In an emotional and powerful rant, MSNBC personality Rachel Maddow criticized her own network after the network canceled shows hosted by colleagues Joy Reid, Alex Wagner, and Katie Phang—all non-white.
The network reports that for every job impacted, a new position is being posted, initially for internal applicants. As it prepares for its split from Comcast later this year, MSNBC is planning to launch its own Washington bureau and hire staff for a new news division. The move marks the first significant change under the leadership of new MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler.
Reid's show will be replaced by a program hosted by Symone Sanders Townsend and Michael Steele, both Black, along with Alicia Menendez, a Latina. Maddow made an appearance during Reid’s final show, telling her that she felt "bereft" about the end of the program.
And during her own program, she went further:
“In all of the jobs I have had in all of the years I have been alive, there is no colleague for whom I have had more affection and more respect that Joy Reid."
"I love everything about her. I have learned so much from her. … I do not want to lose her as a colleague here at MSNBC, and personally, I think it is a bad mistake to let her walk out the door. It is not my call and I understand that. But that’s what I think.”
Maddow said it was “unnerving” that “both of our non-white hosts in primetime are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend.”
She added that she:
"feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible, and I do not defend it.”
She noted that producers and writers are “being put through the ringer” and have no job security, facing potential layoffs:
“They’re being invited to reapply for new jobs. That has never happened at this scale in this way before when it comes to programming changes, presumably because it is not the right way to treat people, and it’s inefficient and it’s unnecessary.”
“Maybe all of our folks, including most of the people who are getting this very show on the air right now, maybe they will all get new jobs here, and I hope they do. But in the meantime, being put in this kind of limbo, the anxiety and the discombobulation is off the charts, at a time when this job is extra stressful and difficult.”
She concluded with an indictment against news outlets, saying they need to treat their colleagues with more consideration and respect:
"This is a difficult time in the news business, but it does not need to be this difficult. We welcome new voices to this place and some familiar voices to new hours. It’s going to be great, honestly. We want to grow and succeed and reach more people than ever and be able to be resilient and stay here forever."
"I also believe, and I believe that you believe the way to get there is by treating people well. Finding good people, good colleagues, doing good work with them, and then having their back. That we could do a lot better on.”
You can hear what she said in the video below.
Many concurred.
Kutler, the aforementioned new MSNBC president, assumes leadership of the network at a crucial time, as MSNBC is set to be spun off from Comcast, along with other cable channels, in a deal expected to finalize by year’s end. With NBC News no longer a sister company, Kutler has expressed plans to create a new news organization.
Mark Lazarus, the leader of Comcast's spinoff company said Kutler "has played a pivotal role in the development of many of the network’s recent program launches, has been a driving force behind MSNBC’s nonlinear growth and strategic investments, and has introduced new and innovative audience-focused products."
Reid, Phang, and Wagner might disagree.
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