hypocrisy is staggering.
MSNBC is clearing out POC— getting rid of Katie Phang is the nail in the coffin for me. She’s sharp, so smart, and did incredible reporting re Mango’s legal shenanigans in both FL and NY.
I love Lester Holt, but I’d step down too rather than have to spew propaganda every night.
Thank you so much for saying that about the free phone-from-home airtime they gave DT, because I’ve never forgotten that. Also, remember when Trump was caught on air asking Mika not to make her questions to him hard? Imagine if a female candidate for the presidency had said that. Talk about grading someone on a curve.
The networks are bowing down, but they aren’t bowing down to Trump. They are bowing down to the majority of Americans who are centrist. 89 million registered voters didn’t vote in the election.Trump got less votes in 2024 than he did in 2016. That has told the networks something and it should tell you something. My family is solid democrats on both sides of my parents. Yet, I had to beg my relatives who live in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, and North Carolina to vote. Why?, because of one commercial where Harris endorsed the payment for prisoners to transition. The only good thing about the outcome of the election is Trump is spitting in the face of the majority of the people who voted for him. The backlash from the ones who would never vote democratic is growing. Hopefully, the result will be a swing back to a majority of a democratic senate and congress. The never democrats will see this as the only way to stop Trump.
The ad was a lie. As expected. Even a tiny bit of research would’ve told you and your family that.
Further, every president, including Trump, has “allowed” gender affirming care deemed medically necessary in prisons. The result? A whopping 2 surgeries have occurred.
If 2 surgeries was enough to get people to endorse this racist then we are doomed. If the majority of Americans hate transgender people so much that they would vote to hurt them rather than help themselves then we deserve what we are getting.
I don’t believe that is true. I believe that the media has been complicit in bs non-stories like this and it has worked to the benefit of the most virulent racists among us.
I am a proud, unapologetic progressive. I actually want people to get whatever care they and their doctor agree on, and it’s none of my business or anyone else’s. MSNBC’s actions are racist and cowardly and I can only hope they’re held accountable. I refuse to participate in any narrative that places blame anywhere other than where it belongs.
Thank you for saying that I’m gonna start listening to NPR also.
Mika and Joe need to go soon. They are traitors to democracy
Sad about Lester- he is a great news caster and oh so handsome
I’m one who hasn’t watched MSNBC or CNN since the election (although to be honest I had fallen off a bit during Biden’s administration because it felt nice to not be tuned to the news 24/7.) Last time, in 2016, as soon as Trump was elected I started watching MSNBC every night (I had watched it a little bit before that but after the election I became a pretty diehard fan.) If we were home, I would watch Chris Matthews, All In and Maddow like clockwork. I was glued to the outrage and scandal and kept thinking “this scandal will be the end” and yet, it never was.
This time, I don’t have that energy. I also think even MSNBC did a lot to normalize Trump this time around and used different standards for Biden and then Harris. (for example, when Biden was being destroyed for his mental capacities, why was Trump given a pass across the board?)
So all that to say….I’m not surprised there are shakeups, and I’m not suprised its the POC who are the victims of this because that’s how racism works. I do think Symone will do a good job but across the board this is a really bad look. And I know Symone is a Black woman. But this still feels like a choice when they are removing a very very vocal Black woman who is very anti-Trump.
My experience is exactly the same. I still want news, but I go to Al Jazeera, CBC and BBC. I feel more balanced and less doomsday-addicted.
However, I will just say that if MSNBC wants me back, Joe and Mika have to go. Andrea Mitchell was great in her day, but that day was decades ago, and she was allowed to stay long after she began to decline, and that was not doing her a favour. And while we are at it. they got rid of the wrong Katy/Katie. One of them is a thoughtful, intelligent reporter, the other is a nepo baby with really bad veneers and a verging on MAGA world view.
Yep, it’s all the hypocrisy and bowing down for me – I absolutely think purging BIPOC anchors, normalizing DT and double-standards regarding Biden v. Trump’s mental decline absolutely count as bowing down to Trump.
So no, these changes only endorse my commitment to NPR, substacks like The Contrarian and othher newsletters from informed professionals, and non-American newsources. State sycophant media isn’t what I’m interested in.
