MSNBC president Rashida Jones weighing network exit after Trump is sworn in: report
MSNBC president Rashida Jones is considering leaving the network after President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in to a secon🔯d term 🌼in the White House as the left-leaning channel’s ratings crash, according to a report.
Jones – who took the helm in 2021 and became th💞e first black woman to lead a major national news network – is mulling an exit from the job early next year, by O🍌liver Darcy in his Status newsletter.
The move would only come after Trump is ꧟sworn 🀅in to serve a second term as president on Jan. 20, Darcy reported, citing anonymous sources.
A decision has not yet been made and it is p♕ossible nothing will come of it, Darcy wrote.
A spokesperson for Jones denied the report, acꦗcording to the Status🍨 newsletter.
NBC declined to comment.
CNN’s Brian Stelter based on his own sources.
“It’s amazing how people want to spend more time with their families or look for new challenges when the ratings crash,” a TV exec said sarcastically — skeptical that Jones would be leaving the helm on her own accord.
“Of course she’s making the decision,” the TV exec added. “They’re all leaving on their own, Norah O’Donnell, Chris Wallace.”
CNN anchor Chris Wallace was reportedly told his two poorly-rated shows would be axed and his maಞssive salary slashed before he anꩵnounced in November that he was leaving the n💝etwork,.
And Norah O’Donnell announced in July that she would be leaving her CBS anchor chair — after her salary was slashed and the network’s ratings have continued to fall over the past few years.
A network source, however, disputed speculation tha꧅t Jones would be forced out.
“Anyone who believes that Rashida’s potential decision to leave is influenced by anyone other than herself clearly underestimates the respect she has inside 30 Rock,” a network source said.
MSNBC’s ratings have been in free fall sin🌱ce Trump clinched the White House in November.
Since Election Day, MSNB🎶C recorded an average of 497,000 total-day viewers – a 47% drop, according to data from Nielsen. The network only registered a paltry 49,000 viewers in the advertising-coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54, according to Nielsen.
The network’s “Morning Joe” co-hosts, Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, 💟also f♕aced backlash from loyal viewers after they met with Trump in Mar-a-Lago –🐭 after years of criticizing h🎃im.
It’s not the first time fed-up viewers have fled the left-leaning cable news network. MSNBC’s ratings nosedived after Trump won the White House in 2016, and again after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Trump in June, though those declines were not nearly as steep.
A network source said linking the decline in ratings to Rashida’s potential exit overlooks her track record as president.
Prior to the post-election ratings slump, Jones had presided over several years of ratings growth at the network. MSNBC’s election night coverage even beat CNN’s ratings this year for the first time ever. Fox News’ election night ratings came out on top for the second year in a row.
MSNBC has also hosted some successful live events under Jones’ leadership, like the Howard Gilman Opera House in Brooklyn full day of programming with the network’s star talent this fall.
Aside from Jones’ potential exit, the network faces an already uncertain future as NBC’s ဣparent company weighs whether to sell off its struggling businesses – including MSNBC.
Comcast revealed in October that it is considering spinning off MSNBC, CNBC, Bravo, E!, Syfy, USA Network and Oxygen 🔜True Crime into a “new, well-capitalized company owned by our shareholders,” president Mike Cavana🍎gh said.
