MSNBC Delicately Plots Its Post–Joy Reid Future

Finally free of the scandal-making presence that was host Joy Reid — and rid of the blandly woke Alex Wagner — MSNBC is trying distance itself from the progressive extremism that has defined it for years.

This month, new president Rebecca Kutler announced the appointment of Scott Matthews, the news director at New York’s WABC-TV, to lead a newly established journalism operation. MSNBC is hiring over 100 journalists to work under Matthews.

The new journalism operation is being formed as MSNBC is spun off from Comcast into a separate company. MSNBC has long relied on NBC News for its news gathering, but that arrangement will likely cease later this year when MSNBC is separated from Comcast.

Many have predicted that, without the assistance of NBC News’ journalism, MNSBC would simply fully focus on the progressive opinion content that has defined it for years. Evidently, MSNBC wants to defy those expectations. Its executives have decided that progressive talk shows with no journalistic backbone would be a poor business decision amid a conservative ascendancy.

In announcing Matthews’ new role, Kutler focused on how he would significantly increase MSNBC’s journalistic output. Kutler wrote, “Scott’s new role reflects our plans to build out MSNBC’s domestic, Washington and international newsgathering operations and expand our presence in the field.”

The decision to fire Reid was already a signal that executives wanted to move on from being seen as an extremist network. Reid’s show created a scandal for the network with each passing week. This usually related to Reid’s pervasive race obsession and opposition to Israel’s effort to defend itself. (On race, Reid once said white Christians “see themselves as the rightful inheritors of this country.” On the war between Israel and Hamas, Reid stated, “How does bombing a densely populated land strip filled 50 percent with children constitute self-dense?”)

The reassignment of Alex Wagner, who hosted a forgettable show in the 9 p.m. slot for several years, also signaled that MSNBC’s executives wanted to go in a new direction. Wagner epitomized the woke progressivism that Americans are sick of and that sunk Kamala Harris’ chances in the presidential race. The first week that she hosted her show, Wagner traveled to Florida to report on “Christian nationalism” and she framed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ policies — such as requiring age-appropriate lessons on issues of gender and sexuality in elementary schools — as an affront to LGBTQ rights. In addition, Wagner also denounced laws aimed at keeping boys out of girls’ sports as “anti-trans.” To top it all off, she held radically progressive views on Israel and seemed to suggest the anti-Israel campus protests were having a positive impact by making Americans question U.S. support for Israel.

Also on the chopping block this year at MSNBC have been hosts Katie Phang and José Díaz-Balart, both low performers for the network who were possibly kept on out of fear that critics would cry racism if they were removed.

And, indeed, cry racism they did indeed.

Keith Olbermann, who previously hosted a show on MSNBC, called the firings “an MSNBC purge so brutally racist it makes you think it was done by Musk.”

Rachel Maddow, who is hosting the network’s 9 p.m. slot Monday through Friday for the first 100 days of the Trump administration, went so far as to denounce the firings on air, saying, “Personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let [Reid] walk out the door. It is not my call, and I understand that. But that’s what I think.” She pointed out the races of the fired hosts, saying, “It is also unnerving to see that on a network where we have two — count ’em — two nonwhite hosts in prime time, both of our nonwhite hosts in prime time are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend.”

The network is trying to move on. In a major win, Kutler brought Eugene Daniels on full-time as her first significant hire. Daniels was formerly White House correspondent for Politico, where he developed a record of major scoops. His hiring signals MSNBC’s intention to focus on breaking news. MSNBC has also announced that Washington Post columnists Catherine Rampell and Jonathan Capehart will join Daniels on his new show, giving the appearance (at least) of intellectual substance. MSNBC also announced the hiring of Jacqueline Alemany, a White House reporter for the Washington Post. In contrast, Alex Wagner never wrote all that much on her own apart from a few articles a year for the Atlantic.

While MSNBC has no plans to abandon its left-wing identity, the network’s effort to build a newsroom indicates at least a desire to distance itself from the extreme left.

That will be hard for most Americans to believe — particularly given that Rachel Maddow, who will continue to host her show once a week for a salary of $25 million a year once Trump’s first 100 days are up, is still the network’s face. That’s a sum that could hire a substantial number of journalists.

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