The change immediately led to questions about whether NBC was blocking the program, which has been loyal to President Biden, for political considerations.
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Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”Credit…Steven Senne/Associated Press
Jim RutenbergBenjamin Mullin
By Jim Rutenberg and Benjamin Mullin
July 15, 2024
Updated 2:21 p.m. ET
President Biden has few more loyal media outposts than “Morning Joe,” the MSNBC opinion show hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, who regularly lambaste former President Donald J. Trump while praising Mr. Biden.
But after a weekend of crisis, tumult and political discombobulation following the attempted assassination of Mr. Trump, the show’s loyal fans tuned in on Monday morning to find breaking news delivered by the NBC digital service NBC News Now.
The change immediately led to questions about whether NBC was blocking the program for political considerations. Some Trump supporters have pointed fingers at the news media for tough coverage and unsparing commentary about him, his legal troubles and plans for a second term.
“I’m stunned,” Roland S. Martin, a former CNN host, wrote on X of MSNBC’s decision, noting it came on the first day of the Republican National Convention.
A staff member on the show, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the producers and hosts had been told over the weekend that MSNBC’s programming would be taken over by its corporate sibling, NBC News, which has a stable of major anchors and hosts including Lester Holt, Savannah Guthrie and Kristen Welker. Mr. Holt’s coverage ran on MSNBC immediately after the shooting on Saturday and he was scheduled to interview Mr. Biden on Monday.
The person said staff members were surprised on Monday when MSNBC ran programming from its digital news service, NBC News Now, instead of the main NBC News show, “Today,” which was not pre-empted.
A spokesman for MSNBC denied that NBC had made the programming change because of political considerations.
In a statement, the network said: “Given the gravity and complexity of this unfolding story, NBC News, NBC News NOW and MSNBC have remained in rolling breaking news coverage since Saturday evening. As we continue to cover this story into the week, the networks will continue to cross-simulcast, alternating between NBC News, NBC News NOW and ‘MSNBC Reports’, so there is one news feed covering this developing situation.”
A spokesman for NBCUniversal News Group said that “Morning Joe” would return Tuesday.
MSNBC made other programming changes after the shooting on Saturday. The network scrapped “VelshiCast,” a planned YouTube livestream that was slated to feature commentary on the Republican convention in Milwaukee delivered by the anchor Ali Velshi, according to a person familiar with the decision.
NBC has been roiled this year by tensions between its hard news broadcast network and MSNBC, which has increasingly embraced its identity as an avowedly liberal network.
MSNBC’s rivals stayed with their regular programming on Monday morning.
A correction was made on July 15, 2024: An earlier version of this article misstated the given name for Mika Brzezinski. She is Mika, not Mike.
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