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MSNBC Sidelines Its Most Progressive Anchors Luca GoldMansour ([link removed])


Nation: MSNBC’s Death Rattle

Dave Zirin (The Nation, 2/28/25 ([link removed]) ): "MSNBC’s programming is now politically monochromatic—and moving as far to the right as the Democratic Party will allow."

At a time when the Democratic Party’s opposition to the ongoing right-wing authoritarian assault ([link removed]) on US government is failing miserably (FAIR.org, 2/27/25 ([link removed]) ), MSNBC’s recent purge means it is all the more unlikely that the cable news network will have any role in holding Democrats' feet to the fire.

The news channel has nixed or demoted their most progressive anchors, all of whom are people of color. These are the hosts who have drawn the most ire from Donald Trump’s online warriors, according to Dave Zirin of The Nation (2/28/25 ([link removed]) ). They are also some of the few who were willing to air the network's rare criticism ([link removed]) of Israel. In their stead, MSNBC has elevated Democratic Party apparatchiks and a center-right never-Trumper. This rightward shift reflects the reality that the channel’s corporate ownership has never cared ([link removed]) for its left-of-center brand.

The network’s overhaul, led by its new president Rebecca Kutler, cancels Joy Reid ([link removed]) ’s ReidOut, Alex Wagner’s nighttime spot and Ayman Mohyeldin’s weekend evening show, with Reid fired ([link removed]) , Wagner demoted ([link removed]) and Mohyeldin’s voice diluted ([link removed]) into a co-anchor position.

The ReidOut is getting replaced by a panel show ([link removed]) consisting of Symone Sanders-Townsend, the former Biden and Harris advisor; Alicia Menendez, the daughter of disgraced ex-Sen. Bob Menendez ([link removed]) ; and Michael Steele ([link removed]) , the former Republican National Committee chairperson, now a Democrat whose politics symbolize the Democratic Party’s disastrous fetish for centrist triangulation. Wagner’s 9 pm slot will now be anchored ([link removed]) by Jen Psaki ([link removed]) , another Biden alum.

As an indication of just how disruptive Kutler’s new vision for MSNBC is, even Rachel Maddow—the network's biggest star with the most popular show—is getting a staff downsizing ([link removed]) . The move seemed almost retaliatory, as it came after Maddow aired her grievances during one of her nightly shows (2/24/25 ([link removed]) ). “Personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let [Reid] walk out the door,” Maddow said. “It is not my call and I understand that, but that’s what I think.” She added:

It is also unnerving to see that, on a network where we’ve got two, count 'em, two non-white hosts in primetime, 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.


** Bucking the trend
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NPR: Joy Reid fired from MSNBC amid network shakeup

Alana Wise (NPR, 2/25/25 ([link removed]) ): "Reid's firing takes one of the most high-profile Black women off the network at a time when the Trump administration has made attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion policies."

Joy Reid has had her disagreements with the left. Her ardent defense of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential bid veered frequently into baseless accusations, online scolding of Bernie Sanders and promotion of the Russiagate conspiracy theory (FAIR.org, 9/3/16 ([link removed]) , 6/30/17 ([link removed]) , 8/24/16 ([link removed]) ). Altogether, that contributed to Democrats’ refusal to conduct a true postmortem of the Clinton loss, the ramifications of which still aid Donald Trump’s dominance.

But during Joe Biden’s presidential tenure, Reid proved to be progressive, relative not just to MSNBC’s other anchors, but many in the corporate media writ large. As New York’s skies turned orange amid historic Canadian wildfires in the summer of 2023, for instance, Reid was one of the few who called out the role of fossil fuels (FAIR.org, 7/18/23 ([link removed]) ).

While other outlets were overemphasizing the inflationary impact of President Biden’s paradigm-shifting economic stimulus in the wake of the Covid pandemic, Reid bucked the trend, drawing the ire of right-wing media (FAIR.org, 7/13/23 ([link removed]) ).

Perhaps most notably, Reid was an outlier in her coverage of Israel’s war on Gaza and its backlash in the US. A FAIR study (8/15/24 ([link removed]) ) found that Reid’s show was the only weekday news program studied to feature students expressing pro-Palestinian sentiment during coverage of the student Gaza solidarity encampments that cropped up at college campuses across the country last spring. The same study found that her show was the only one studied to have mentioned the words “divestment” and “police violence” more than “antisemitism” in relation to the encampments.

Similarly, as outlets like the New York Times provided Israel cover for its bombing of the densely-populated Jabalia refugee camp that killed and wounded 400 Palestinians, Reid questioned how Israel could justify such a disproportionate attack (FAIR.org, 11/15/23 ([link removed]) ).

The panel of Sanders-Townsend, Menendez and Steele promises none of that nonconformity. Instead, they represent MSNBC’s decision to represent an even smaller sliver of the Democratic elite. By elevating the former Biden and Harris advisor Sanders-Townsend, MSNBC has empowered someone with an interest in defending the current Democratic guard’s rule.

The Lincoln Project–affiliated ([link removed]) Steele similarly owes his ascendancy to the sort of Democratic group-think that spurred Kamala Harris’s ruinous gun-touting, Cheney-approved centrist presidential bid. Expect Hakeem Jeffries ([link removed]) praise.


** Pointing out hypocrisy
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MSNBC: Biden administration's declaration of genocide in Sudan exposes glaring double standard

MSNBC's Ayman Mohyeldin (1/13/25 ([link removed]) ) declared that "the US’s head-in-the-sand attitude toward Israel is not only inconsistent with its treatment of other countries, but it’s also a clear act of moral cowardice."

