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** OPINION
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** MSNBC’s new hire will bring aboard 100 journalists ahead of an upcoming shift
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Scott Matthews, MSNBC's new senior vice president of newsgathering. (Courtesy: MSNBC)

Lots of moving and shaking at MSNBC these days. And you can see why.

For starters, the network continues to try to close the gap in the cable news ratings with top dog Fox News while also trying to maintain its advantage over CNN.

In addition, it has a new president. Rebecca Kutler recently had the interim tag removed from her title after taking over for Rashida Jones in January. Since Kutler assumed control, she has made an array of programming moves, including canceling Joy Reid’s prime-time show, moving one of her favorites — and rising stars — Jen Psaki to evenings, and adding new names to their weekend lineup, including poaching Eugene Daniels from Politico and Jackie Alemany from The Washington Post.

The network made another major move on Thursday. It brought Scott Matthews on board to be MSNBC’s senior vice president of newsgathering. He will run the editorial and production newsgathering operation and coordinate day-to-day breaking news coverage. He will also establish an assignment desk. Matthews’ extensive journalism career includes stints at CNN, CNBC and many local markets, including most recently as vice president and news director at WABC-TV in New York City.

Along with the hire, MSNBC announced that Matthews is expected to bring on more than 100 journalists, including field producers, correspondents, photographers and others.

Kutler said in a statement, “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.”

So, yeah, lots of moves these days at MSNBC.

There’s also another reason why MSNBC seems to be beefing up — it is eventually going to split off from NBC News. Comcast is spinning off several of its cable stations, including MSNBC. For its 28-year existence, MSNBC has shared in NBC News’ large stable of journalists. But that’s coming to an end.

The Washington Post’s Jeremy Barr wrot ([link removed]) e, “Ahead of that split, MSNBC is in the process of building out an independent newsgathering and reporting operation that will include a bureau in Washington and a newsroom in New York, away from its longtime base at 30 Rockefeller Plaza.”

Matthews will essentially be in charge of that news operation, reporting directly to Kutler.


** A big deal
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Wow, this is some deal. According to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand ([link removed]) , ESPN has agreed to terms with star Stephen A. Smith on a new contract worth at least $100 million over five years. Marchand reports that Smith’s focus will continue to be the daily morning show, “First Take,” and that he will scale back some of his other duties for the network.

Marchand writes, “Smith will not be a regular on ESPN’s top NBA pregame show anymore, though he could still make occasional appearances on top basketball studio programs, as well as the ‘Monday Night Football’ pregame or during other big time events.”

That would free Smith up for work outside of ESPN, including appearances on other shows to talk about whatever he pleases, including politics. There have long been rumors that Smith might get directly involved in politics. During an appearance on ABC’s “The View” this week, Smith said he is not qualified to be president, but, as of now, he could beat any Democrat out there.

So, all in all, a good deal for Smith. He gets a chunky raise (he was believed to be making about $12 million a year) while doing less work for the network. But it’s still a smart move by ESPN. Smith remains the network’s biggest personality and has a huge following among ESPN viewers and sports fans.

Is he worth $100 million? Hard to say. Probably not. But his absence would create a big hole in ESPN’s programming. It might be better to overpay for a superstar who delivers solid programming than not have a superstar at all.

Having said that, one thing we should note. There are many moving parts — one doesn’t necessarily have to do with the other — and it might be comparing apples to oranges but … the news of this Stephen A. deal comes just one day after reports that Disney, which owns both ESPN and ABC, will cut about 6% of staff from ABC News and Disney Entertainment Networks. That also included shutting down the data-driven site FiveThirtyEight.


** Media news, tidbits and interesting links for your weekend review …
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* Axios’ Sara Fischer with “CBS moves to dismiss $20 billion Trump lawsuit.” ([link removed])
* Really good work here by The Washington Post’s Drew Harwell and Sarah Ellison: “Inside the Trump White House’s relentless strategy to dominate the news.” ([link removed])
* A grim story from The New York Times’ Elisabeth Bumiller: “‘People Are Going Silent’: Fearing Retribution, Trump Critics Muzzle Themselves.” ([link removed])
* Washington Post media reporter Will Sommer is leaving the Post to join The xxxxxx, where he will report on “the forces driving today’s far-right.” Sommer will publish a twice-a-week newsletter, “False Flag,” alongside video content on Substack and YouTube. Sommer told CNN’s Brian Stelter, “The online world that I've been following my whole career is no longer a side show of conspiracists, castoffs and rabble-rousers. It is now the main driver of our daily conversations. In many respects, it is the backbone of our current government. I look forward to reporting on this community and telling these stories for an outlet that is growing rapidly and meeting news consumers where they are.” Oh, and let’s not lose sight of the fact that another superb Post reporter is leaving the paper.
* NBC News’ Allan Smith with “Social Security Administration bars employees from reading the news at work.” ([link removed]) And here’s more ([link removed]) from The Washington Post’s Lisa Rein, Jeff Stein and Hannah Natanson, who first reported on this story.
* Last month, The New York Times asked readers to submit their questions on how the Times is covering the Trump administration. They received hundreds of submissions. Here’s “You Asked, We Answered: How The Times Is Reporting on the Trump Administration.” ([link removed])
* HuffPost’s S.V. Date with “White House’s Favored Reporter’s Outlet Took Payments For Covering Trump.” ([link removed]) Date writes, “The White House’s favored new reporter, the one who scolded Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not wearing a suit, was the primary voice at a ‘news’ outlet that has taken $192,000 from President Donald Trump’s political committees, nearly half of which came while he was program director there. Brian Glenn now works for a pro-Trump streaming platform called Real America’s Voice, but from September 2020 to May 2024, he was the most visible face at Right Side Broadcasting Network. Over those years, the outlet took $92,000 in ‘broadcast’ fees, first from Trump’s Save America committee and then from Trump’s campaign, according to a HuffPost review of Federal Election Commission filings.” By the way, Glenn is also the boyfriend of Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjori
e Taylor Greene.
* Big move in the sports media world. Dan Wetzel, who has spent the past two decades writing for Yahoo Sports and is considered one of America’s top sports columnists, is headed to ESPN. He joins as a senior writer, focusing on investigative reporting, news analysis, and feature storytelling. ESPN says he will work in multiple platforms, including the podcast and television/streaming spaces. Here’s more ([link removed]) from Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod.
* Catching up on this from a couple of days ago. Awful Announcing’s Andrew Cohen with “Gannett seeks AI sports editor amid union tensions, past controversies.” ([link removed])
* US Weekly’s Shelby Stivale with “Hannah Berner Responds to Controversy Surrounding Megan The Stallion Vanity Fair Oscars Interview.” ([link removed]) And in case you missed it, my colleague, TyLisa Johnson, wrote about the Berner-Megan interview in “What we can learn from the botched Vanity Fair interview with Megan Thee Stallion.” ([link removed])


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