Andrea Mitchell, one of the longest-running presences on MSNBC, will give up the reins to her daily noontime show at the NBCUniversal-backed cable-news outlet following the presidential inauguration in 2025, she informed viewers Tuesday at the end of her program.
The veteran journalist is expected to retain her roles as NBC News‘ chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent, and will take up a broader assignment within NBCU’s news operations, reporting for both NBC News and MSNBC. Mitchell, who is expected to turn 78 on Wednesday, has anchored a weekday program on MSNBC since 2008, and has been with NBC News for 45 years, covering every presidential campaign for the outlet since 1980.
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On the Tuesday broadcast of her show, “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” the reporter said that “after sixteen years of being in the anchor chair every day, I want time to do more of what I love the most: more connecting, listening and reporting in the field, especially as whoever is elected next week is going to undertake the monumental task of handling two foreign wars and the political divisions here at home.”
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Her move comes as some of TV’s biggest news operations are scrutinizing costs, and, as a result, moving some established personalities to roles that may not require as high a price, or parting ways with them entirely. Among those who have left NBC News in recent months are experienced staffers such as Cynthia McFadden and Harry Smith. Hoda Kotb, a popular “Today” anchor, has announced that she intends to step away from the morning program early next year to focus more on her young children. Not all of the exits are directly tied to economic decisions, but the departure of or scaling back of roles for so many veterans in a short time frame is noteworthy.
“Andrea remains one of the country’s foremost and most trusted experts on foreign policy and domestic politics,” NBC News said in a statement signed by several of its top executives. “Her deep sourcing and ability to land the biggest-name news-making interviews are unmatched. Her contributions to NBC News over the last 46 years have been invaluable to the network, and we are so pleased that she will remain an essential part of the News Group for years to come.”
Mitchell is viewed as a legend within the news operation. She joined NBC News after working for a few years after college for news radio outlets including Philadelphia’s KWY and Washington D.C’s WTOP. She had an early assignment covering energy, and as such was on hand to report on the Three Mile Island partial nuclear meltdown near Harrisburg, Penn., in 1979. Her travels have taken her to North Korea, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, the West Bank, Ukraine, Bosnia, Kosovo, Pakistan, Haiti, Sudan and Japan.
MSNBC’s immediate plans for Mitchell’s noontime slot remained unclear. She is the lone daytime correspondent to anchor from Washington, D.C. CNN also relies on a Washington-based correspondent to anchor its 12 p.m. schedule, which is filled with Dana Bash’s “Inside Politics.” Fox News Channel offers “Outnumbered,”a panel show led in part by Harris Faulkner.
MSNBC has in recent years used the bulk of its daytime hours for straightlaced news reporting, offering a contrast to the progressive-opinion programs that take up the bulk of its evening hours. Ana Cabrera, Jose Diaz-Balart, Katy Tur and Chris Jansing, like Mitchell, fill the hours between “Morning Joe” and Nicolle Wallace’s “Deadline: The White House” at 4 p.m. Chris Jansing, who starts her on air shift at 1 p.m., anchors two hours each day.
If the outlet wished to keep Washington the focus at noon, it could tap any number of personnel, including veteran reporter Kelly O’Donnell or White House chief Peter Alexander, who currently co-hosts the Saturday edition of “Today.” Or it could rework its current daytime roster, or even bring in someone new to the mix.
