MS NOW leans into its liberal identity by rolling back on straight news programs, insiders say
MS NOW's overhaul of its programming is signaling that it is leaning into its liberal identity, network insiders say.
On Wednesday, MS NOW announced a major shuffling of its on-air talent coming in June. The network is ending its straight news programs hosted by Ana Cabrera, who is exiting the network, and Chris Jansing, who has been tapped to become MS NOW's chief political reporter.
Liberal host Stephanie Ruhle will be leaving "The 11th Hour" at night to take over the 9 a.m. time slot previously filled by a fourth hour of "Morning Joe," and her old show will be handed off to weekend host Ali Velshi.
Alicia Menendez, co-host of "The Weeknight," will be getting her own afternoon show, and Luke Russert will take over her seat alongside "Weeknight" colleagues Symone Sanders-Townsend and Michael Steele. MS NOW reporter Jacob Soboroff will take over Velshi's time slot on the weekends.
One network insider told Fox News Digital that MS NOW is veering away from the "Andy Lack nonsense" of the editorial programming separations between daytime and primetime, referring to the network's former chairman during its MSNBC days from 2015-2020.
"Both internally and to the viewer, the distinctions are less clear than they used to be, including the distinctions between perspective and news," the MS NOW staffer said. "The sort of the general weakening of CNN has caused MS NOW to lean more into what it is and what its viewers like."
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The insider pointed to the success of "Deadline: White House" hosted by Nicolle Wallace, highlighting how her 4 p.m. show earns viewership that rivals the network's primetime programming.
"What we're finding is you can achieve that in different parts of the day if you don't pretend to be CNN for half your lineup," the MS NOW staffer said. "So, I think what you're going to be seeing is changes to shows that just seem like news, right?
"The Ana Cabrera, Chris Jansing thing — those are disappearing. I think you're gonna see that throughout the lineup. Everything's going to feel a little more MS NOW all the way through.
"[The viewers] like MS NOW, they're super loyal to MS NOW, and they'd like MS NOW to be MS NOW all the time."
MS NOW was the new name given to MSNBC last fall after the network underwent a branding relaunch as part of its corporate divorce from parent company NBCUniversal. During the separation, MS NOW had to develop its own newsgathering apparatus after having relied on NBC News' resources for decades.
On Wednesday's 10 a.m. editorial call, MS NOW President Rebecca Kutler doubled down on the direction of the network's programming.
"We want to make sure that, as we cover the news, we are creating shows and programs that bring personality to every hour of the day," Kutler told staff, Fox News Digital learned.
"I definitely feel better about it now than I did then," the MS NOW insider said. "I think things have executed much more effectively than I thought they would.
"The bottom line is Donald Trump and the environment helped us figure out what it is we needed to be. And I think they're leading into it. So, I would say I'm more bullish about the place than I was when it started."
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A second MS NOW insider told Fox News Digital the network's separation from NBC News "is the best thing that could have happened to us."
"We know exactly who we are and who our audience is," the source said. "Leaders here won’t make the same mistakes that CNN did, trying to find a cable audience that doesn’t exist."
MS NOW did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.