I haven’t watched CNN since 2003. If Americans had understood how different and manipulative the domestic version was from the international, I’m not sure they would have gotten behind invading Iraq.
I stopped watching MSNBC a few years ago when I realized that it was effing with my mental health. The focus isn’t news, it is anger and fear on a constant loop. Sure, the context is real world (unlike the manufactured fear and outrage you find on right wing channels) but the end result is the same: a state of constant anxiety. Also, this isn’t the first time the network has targeted anchors of color.
I have loathed CNN since the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. My parents and I were in Centennial Park when the bomb went off (luckily, we were quite a distance away and only heard it/felt the percussive waves from the blast), and a bunch of CNN photogs and reporters were running around trying to get footage in the aftermath. My folks and I were sitting down on a bench while my dad took notes about the scene (he’s been a reporter since I was a wee kiddo), when all of a sudden we had cameras and bright spotlights shoved in our faces and either the photog or the reporter was asking me to “show some emotion, you brat”. Like, trying to get me to cry. I was just watching the chaos around us, and somehow I gathered up the courage to flip off the cameras. With both hands. Then I told them to eff off (not very politely, either). My dad was about to reprimand me for swearing but then stopped and said “Well, you just screwed their ‘b-roll’. Good.”
So, my opinion of CNN is subterranean.
After the election we stopped watching all news programs. We have just begun to watch a little coverage, but the truth is that we get so angry as Trump/Musk play the diabolical duo that it’s literally better for our health to stay away. However, I imagine that when we do watch it will be either Maddow or Psaki. I definitely can’t stand Mika and Joe since they kissed Trump’s ring. (or his ass) These are dark days and I fear whatever hell is coming next.
I haven’t watched the news since election day and my mental health is all the better for it. The current cycles of shock/ awe/ walk back is not healthy for anyone!
I left the Joe & Mike train during the first Trump administration when they got on their high horse about people booing 45 at a Nats game. Two people with a giant platform who got to slag him on the daily (which they were back then) reprimanding people without one for doing exactly what they were was the moment I saw them for the hypocrites they are.
Do they really think that getting rid of the POC is going to increase their ratings? Good luck. I was a faithful watcher for many years from Maddow at 9pm all the way to midnight. O’Donnell is one of my favorites. But since their normalization of Trump this election cycle, I just have no appetite for it. I refuse to watch mainstream news anymore. I watch the local CBS station in the morning before we leave, and I’ll catch the local eleven o’clock news, but that’s it. I used to watch Gail and crew on CBS in the morning, but now I just glance at it occasionally.
They want us to accept Joe and Mika, and Katy Tur….Nope. Not doing it.
And forget about CNN. I flip right past them… These new shows have become so unpalatable. The right wing slant is just too much for a person with any type of critical thinking skills. Even my husband who is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican (but a Never Trumper), is on the same page. We used to watch the shows and have spirited discussions about topics we disagreed on. No more.
Now I’m making my way through the twenty something seasons of NCIS that I’ve never seen on Paramount Plus.
Pushing out the anchors of color is for an audience of one. This is about access. I too have a hard time watching MSNBC anymore. At this point it’s about the the podcasts. It’s too taxing on my mental health and watch the US implode.
I don’t get cable at all but listened to a lot of MSNBC podcasts. I say listened because right after the “election” I couldn’t handle the direction they were taking. I filled in my desire to know things with the Daily Beans podcast, which is great. A few years ago, I would cycle between CBS, NBC and ABC for national news, but ABC got very Faux-like and then I couldn’t even listen to CBS (home of Walter Cronkite for goodness’s sake 😨 ). So Lester has been my go-to for news when I feel like watching. 😩
It seems NBC has chosen NOT to televise the revolution.
Well, it’s Comcast so you can’t expect much. I don’t know how Sanders Townsend escaped the racial purge but I think they kept Steele because he still claims to be a Republican, although anti-Trump for sure. Actually, the only anchor on that network I really appreciate is Lawrence O’Donnell. And I am no fan of Jen Psaki who was one of the Biden aides constantly undercutting his vice president. With Comcast, that’s probably a point in her favor.
I really appreciate Lawrence O’Donnell, too. I’ll keep watching him. I can get it on you tube.
