MSNBC President Rashida Jones resigned on Tuesday, less than a week before President Trump is to be inaugurated.
Jones ran the network throughout most of the Biden administration’s tenure, where she oversaw the hiring of former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki to have her own show, extended “Morning Joe” to four hours and replaced Rachel Maddow with Alex Wagner for four days a week.
In a memo to staffers, Jones wrote that “[A]fter four incredible years at the helm of MSNBC and 11 years at NBCU, I have made the decision to pursue new opportunities.”
“The people here at MSNBC are what make this place truly special, and our shared mission is what has always united us: to keep our viewers, readers and listeners well-informed, provide critical context, ask tough questions, speak hard truths, say the quiet part out loud, and always adhere to the facts, without fear or favor,” Jones wrote.
News: MSNBC President Rashida Jones is stepping down from the role after 4 years. She will be replaced in the interim by Rebecca Kutler, SVP of Content Strategy, effective immediately. Kutler was recently appointed to oversee daytime programming pic.twitter.com/Iy7Obo1W0z
— Natalie Korach (@NatalieKorach) January 14, 2025
Jones will remain as an advisor to the network through March.
While it is not clear if declining ratings directly led to Jones’ resignation, the Daily Beast noted that “MSNBC’s ratings have steadily trickled up since a post-election exodus saw star Rachel Maddow plunge to her lowest ratings in nearly 10 years, netting just 86,000 in the advertiser-coveted 25-54 demographic two weeks after Trump’s win” and that “[T]he network also saw its primetime ratings in November decline by 22 percent from October, though it was still up over CNN.“
Jones will be replaced by Rebecca Kutler, who was hired by Jones from CNN in 2022. Kutler was MSNBC’s senior vice president of content strategy.