MSNBC host Rachel Maddow got some more bad news this week after she criticized her network following the firing of race-baiting host Joy Reid and the demotion of fill-in host Alex Wagner.
Her criticism comes on the heels of the network revealing that Reid’s and Wagner’s shows would be canceled as part of a broader effort to revamp its programming, with weekend shows hosted by Katie Phang, Jonathan Capehart, and Ayman Mohyeldin also being scrapped.
“She is leaving the network altogether and that is very, very, very hard to take. I am 51 years old,” Maddow said during a show segment in February. “I have been gainfully employed since I was 12 and I have had so many different kinds of jobs, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.
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“But 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 than Joy Reid,” Maddow said of her far-left friend.
“I love everything about her. I have learned so much from her. I have so much more to learn from her,” Maddow continued. “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.”
“I will tell you. It is also unnerving to see that on a network where we’ve got two — count them — two non-white hosts in primetime, both of our non-white hosts in primetime are losing their shows, as is Katie Phang on the weekend,” Maddow said. “And that feels worse than bad, no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible, and I do not defend it.”
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Following those remarks, Maddow was notified that she is losing some of her production staff to job cuts and reassignments.
“Maddow, the biggest star and highest-rated anchor at MSNBC, will get to keep her executive producer, Cory Gnazzo, and several other senior producers,” The Guardian reported, citing inside sources.
“But the rest of Maddow’s team – along with producers who worked on the other cancelled shows, hosted by Katie Phang, Jonathan Capehart, Ayman Mohyeldin and José Díaz-Balart – have been given the option to claim severance or reapply for new roles at the network, the people said,” the outlet added.
This entire year has been brutal for MSNBC in terms of ratings.
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Newly revealed viewing data for the first quarter of 2025 provides some unexpected news to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
For the first time in years, the show hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski is lagging CNN in a critical ratings battleground. According to Nielsen ratings, CNN News Central has eclipsed Morning Joe in the coveted 25-54 demographic for the first time since 2022.
News Central, presented by Sara Sidner, Kate Bolduan, and John Berman, averaged 73,000 viewers in the key demo for the first quarter of 2025, while Morning Joe averaged 64,000. MSNBC lagged CNN in total viewers and demos, ending as the third most-watched cable news network in Q1.
In primetime, MSNBC averaged 1.024 million total viewers and 96,000 in the demo, while their whole day figure was 593,000 total viewers and 57,000 in the demo.
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In comparison to Q1 2024, MSNBC was down -18% in total viewers and -21% in the demo in primetime, as well as -27% and 30% overall.
CNN, however, averaged 558,000 total viewers and 121,000 in the demo at primetime and 428,000 total viewers and 79,000 in the demo for the whole day.
CNN’s dropoff was less dramatic than MSNBC’s in Q1 2024. During primetime, the network lost -6% of total viewers and -1% of the demo, respectively, and -8% and -7% for the whole day.
As previously reported by TV Insider, Fox News stayed at the top of the cable news charts in Q1 2025, with an average of 3.012 million total primetime viewers and 380,000 in the key demo. In all, the network received 1.919 million total viewers and 247,000 in the demo.
These figures show Fox News gained 46% in overall viewers and 63% in the demo during primetime compared to Q1 2024.
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In addition, the network’s total day figures increased by +48% (in total viewers) and +58% (in the demo) over the previous year.
