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Lester Holt is the latest in a line of news anchors across networks to announce his exit from his show.
The longtime NBC Nightly News anchor shared the news of his impending exit on Feb. 24, calling his decades with the network “an amazing ride” in a memo to the Nightly and Dateline staff.
“A smile comes to my face when I think that with Nightly News, and Dateline, I have now anchored two of the most successful and iconic television news programs in broadcast history,” he started his message.
Holt will, however, continue to work with NBC in a full-time role on Dateline.
The same day, MSNBC’s new president, Rebecca Kulter, announced that Joy Reid and three other anchors would be leaving the network.
“We thank her for her countless contributions over the years,” Culter wrote in a statement sent to the staff.
This reshuffling comes after previous changes at MSNBC as well as CNN and Fox.
So why are Lester Holt and other anchors leaving their shows? Here’s what we know about the latest shakeups across NBC, MSNBC, CNN and Fox.
Why is Lester Holt leaving NBC Nightly News?
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On Feb. 24, Holt announced he would be stepping down from anchoring NBC Nightly News at the beginning of the summer, marking 10 years at the news desk. He took over as anchor in June 2015, covering the decade’s defining events, from presidential elections to global crises.
In his memo to staff, Holt explained that it was “time” for him to step away — however, he wasn’t planning on retiring. The longtime news anchor has already worked on NBC’s Dateline since 2011, and added that he will continue in a full-time capacity come summer.
“After 10 years, 17 if you include my years on the weekends, the time has come for me to step away from my role as anchor of Nightly News,” he wrote. “It has truly been the honor of a lifetime to work with each of you every day, keeping journalism as our true north and our viewers at the center of everything we do.”
Holt continued, “I’m excited to report I will be continuing as anchor of Dateline NBC, but for the first time in a fulltime capacity whereby I will be expanding my footprint on the broadcast and crafting Dateline hours on subjects I care deeply about.”
A replacement for Holt has not yet been announced.
Why was Joy Reid’s show canceled?
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On the same day, MSNBC announced it was canceling Reid’s show, The ReidOut, which became an evening mainstay on the network in 2020.
Reid addressed Feb. 23 reports that the Feb. 24 show would be her final one on BlueSky and Instagram just after midnight prior to the memo.
“I just want to say thank you to everyone who has reached out with kindness and encouragement, both personally and in these social media streets,” Reid said. “So very proud of The Reidout @joy.msnbc.com team, who are truly family, and all of our supporters & friends. See you tomorrow night at 7, one more time.”
While it is unclear why the change was made, it is part of an onslaught of shakeups for the network since new president Kulter stepped into the role earlier in February, according to The New York Times. Per the outlet, Kulter has been planning a new programming lineup to boost ratings.
In her statement to the staff, Kutler also announced that rotating anchors will fill Reid’s 7 p.m. ET slot for now. This includes current hosts of The Weekend Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele and Alicia Menendez, who will now move to weekdays to host an ensemble hour of news.
Former MSNBC and Fox News host Megyn Kelly reacted to the news, writing on X, “Good riddance to the absolute worst person on television, and shame on NBC for letting it go on this long.”
Don Lemon, a former CNN anchor, quickly came to Reid’s defense, saying on his The Don Lemon Show, “So let me just say to Megyn Kelly, in my 30-some years as a journalist and my 50-some years as a person of color: Go f— yourself. Okay?”
Meanwhile, Reid’s colleague at MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, began her nightly show on Feb. 24 by mourning her friend’s departure, saying it was “very, very, very hard to take” and calling the move a “bad mistake” on the network’s part.
“I love everything about her. I have learned so much from her. I have so much more to learn from her. I do not want to lose her as a colleague here at MSNBC,” Maddow said.
Who else has left MSNBC?
Dave Kotinsky/Getty; Taylor Hill/WireImage; Shannon Finney/Getty
In addition to Reid’s ousting, Kulter announced that three more anchors’ shows were coming to an end. Ayman Mohyeldin, Katie Phang and Jonathan Capehart will reportedly have their weekend shows, Ayman Mohyeldin Reports, The Katie Phang Show and The Sunday Show With Jonathan Capehart, canceled.
However, Phang will stay on as MSNBC’s legal correspondent, per the New York Post, while Capehart will start anchoring the morning edition of The Weekend and Mohyeldin will lead the program’s evening show.
Just weeks earlier, longtime host of Andrea Mitchell Reports Andrea Mitchell announced that she would no longer be anchoring her show as of Feb. 7. The news didn’t come as a surprise after Mitchell had previously announced in October that the show would end its 17-year run after the presidential inauguration.
While Mitchell will no longer be hosting a daily segment, PEOPLE confirmed that she will remain NBC News’ chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent.
What are other recent network shakeups?
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In addition to MSNBC, other networks have experienced high-profile shakeups in recent months.
On Dec. 19, Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, a longtime critic of President Donald Trump and host of Your World since 1996, announced that while he was “not leaving journalism,” he was stepping away from the network and his 28-year run.
The following month, Jim Acosta revealed that he was leaving CNN after 18 years due to disagreements about the timing of his show. Sources told The New York Times that the network and Acosta clashed over the decision to move him to the midnight hour, which would cost him viewership.
“You may have seen some reports about me and the show, and after giving all of this some careful consideration and [after] weighing alternative time slots CNN offered me, I’ve decided to move on,” Acosta said on his final broadcast on Jan. 28.
Three days later, NBC News’ Chuck Todd shared that he was exiting the network a year and a half after he was replaced on Meet the Press, adding that he was excited about “a few new projects” in the works, including his podcast, The Chuck Toddcast.