Though not fired, Mohyeldin and Wagner are two more MSNBC figures who have elevated criticism of Israel and are now facing a demotion. Following ex-Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s finding that Sudanese military forces had committed genocide against the Sudanese people, Mohyeldin (MSNBC, 1/13/25 ([link removed]) ) took to the airwaves to point out Blinken’s hypocrisy:

The horrific atrocities committed against the Sudanese should be labeled as genocide. But Blinken’s declaration begs the question: Why is the US unable to apply that same standard to Israel?

If the Biden administration is calling out the famine in Sudan, why not also address the ongoing famine in Gaza, which has been condemned by independent experts ([link removed]) from the United Nations?

After New York Mayor Eric Adams sicced the NYPD on Columbia ([link removed]) and CUNY ([link removed]) students who had erected Gaza solidarity encampments, Wagner (5/1/24 ([link removed]) ) brought on Jelani Cobb, the dean of the Columbia School of Journalism, and CUNY journalism professor (and MSNBC contributor) Peter Beinart, a well-known critic of Israel. During the show, Wagner said she agreed with Beinart that it's "probably a good thing for our national discourse” if the encampment movement is remembered in history as a turning point for debate about US support for Israel. She also suggested that common misrepresentations of the student protestors as treasonous were a “cudgel” to distract
from the issue of US foreign policy towards Israel.


** Mouthpiece for elite interests
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Jacobin: Jen Psaki Is the Latest White House Press Secretary to Cash In

Julia Rock (Jacobin, 5/13/22 ([link removed]) ): "Apparently, serving as press secretary to a Democratic president is great training to run interference for corporations."

Wagner’s replacement is Jen Psaki. No one is more qualified to execute MSNBC’s crusade to become nothing more than a mouthpiece for elite Democratic interests. As Julia Rock wrote in Jacobin (5/13/22 ([link removed]) ) when Biden’s former press secretary left the administration for her first MSNBC gig:

The skills required to act as a press secretary in corporate Democratic presidencies—saying little of substance, committing to nothing, dispensing snark and scoffs, and never even accidentally challenging power—appear to carry over well to playing pundit on MSNBC, the corporate network that serves as the Democratic Party’s de facto propaganda outfit.

As press secretary, Psaki was known for insensitive and condescending quips in response to the public’s desire for good things. After the Democrats’ John R. Lewis Act, which would have enacted broad voting rights reforms, failed to pass the Senate in January 2022, Psaki suggested the public “go to a kickboxing class” or “have a margarita” to rejuvenate their spirits (Business Insider, 1/21/22 ([link removed]) ).

Then there was the time when Psaki got short with NPR national political correspondent Mara Liasson in response to her question asking why the United States, unlike other wealthy nations, couldn’t distribute free Covid-19 test kits to every US household (Jacobin, 12/8/21 ([link removed]) ). Psaki, suggesting the best way to provide tests was Biden’s convoluted plan for reimbursements through private insurance, asked Liasson, “Should we just send one to every American?” Feigning ignorance, she continued, “Then what happens if every American has one test? How much does that cost, and then what happens after that?”

Psaki’s knack for subduing the electorate’s impulse for government to meet their needs will serve MSNBC’s priorities well. Add to that her gig as a “crisis consultant” (Jacobin, 3/20/21 ([link removed]) ) for the Israeli AI facial recognition startup formerly known as AnyVision, whose services were used to surveil Palestinians in the West Bank (NBC, 10/28/19 ([link removed]) ), as well as her consultancy for the ride sharing giant Lyft (Business Insider, 4/1/22 ([link removed]) ), and it's no wonder she got the primetime 9pm slot.


** Ideological thrashing
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FAIR: After 25 Years, There’s a Reason MSNBC Can’t Look Back

Other right-wing hosts featured on MSNBC before it accepted its leftish branding included Don Imus, Oliver North and Alan Keyes (FAIR.org, 8/28/21 ([link removed]) ).

MSNBC’s rightward tack may come as a surprise to those who think it was born fully formed as Fox News’ liberal opposite. But its ideological thrashing over the years—oscillating between right-wing pundits like Laura Ingraham ([link removed]) , Tucker Carlson ([link removed]) and Michael Savage ([link removed]) , and liberals like Phil Donahue ([link removed]) and Keith Olbermann ([link removed]) —before donning its current liberal identity in 2008, with the hiring of Rachel Maddow ([link removed]) , shows the network is more akin to a cable news version of John Carpenter’s The Thing (FAIR.org, 8/28/21 ([link removed]) ).

The owners of MSNBC—once Microsoft and General Electric ([link removed]) , then GE alone, now the cable giant Comcast ([link removed]) —have never held a commitment to its center-left brand beyond its capacity to capture as large a fraction of the market as possible. Now, as other mainstream corporate outlets like CNN are making similar adjustments (FAIR.org, 2/17/22 ([link removed]) ), MSNBC seems to believe its best path to profit is shirking progressives.

The Democratic Party is facing an unprecedented—and justified—crisis in confidence among the public. A recent Quinnipiac University poll ([link removed]) showed Democrats with just a 31% approval rating, the lowest since the school began measuring party approval. Meanwhile, a poll ([link removed]) by the Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project found that “ending Israel’s violence in Gaza” was a top issue for voters who supported Biden in 2020, but cast their ballots for someone other than Harris in the 2024 election.

MSNBC’s firing and demotion of its most progressive ranks, the ones who aired criticism of Israel, means that the Democratic Party—currently America’s sole opposition party in Congress—is all the less likely to be held accountable as the authoritarian right attempts to steamroll through our democracy.
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ACTION ALERT: You can send a message to MSNBC at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .

Please remember that respectful communication is the most effective. Feel free to leave a copy of your message in the comments thread here.
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