Reports surfacing out of MSNBC suggest the network is actively pursuing former Fox News personality Shepard Smith and considering moving Chuck Todd to a morning timeslot.
Would there be any marriage more made in heaven than MSNBC, the anti-Trump network, and Rachel Maddow-lite, the anti-Trump journalist?
The news comes following a Daily Beast report suggesting that the network is “bracing for a major 2020 shakeup,” a move designed to “shed ratings dead weight” as we approach the election.
Todd is portrayed as the “ratings-challenged” dead weight while Smith is seen as the knight in shining armor coming to rescue the network.
It sounds like the network is all in on Shep.
“It’s unclear what slot he would take,” an MSNBC insider told the Beast, “but we’d want him in primetime.”
BREAKING: A major shakeup could happen at MSNBC with Chuck Todd’s show moving to a morning slot. Execs are also talking with Fox News escapee Shepard Smith https://t.co/BKrbWQtC2S
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) January 14, 2020
RELATED: Shep Smith Makes First Public Remarks Since Leaving Fox, Talks ‘Vilification’ Of The Press
Chuck Todd Not Happy
The article suggests that Chuck Todd, a mainstay of the network, is not pleased with rumors of being kicked to a less prominent morning timeslot.
“Todd is said to be resisting such a move,” the Daily Beast indicates. “Several sources inside NBC cited the perception that his new slot would hurt him with an even bigger dip.”
They also note that Todd is considered to be a ‘ratings hammock,’ hanging low between two more successful programs.
Ouch.
The disrespect as MSNBC courts Smith has to hurt. Worse, there’s no guarantee that when all is said and done that the network even gets their man. Another, exponentially more biased network is stalking Shep as well.
“We are well aware [Jeff] Zucker [CNN president] is also pursuing him,” one source claims, “as are a number of the networks.”
“Even in our current polarized nation, it’s my hope that the facts will win the day, that the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive.” Watch Shepard Smith announce he’s leaving Fox News after 23 years with the network. https://t.co/a7WCpYc6Re pic.twitter.com/HJGXRlLUI9
— CNN (@CNN) October 11, 2019
RELATED: The Five Most Anti-Trump Journalists on TV
Shep the Drama Queen
There will be a lot of egg on everybody’s face if MSNBC isn’t able to secure Smith following this report.
What makes him such a prized target? Both Todd and Smith were named to our list of the most anti-Trump journalists on television.
On Todd:
The man Rush Limbaugh calls ‘F. Chuck Todd’ is relentlessly overbearing. As host of “Meet the Press Daily,” Chuck is under the impression he must be taken seriously as a journalist, yet he delivers bias on a daily basis so transparent it could only work on NBC.
On Smith:
For years now, Shepard Smith has looked like a consistently befuddled man, lost on a network that prides itself on being fair and balanced, both virtues he does not possess … Smith has been described by co-hosts at the network as “inaccurate” and/or “clueless.”
Smith, however, would draw curiosity simply by being a former Fox News personality. And once people were sucked in, he’d knock them off their feet with his overly dramatic delivery, something low-information viewers motivated by emotion and not facts would fall for in a heartbeat.
Like we said – a marriage made in heaven.
