MSNBC Reportedly Tells Two More Anchors To Take Pay Cuts Amid Ratings Tank

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Huff Post

Dec 20, 2024, 11:33 AM EST | Updated 4 hours ago


MSNBC is negotiating pay cuts with night anchors Joy Reid and Stephanie Ruhle as the cable channel nosedives in the ratings after the election, according to a report.

Rachel Maddow, arguably the star of the network, previously agreed to pare down her $30 million salary, it was reported. The Ankler’s report this week about Reid and Ruhle negotiating pay cuts should come as no surprise.

Parent company Comcast generated concern over MSNBC’s future by announcing a plan to spin off MSNBC and some other NBCUniversal properties into a new company.

But perhaps more urgent is the station’s plummeting viewership. Its prime-time audience tanked 55% from Nov. 4 through Dec. 15, according to Nielsen ratings cited by The Wrap. (CNN, a mainstream counterpart, experienced a 46.7% drop.)

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/joy-reid-stephanie-ruhle-pay-cut-msnbc_n_67655820e4b09e10a435e039

[msongs]

1. maybe their audience doesnt like see trump 24/7 we could do that on fox I stopped watching after the

election because all they talked about was trump trump trump.

[LivingInASociety]

13. I fully expect to see Biden 24/7 after 1/20

All Biden, all the time. How can I miss you if you won’t go away? Am I right? Is this a thing?

[prodigitalson]

20. seeing his giant orange head in my living room just isn't an option any more...for mental health reasons

[Chipper Chat]

52. Nail head meets hammer!

[CTyankee]

2. Is there some reason that they are all women anchors? No male anchors treated this way?

[FakeNoose]

14. Well, the bosses and execs are all male

... so presumably they're the ones making the decisions about who gets docked.

Why isn't Andrea Mitchell being shown the door? Also Morning Joe's ratings tanked, does that mean he's getting fired?

[milestogo]

43. Andrea Mitchell is retiring anyway.

[Rebl2]

55. Way past

time. She should have retired many years ago.

[Igel]

19. Are you asking, "Why are only women anchors mentioned, not any males?" or

is it really the case that there are no male anchors affected?

Is there a disproportionate representation or skew between M and F anchors?

Might the F anchors earn disproportionately much?

I don't (know that I) have access to MSNBC so I can honestly say that apart from small excerpts posted here for the various hosts, I've never seen them and honestly don't know what the MSNBC lineup is for talk shows.

(Still, $30 million/year for being a talk-show host? I wouldn't know what to do with $1M/year. Sure, I could find a use for it for the first year--nicer house or at least a nicer neighborhood, hybrid car, upgrade instruments, but otherwise ...? I assume that host has never said, "Wait, how much money is that guy raking in each year? Nobody needs that kind of money!" that wasn't a punch line.)

[jvill]

36. I wish I had the time back I spent reading this teenager journal entry.

[BOSSHOG]

4. I'm a little perplexed

Wouldn’t viewership go down after a years worth of trump and election intrigue? Which very quickly came to an end. Election fatigue? Stepping back, taking a break?

I didn’t see listed the boss of MSNBC taking a pay cut.

[Joinfortmill]

5. Well, if they fired Joe & Mika, that would free up a hunk of cash

[Galraedia]

18. That was my first thought. Why cut prime time anchors pay when you can just get rid of Morning Joe?

[2naSalit]

6. But none...

Of the guys were asked to take a pay cut?

[LiberalArkie]

7. Now, now. The men have to do all the heavy news. All the women have are the cooking, and fashion shows...

in the 1950's TV

[cstanleytech]

23. Maybe their focusing on the timeslots with the fewest number of overall viewers?

[spooky3]

27. Rachel's is their most viewed show. Nt

[cstanleytech]

29. Is or was?

[spooky3]

37. I haven't seen any data showing hers is no longer the highest rated msnbc show. Nt

[cstanleytech]

38. The network might have though so it could be the reason.

I would hope though that she would have also made arrangements so that if the ratings increased again her pay would go right back up immediately.

[spooky3]

39. All of msnbc's ratings tanked after the election, per

Multiple reports. What some people are asking here is whether women are being treated equitably—if all ratings dropped by similar amounts, then it shouldn’t be only the female anchors who are pressured to give up salary. Without the ratings data, it’s wrong to single out Rachel.

[Mike Nelson]

8. I have a BETTER idea!

... excuse Joe and Mika (and Willie)... then move Joy Reid earlier as the host of Morning Joy! Add Velshi as her co-host!

[yellow dahlia]

10. Good idea.

[yorkster]

35. Love Joy but I like Ali and Joy having their

own shows. Wish Ali was on weeknights.

[mzmolly]

9. Democrats are despondent.

We will tune back in once we come to terms with this disaster of an election and have a fight in us, again.

[Chipper Chat]

11. But ONLY and I do mean ONLY

If they quit their obsession with Orange Motherfucker. Especially showing his ugly mug with that shit-eating grin.

[mzmolly]

16. Yes.

eom

[tonekat]

53. And that whiney voice!

I turn devices off when I hear it.

[LizfromRI]

26. No "we" will not go back

I turned off msnbc well before the election and I won't go back. I also stopped watching all the late night comedians. My tv is off most of the time and my electric bill has gone down along with my blood pressure.