It must be hard for them to decide between Llamas and Jackson. Llamas’ parents were Cuban refugees who immigrated here and Jackson is white but she’s a woman. They’ll probably for Llamas because he’s a guy and, despite the fact that Llamas has criticized Republicans for use of the term “anchor baby,” treating a Cuban as anything but white may piss off the sizable Cuban community in Florida who are often conservative (and some of them are real AHs about other Latino immigrants)
I no longer watch the news. I stick to my local news for when I need to catch up and that’s it. 24 hour new channels are bad for your mental health, there really isn’t a need for them. These news stations normalized Trump and I refuse to ever watch them again. They don’t care about us being safe, they want the chaos.
Same here. We cut cable and only watch local.
You’re totally right. They just want to generate the chaos, but now it’s having the opposite effect. Instead of people staying locked in to find out what happens next, they’re just turning it off altogether. It’s just too much, hence their abysmal ratings.
I’ve stopped watching all news, too & for the same reasons that all of you have said.
I actually stopped before the election. I think I stopped sometime between the Uvalde school shooting & the election. My mental health has improved a lot. When I do selectively consume news now I read it and I’ve noticed it’s less distressing than watching it on a 24/7 newsfeed.
I’ve ditched MSM as well. A reliable YT source is Belle of the Ranch. There are several daily uploads giving concise breakdowns & analysis of nat’l govt & global headlines, each clocking in under 4min.
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I like her straightforward delivery while allowing just a smidge of personality. She’s ex military, from what I gather, so she has some commentary cred on Pentagon, VA affairs & budget issues happening now.
This is what I love about this website! I’m with everyone above saying that I can’t watch news for the good of my mental health. I also consumed hours of MSM after 2016 and I won’t do it this time. Local and trusted few news outlets for me ONLY!
Can not stand Mika and Joe, just deplorable.
Jen Psaki is so boring and bland (which is probably why they’re promoting her). I won’t be watching her show, for sure.
I was glad that during her show, Rachel Maddow called out MSNBC for mistreating not just Joy Reid, but the employees of Reid’s show and others. It’s “not the right way to treat people,” she said.
She also addressed the racial purge: “I will tell you, it is also unnerving to see that on a network where we’ve got two—count them, two—non-white hosts in prime time, both of our non-white hosts in prime time are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend, and that feels worse than bad no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible. And I do not defend it.”
I liked Joy. She clearly was well connected, given the interviews she landed. She had insight and a clear ability to clarify issues. She’ll be missed.
I find Symone annoying, and Steele is bland. Jen Psaki is just ok, nothing special.
Scarborough and Mika make me want to puke. my news diet since the election has been therapeutic.
There are many reasons I stopped watching cable news. However, my husband does watch CNN or MSNBC when he gets home from work until I say enough. But I’m glad he does, for all the reasons I am fed up I also don’t want those channels to completely disappear.
Stopped watching MSNBC when they all jumped on the “Joe is Old” bandwagon. (And that includes Rachel Maddow.) The only thing we will watch is Meidas Touch Network and Roland Martin Unfiltered.
Saw this coming a mile away because that’s the same network who got rid of Melissa Harris-Perry & Tiffany Cross. It was just a matter of time a matter of time before Joy joined those ranks, especially after the election, and most definitely when their Rashida Jones stepped down last month.
It appears that NBC/MSNBC are following the NYT lead because if you’re going to follow someone, definitely follow the only newspaper that did not have its reporters executed by Hitler regime.
Only things we will watch for nerws are Meidas Touch Network and Roland Martin Unfiltered. If there are other suggestions, please drop them here.
The Weekend show with the three co-anchors is actually great. I’m sorry that the Katie Phang show is going away. The network is a lot higher on Jen Psaki than I am–I like her, but I don’t find her interesting. As for Andrea Mitchell, I agree her difficulty with getting a question out was more and more distracting–but she knows a heck of a lot, and was able to bring some backstory to her interviews and reporting.
I think the issue just from reading the comments is obvious. Nobody watches these 24 hour news shows. Who has the stomach to listen to people discussing this same shit day in and day out? It’s doomsday out there but I don’t need to hear about it everytime I turn on the TV.
Yeah agreed 100%. I
Recommend The Contrarian on Substack for News if y’all are interested.
I’ve stopped watching the news all together. Let me know when and if this nightmare is done.