8 weeks of chaos at MSNBC as chief Rashida Jones steps down after Trump meeting scandal & Rachel Maddow pay drama
Rashida Jones, the network’s president, announced her resignation, leaving MSNBC in a state of chaos.
It occurs eight weeks after two of the network’s top anchors decided to meet with President-elect Donald Trump, causing chaos for the network.
After four years, Jones, who made history as the first Black executive to head a major US TV news network, will go.
Rebecca Kutler, the network’s senior vice president of content strategy, will serve as interim president.
The network said on Tuesday that Jones, who hired Kutler in 2022, will continue to serve as an advisor until March.
She said in a note to the team that she had decided to leave “over the holidays.”
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She said she was proud of the work they had done and called the period since she took over in February 2021 “the most rewarding chapter” of her career.
Nearly two months have passed since Comcast, the parent company of MSNBC, unveiled ambitious new plans to split off the majority of its cable TV networks.
As a result of the change, MSNBC, CNBC, the USA Network, Oxygen, E!, SYFY, and the Golf Channel would all join SpinCo, a distinct publicly traded corporation.
It also comes eight weeks after Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, co-hosts of MSNBC Morning Joe, disclosed that they had a “personal” encounter with President-elect Trump only days after he won the November presidential election.
Both Scarborough and Brzezinski, who have previously been outspoken opponents of Trump, disclosed that on November 15, ten days after he defeated Democrat Kamala Harris, they had a private meeting with the Republican at his Mar-a-Lago home.
It was the first face-to-face conversation between the two sides in seven years.
On her Morning Joe opening segment, Brzezinski defended the decision by criticizing the “Five years of political warfare” that had left the nation and Washington “divided.”
She continued, “We have expressed our serious concerns about President Trump’s remarks and actions in the escalation of public discourse as clearly as possible.
“But for nearly 80 million Americans, election denialism, public trials, January 6th were not as important as the issues that moved them to send Donald Trump back to the White House with their vote.”
“Joe and I realize it’s time to do something different, and that starts with not only talking about Donald Trump but also talking with him,” she continued in her remarks on November 18.
The meeting was “extremely cordial,” according to President-elect Trump, who told Fox News Digital after the visit that the two anchors had commended his “flawless” presidential campaign.
Following President Joe Biden’s inauguration, Jones took over as head of MSNBC, and on several significant political evenings, the network achieved new viewership highs.
With an average of 807,000 viewers each day and 1.3 million prime-time viewers at the end of the previous year, the network has experienced a decline in ratings after the election.
OUTGOING M.S.N.B.C. CHIEF MESSAGE
Rashida Jones, the departing president of MSNBC, gave her reasons for leaving in a message to the workforce.
“Over the holidays, after considering our incredible journey and the numerous accomplishments we’ve made as a team, I made this decision.
“This has been the most rewarding chapter of my professional career and I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished, which has been made possible only by you.”
Positive news was that Jones was able to get Rachel Maddow, MSNBC’s most well-known anchor, to return to her nightly show.
Maddow will return to anchor coverage of Trump’s inauguration on January 20 before hosting her prime-time program five nights a week starting at 9 p.m., the news outlet said Monday.
It will only last until April 30, though, after which she is anticipated to return to her regular Monday-only schedule.
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Maddow signed a new deal in 2022 that allowed her to work on other projects, including as a successful round of podcasts, and stepped away from her five-night-a-week schedule.
During the first 100 days of Trump’s second term, Alex Wagner will fill Maddow’s place Tuesday through Friday nights while traveling for different reporting assignments.