Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki bags MSNBC Nightly Prime-Time Show in a major network overhaul

Jen Psaki is being promoted in a major reorganization at the MSNBC news offices. Going forward, Psaki will host the channel’s nightly prime-time show. The news comes in the wake of the channel’s ousting of prominent media personality Joy Reid amid more reshuffling.

According to a report by The New York Times, the channel’s president, Rebecca Kutler, announced the news in a memo sent to the staff at MSNBC on Monday, February 24.

Jen Psaki has been at the channel since her stint as former President Joe Biden’s press secretary. The story of Psaki’s departure from the esteemed White House position was broken by Axios on April 1, 2022. The platform reported that while Psaki had engaged in talks with other media networks like CNN, she was very close to finalizing her deal with MSNBC.

The following month, it was announced that Psaki would be leaving her role as the press secretary at the White House on May 13, with Karine Jean-Pierre set to take up the mantle, according to Politico.

In an interview released on May 8, 2022, Jen Psaki discussed her decision to quit the White House with Howard Kurtz of Fox News’ Media Buzz. Questioned by Kurtz on the reason for her leaving the job, Psaki emphasized the importance of being present in her children’s lives. Psaki said:

“I’m leaving because I have a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old. They are the most important people in my life, and my husband, of course. And I always knew, having worked in the White House before, that this was not a job that I could do forever. It is a huge honor to do it, no matter where you are in your life. But I don’t want to miss things with my kids and I don’t want to miss moments or soccer practices or ballet recitals or anything.”

Deadline reported that Jen Psaki’s show on MSNBC, Inside with Jen Psaki, began airing on March 19, 2023, and was expanded into the Monday slot in September of that year. This was after a majestic launch, which saw 1.1 million viewers tuning in to the first episode, as reported by TheWrap.

According to Kutler’s staff memo accessed by The Washington Post, Jen Psaki will host the 9 pm prime-time slot from Tuesdays to Fridays, replacing Rachel Maddow April onwards. Maddow has been hosting the prime-time slot and covers President Donald Trump’s initial days back in office instead of regular programmer Alex Wagner. Wagner is said to remain a political correspondent in wake of Psaki’s appointment to the week-day prime-time slot.

The New York Times reported that a change of name for Jen Psaki’s show might be on the cards.

Joy Reid’s departure from MSNBC amid Jen Psaki's appointment

While Jen Psaki is getting a prominent prime-time role on the channel, Joy Reid’s landmark MSNBC show, The ReidOut, which aired during the 7 pm slot, was cancelled by the channel. The news was broken by The New York Times.

The ReidOut began airing on July 20, 2020, and Reid’s appointment as the host of a nightly slot on MSNBC was hailed as a progressive move. The Washington Post noted at the time that Reid would be the only black woman anchor of a daily prime-time news channel.

Reid took to the social media app Bluesy to address her viewers in the midst of news of her departure. She wrote:

“I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reached out with kindness and encouragement, both personally and in these social media streets. So very proud of The Reidout @joy.msnbc.com team, who are truly family, and all of our supporters & friends. See you tomorrow night at 7, one more time”

In a live Zoom call being broadcast on YouTube with the organization, ‘Win With Black Women,’ Reid spoke about her emotional reaction to the news, saying:

“As you can imagine I have been through every emotion over the past several days…I’ve been through every emotion from, you know, anger, rage, disappointment, hurt, you know, feeling that…guilt you know that I let my team lose their jobs but in the end where I really land and where I've landed on today is just gratitude, just pure gratitude…I’m proud of my little team who the little team that, I told them today they were the Avengers, they were this little diverse team who we constructed deliberately to represent every type of person in this country”

The last episode of The ReidOut aired on Monday, February 24. The slot will be filled by hosts Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, and Alicia Menendez, who currently host The Weekend.