On her primetime Monday night show, MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow ended the "A" block of her show with a blistering criticism of recent moves to cancel shows, move talent around and leave hundreds of staffers in limbo as they reapply for new jobs.
Here are the comments, in full:
I am going to take a little point of personal privilege, if that is okay with you.
You may have already heard about changes that have been announced at MSNBC over the past several days and the president of our network made it official today. Several of our shows are moving to different time slots or expanding or going away altogether.
In primetime, just so you know. I am here - five days a week - for the first 100 days of the Trump's presidency, as planned. And as planned, I will go back to just Mondays after that. That has not changed.
What is changing is the show Alex Wagner Tonight is not coming back at 9 after the first 100 days. Alex will be a senior political analyst for MSNBC and Jen Psaki will begin hosting the 9pm hour, except for Mondays. So that's a big change.
An even bigger programming change is at 7pm. Joy Reid's show, The Reid Out, ended tonight. And Joy is not taking a different job at the network, she is leaving the network altogether. And that is very, very, very hard to take.
I am 51 years old. I have been gainfully employed since I was 12. And I have had so many different kinds of jobs you wouldn't believe you if I told you. But in all of the jobs I have had, in all of the years that I have been alive, there is no colleague I have had more affection and more respect for than Joy Reid.
I love everything about her. I have learned so much from her. I have so much more to learn from her and I did 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 that it is also unnerving to see this on a network where we've got two, count them two, non-white hosts in primetime. Both of our non-white primetime hosts are losing their shows. As is Katie Phang on the weekend.
And that feel worse than bad, no matter who replaces them. That feels indefensible and I do not defend it.
But there is just one other piece of it you should know. From your side of the TV screen, you will mostly see changes in terms of who's in the anchor chair. And actually everybody who is going to be in an anchor chair from here on out are great colleagues and great at what they do. And you are not going to be disappointed about who is on our air and what you are going to be seeing.
But one thing you cannot necessarily see are the people who get our shows on the air. They're really being put through the wringer.
Dozens of producers and staffers, including some who are among the most experienced and most talented and most specialist producers in the building are facing being laid off. They are being invited to reapply for new jobs. That has never happened at this scale in this way before when it comes to programming changes. Presumably because it's not the right way to treat people and it's inefficient and it's unnecessary. And it kind of drops the bottom out of whether or not people feel like this is a good place for people to work. So you don't generally do things that way.
Maybe all of our folks, including most of the people getting this very show on the air right now, maybe they will all get new jobs here. And I hope they do.
But in the meantime, you're put in this kind of limbo. The anxiety and discombobulation is just off the charts. At a time when this job already is extra stressful and difficult.
It is not news for me to you to tell you that the press and freedom of the press are under attack in a way that is difficult for our country. It is very difficult for us here. I know the business of the press is not an easy thing. And I know that no job is forever.
But I think I am safe in saying that for all of these anchors you know through the TV, please know that what pains us most is not what happens to us. It is what happens to our coworkers on who we depend and who you don't necessarily know. But we respect and love them and depend on them. And did I mention we respect them?
This is a difficult time in the news business. But it does not need to be this difficult.
We welcome new voices to this place and some familiar voices to new hours. It's going to be great, honestly. And we want to grow and succeed and reach more people than ever and be resilient and stay here forever.
I also believe and I bet you believe the way to get there is by treating people well. Finding good people, good colleagues, doing good work with them, and then having their backs.
That we could do a lot better on. A lot better.
I'll just note that this is how you use your power when you have it. Maddow is not going to lose her job at MSNBC. So she is perfectly positioned to express her displeasure publicly. And it's not something most primetime anchors on any network would do.