[mzmolly]

44. Well, you do what's best for you.

I plan to support media that is out there telling the truth. That’s one way I intend to contribute to democracy while we still have a shred of it.

[LiberalFighter]

12. Get rid of Katy Tur. Get rid of Steve Kornacki.

Andrea Mitchell will be gone. Right?

[spooky3]

28. She won't be an anchor but will do other projects - a special

correspondent type of job.

[LSparkle]

33. Amen! Fuck Kornacki

His segments on election night ... just remembering him at that board raises my BP now. His past in Jersey politics during the Christie regime made me suspicious he’s a R troll.

[Paladin]

34. Him and his khakis are turning up on sports shows, now.

He's fucking up football as well as politics. Lucky us.

[mzmolly]

45. Yes, Tur and Mitchell have to go.

I don’t have anything against Kornacki, personally. I didn’t like the outcome of the election. He pretty much nailed that.

[Emile]

15. Get rid of Joe and Mika.

[choie]

17. no talk of cutting joe and mika's salary, huh?

n/t

[Journeyman]

21. Pare the salaries of ALL the so-called anchors and talk show hosts, hire more investigators . . .

writers, and analysts. Create more and better content, expand beyond the asinine rehashing of what Mango Mussolini does on any given day, and maybe, just maybe, more people will tune in to be informed.

Amazing how that might work.

[doc03]

40. There you go! Sounds good to me.

[AverageOldGuy]

22. They could save even more . . .

. . . by replacing Stephanie Ruhle and Nicole Wallace with old Three Stooges' or Lassy movies or episodes of Gunsmoke. Would be a definite improvement and probably pull more viewers. And ditch Katy Tur and Steve Konracki at the same time.

[rainy]

24. Keep Nicole!

[Paladin]

25. Keep Nicole. Get rid of Ari Melber.

Whatever they're paying him is damn sure too much.

[CentralMass]

47. I was looking up their salaries. ARI melber gets paid chump change.

If the number are right.

Maddow- $30 million
Brezinki - $8 million
Scarborough - $8 million
Geist - 5 $ million
O'Donnell- $4 million
Reid -$3 million
Ruhle- $2 million
Hayes - $1.9 million + an additional $500k performance bonus.
Melber - $162,644

[Paladin]

48. Good. (nt)

[BumRushDaShow]

50. And adding a missing one

Wagner - $600,000

[oasis]

54. Ari could add to his paltry income by becoming

a full time rap artist.

[CentralMass]

57. He's worth about $17 million.

[Karma13612]

30. Here's my idea:

Cut Joe and Mika. Expecting fans of a liberal network ( the ONLY one on traditional broadcast media AFAIK) to start their day with REPUBLICAN Lite is DISGRACEFUL.

As far as the rest of the lineup:

I devour Nicole and Lawrence like a delicious rich Caramel-based dessert. I wish Lawrence’s slot was earlier. I don’t have recording ability. We don’t have cable.

I love Rachel. I wish she was on more than once per week.

I can take or leave Ari. I would like him more if he stuck to normal commentary and interviews instead of turning everything into a rap-lyric-pop culture riff. Drives me nuts. As an aside, the network obviously doesn’t allow one of Ari’s frequent guests, John Flannery, to speak freely. I started following John on his YouTube channel and he’s much more vocal and goes in-depth and doesn’t pull his punches. I was shocked at the difference between his guest appearances and his honesty on YouTube.

Joy talks too fast and always seems way OTT.

The others are only on my periphery so you can keep them or ditch them.

Sorted

[GiqueCee]

31. Is Derrick Johnson, the CEO, taking a pay cut?

MSNBC's problems are his fault, not the on-air talent's. I'm betting not. Until he has some skin in the game, he should keep his fucking mouth shut.

[Hotler]

32. I watched only because I had a small amount of hope we would see justice served. Now that it has been

I see no need to watch only to be reminded every hour, everyday that some people are above the law.

[NJCher]

46. My feelings precisely

EOM

[doc03]

41. Went to the gym yesterday after not being there for weeks. There are twenty TVs mounted on

the wall they have eliminated MSNBC. They have two each of CNN and Fox.

[milestogo]

42. Just the women?

[Mike 03]

51. That's the first thing I noticed too

Why not pay cuts for: Ari Melber, Chris Hayes and Lawrence O'Donnell?

Or, better yet, replace Morning Joe with Ali Velshi and Katie Phang?

Then dump Katy Tur altogether. (I've heard Andrea Mitchell is retiring).

[lapucelle]

49. Don't Willie Geist and Stephanie Ruhle also do the Today Show?

I wonder why Alex Wagner wasn't mentioned.

I appreciate how much time Lawrence O'Donnell gave to Democratic candidates during the 2024 general election. He didn't barrage them with inside baseball questions; he let them get out their message.

Lawrence also stayed far away from the "dump Biden" media groundswell and would broadcast Kamala live at her rallies for 20-30 minutes at a time during his hour.

Unlike many others, Lawrence understood the assignment.

[DrFunkenstein]

56. Their Coverage Is Unbelievably Lame - They Make Me Hate My Own Positions

By articulating them in the lamest way imaginable.

[okaawhatever]

58. I'm going to go back to watching MSNBC. They are the closest thing we have to newscasters. Not going to let them go Fox

if I can help it.