Rashida Jones Steps Down As MSNBC President; Rebecca Kutler To Serve As Interim Leader

Rashida Jones is stepping down as president of MSNBC as the network prepares to be spun off from Comcast along with other cable channels.

At a staff meeting Tuesday morning, Jones said that she decided it was the “right time for me” to move on from the network and the company, where she has worked for the past 11 years.

“I’m really excited about what we’ve done. I’m excited about what’s next. I’m excited about what you guys are going to do next,” Jones told staffers, per a source. “I’m excited to watch it from afar, but I’m really excited that this is the right time for me, so, I wanted to share that with you guys directly.”

She said that Mark Lazarus, who is leading the spun off cable assets, asked her to stay on during a transition period.

Rebecca Kutler, Senior VP Content Strategy, will serve as the network’s interim president. At a staff meeting, Lazarus said that MSNBC would retain its name after the spinoff. Kutler also will be hiring a head of newsgathering and a head of talent.

In a separate memo, Lazarus wrote, “Rashida has expertly navigated MSNBC through a years-long, unrelenting and unprecedented news cycle, all while driving the network to record viewership and making investments in nonlinear businesses. MSNBC is well-positioned for the future, and I am grateful that she will continue to support us during this transition.”

Lazarus wrote in a memo that Kutler “is the ideal leader to guide us through this moment.”

Lazarus told staffers that Kutler “has my backing to make whatever decisions she thinks, helps us in coordination with the rest of you, the leadership, and I’m very confident that we have a plan and follow our mission as it has gone on to date, and we’ll be able to advance our advance who we are, and advance our business in our new, in our new company.”

Jones became president of MSNBC in February 2021, succeeding Phil Griffin. She had previously risen in the ranks at NBCU, most recently as Senior VP of NBC News and MSNBC.

Reports that Jones was weighing a departure from the network surfaced shortly after Comcast made the announcement that it was embarking on a spinoff of its cable assets. That will separate MSNBC from sister news organization NBC News.

In the past year or so, MSNBC has touted its ratings gains over CNN, particularly during coverage of major breaking news events like the Democratic National Convention and Election Day.

The network has seen a viewership fall-off since the 2024 election, but executives believe there will be a bounce back after Trump’s inauguration, pointing to past cycles where audiences took a break during the transition.

On Monday, the network announced that its top-rated personality, Rachel Maddow, would return to a five-night-a-week schedule during the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency.

One of Jones’ bigger challenges was the loss of Maddow on all weeknights. After Maddow signed a new agreement in 2021, she scaled back her schedule to Mondays, with Alex Wagner launching a show on the other four nights of the week. Although Wagner doesn’t draw Maddow’s audience, she has beaten CNN in the time slot.

Jones also has added other personalities, including Jen Psaki, the former Biden White House press secretary, whose Sunday afternoon show was then extended to Monday nights. She also expanded Morning Joe to four hours and Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace to two hours. In daytime, she sought to better distinguish news and opinion programming — the latter of which the network calls “perspectives” — with a variation on the MSNBC Reports title. Journalists Jose Diaz Balart, Ana Cabrera and Chris Jansing anchor in the daytime.

MSNBC also has seen viewership improvement with The Weekend, a morning show co-hosted by Alicia Menendez, Symone Sanders Townsend and Michael Steele. She also expanded the network’s longform output, most prominently with last year’s debut of the documentary From Russia with Lev, which drew 2.2 million viewers. Maddow was executive producer of the project.

Jones also has grappled with what have been talent revolts. Last year, after NBC News hired former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel to serve as a paid analyst, tensions quickly escalated on the cable news side. A chorus of personalities publicly bashed the decisions, with Maddow calling it “inexplicable.” According to Maddow, Jones didn’t object to the decision, but after the backlash, assured network talent that McDaniel would not appear on the network.

In November, Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski faced criticism for their visit to meet with Donald Trump shortly after the election. The show saw a viewer drop-off, with some pundits, including David Frum, warning of the dangers of “appeasement” to Trump after months of warnings that he would usher in an era of authoritarianism.

At the staff meeting, Maddow credited Jones with fostering a collegial culture of mutual respect.

“It means knowing that the person at the top is listening to us and is a colleague but is also apart from us –- in part so that she can take the flack, so that she can take the pressure and not pass it down to us,” she said. Maddow added that “allows us to have a culture among ourselves as colleagues where there’s not backbiting, where there isn’t a nest of gossip, where we are treated respectfully, and we know somebody at the top is going to be our heat shield in terms of all the pressures that come down on us.”

Jones recruited Kutler to the network from CNN in September 2022. In addition to Psaki’s show and The Weekend, Kutler has overseen the network’s new live events series MSNBC Live and a new Apple Podcasts subscription offering.

In addition to the pending separation from Comcast, MSNBC also faces the challenge of boosting its streaming offerings as viewers migrate from linear TV. A number of its shows are available on NBCU’s Peacock platform, but Comcast has put substantial news investments in NBC News Now, a free channel with nearly all original programming.

Jones’ memo is below:

Team,

After four incredible years at the helm of MSNBC and 11 years at NBCU, I have made the decision to pursue new opportunities. 

I shared this decision with Mark, who has been incredibly supportive and has asked me to stay on for the next few months to help guide the network during this transitional period.

I came to this decision over the holidays while reflecting on our remarkable journey and the many successes we’ve achieved together as a team. This has been the most rewarding chapter of my professional career and I am immensely proud of what we have accomplished, which has been made possible only by you.

This team is the best in the business, and I will miss being in the trenches (and control rooms!) with you. 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.

I am forever grateful for the shared experiences, the many mentors and mentees from over the years, coffee-fueled late nights and early mornings, and the lessons learned along the way.  

Most importantly, I am more confident than ever that MSNBC is well-positioned for the future.

Rashida Jones

Lazarus’ memo is below:

All,

As Rashida announced this morning, she has made the decision to step down as president of MSNBC after an extraordinary tenure leading the network.

I first met Rashida in 2018, and since then, I have been impressed by her business successes, exceptional producing skills and sharp editorial instincts.

Rashida has expertly navigated MSNBC through a years-long, unrelenting and unprecedented news cycle, all while driving the network to record viewership and making investments in nonlinear businesses. MSNBC is well-positioned for the future, and I am grateful that she will continue to support us during this transition.

Effective immediately, I am pleased to announce the appointment of Rebecca Kutleras the interim president of MSNBC, reporting directly to me. Rebecca is the ideal leader to guide us through this moment, and I look forward to collaborating with her as we shape our collective future together.

Since joining MSNBC in 2022, Rebecca has been a catalyst for growth across our digital, social, and audio platforms, resulting in across-the-board record audience engagement. She is a highly respected industry veteran with decades of experience in executive producing, news programming, and business development. With Rebecca’s track record of driving the development and expansion of several of the network’s marquee programs, it’s no surprise she was recently promoted to oversee all of dayside.

Please join me in expressing our gratitude to Rashida for her invaluable contributions to MSNBC and in congratulating Rebecca on her well-deserved appointment.

Mark Lazarus