Commentary
No Joy At MSNBC As Left-Leaning Media Assesses Life Under Trump
- by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, February 26, 2025
The TV news-and-commentary landscape is undergoing changes in the new era of Trump, some related to his ascendance and some not.
For example, some interpreted MSNBC's cancellation of “The ReidOut” over the weekend -- resulting in host Joy Reid leaving the network -- as the beginning of an effort by MSNBC to tone down the loudest of its left-leaning rhetoric on the network.
Joy Reid is only the beginning, insist the gleeful hosts at the ideological competition, Fox News, who are nothing if not gloaters.
Not surprisingly, the interpretation they are presenting to their followers this week is that the powers that be at MSNBC, CNN and even ABC News, CBS News and NBC News (of which MSNBC is a part) have finally seen the light.
They are taking a hard look at their leftist anchors and commentators, the Fox’ers say, to see where they can moderate their content in the Trump era.
advertisement
advertisement
On the other hand, Joy Reid's cancellation might have little or nothing to do with the prevailing political headwinds.
“The ReidOut” just might have been sucking wind where it mattered most -- namely, how many people watched it. That is usually the coin of the realm when it comes to canceling TV shows.
Some might say that most -- if not all -- of the MSNBC lineup is sucking wind. Nevertheless, there is no sign yet that any other of MSNBC' left-leaning hosts are headed to the chopping block, although the network is making other changes.
Among other things, Biden's former press secretary, Jen Psaki, has been awarded the highest-profile prime-time slot -- 9-10 p.m. Eastern. She will move into the hour in April, Tuesday through Friday nights.
The slot has been occupied since Trump's election by Rachel Maddow, who agreed to appear five nights a week for Trump's first 100 days.
When Maddow goes back to her Monday-only schedule in April, Psaki will move in -- replacing Alex Wagner, who will remain at MSNBC in another role.
Behind the scenes, the MSNBC moves are the work of the network's new president, Rebecca Kutler, who is evidently intent on doing something about the network's malaise.
The former president, Rashida Jones, quit in January just days before Trump's inauguration. Jones said she will “pursue other opportunities.”
That tired phrase instantly makes one think the person pursuing these alleged opportunities did not exactly choose to leave.
So, what's the problem? In good times or bad, one thing seems to always stay the same in the competitive arena of left vs. right political talk on TV (and also radio).
The righties always seem to win, whether or not their guy is president. Fox News has long been ahead of its two left-leaning competitors MSNBC and CNN.
Now, following Trump's victory in November, Fox is way up and MSNBC and CNN are down, Fox News' total audience increased 40% in January over January 2024. MSNBC's audience fell 33% and CNN's 14%, reports Wayne Friedman.
Some might look at these ratings and conclude naively that MSNBC and CNN can benefit by somehow moving rightward -- to sail with the wind, rather than against it.
But after positioning themselves in opposition to Trump in particular and conservatism in general for so many years, the only way to change would be to scrap everything and start over.
But it would take years to make that evolution. Besides, Fox got there first. When it comes to cable news and commentary, Fox rules the right.
It is obviously easier said than done, but what the other two channels need are better air talent and better shows.
CNN's problem is somewhat different from that of MSNBC. CNN has yet to learn that in cable news, the important thing is not the news, as on many days the news is not very interesting, but the commenatry and viewers bonding with the hosts. MSNBC's problem seems to be that a lot of left leaning viewers felt badly misled by its reporting, the way it covered up for Biden and, later, its coverage of the Harris vs Trump POTUS campaigns. Based on MSNBC's take on the two campaigns, Harris seemed like a winner, when , in fact, she wasn't.
Of the two situations, I suspect that MSNBC is most likely to recover in viewing time--aka average minute ratings---providing it dumps some of its lost credibility hosts and the Trump/Musk POTUS team continues to scare the wits out of the lefties by the ways it conducts business. If you look back in time, the advent of Trump in the White House in 2017 is what propelled MSNBC into a strong second place finish in the Nielsens.
As for CNN, unless it finds more interesting hosts and caters to both left and right viewpoints in these selections--as opposed to relying mostly on interviews of conservatives by anchors and reporters who display little emotion at what is said, it can expect more of the same. Fairly high reach attainment but low average minute ratings as few viewers stick around for sustained periods of exposure.
I can take CNN from time to time MSNBC not so much why I don't watch them. And I never got into the primetime opinion & commantary shows other than The O'Reilly Factor his last few years just in the background other than talking points and viewer e-mail. I get that opinion shows is what pays the bills for cable news and them all being over the top as well.
It was a good move to fire Joy Reid was surprised that ad companies didn't bail like they did for O'Reilly & Tucker Carlson which the ratings was the reason they stuck with Carlson who was getting almost 3 million a night before firing him. I wouldn't be surprised if MSNBC was gloating when Tucker Carlson was fired just like FOX News did when host got fried at CNN & MSNBC.
It's odd that the left keeps saying "we need a Joe Rogan" like the right has a magic want to just spit out personalities that resonate with the audience.
The left had a Joe Rogan - they actually had Joe Rogan. He is unapologetically progressive and was all-in on Bernie. But people like Rogan and Bill Maher aren't afraid to call out progressive nonsense, which is why both personalities pull in audiences from all political spectrums and remain popular and neither of them need a corporate overlord to dictate and nonsensical talking points.
The majority of people in this country are in the middle politically and would love news without the politcal commentary injected into everything. So if you want audience, project and communicate with truth and common sense instead of placating the far right wing and far left wing nut jobs.