Veteran journalist Andrea Mitchell will leave her daytime show on MSNBC after the president’s inauguration in January, the network announced Tuesday.
Mitchell, who turns 78 this week, will remain with NBC News as chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent across the division’s programs on the broadcast network MSNBC and the live broadcast channel NBC News Now. At the conclusion of her program, “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” she told viewers that stepping away from presenting daily programs was her choice.
Mitchell said at the end of her program: “After 16 years of sitting in the anchor chair every day, I want time to do more of what I love most.” “More outreach, listening and reporting in the field, especially since whoever is elected next week will have the huge task of dealing with two foreign wars and political divisions here at home.
In a memo to staff, NBC News leadership said that “Mitchell’s deep resources and ability to interview the biggest names in news-making are unparalleled.”
“Her contributions to NBC News over the past 46 years have been invaluable to the network, and we are thrilled that she will remain an essential part of the news lineup for years to come,” the memo said.
“Andrea Mitchell Reports” launched in 2008 when NBC News was adding more big network names to the channel’s programming lineup.
Mitchell’s even-keeled approach to Washington politics has become unpopular with some MSNBC viewers who have increasingly turned to the progressive-leaning network for critical coverage of former President Trump. Chuck Todd, whose show “Meet the Press Daily” was moved from MSNBC in 2022, has also been subjected to hostile comments on social media.
Andrea Mitchell interviews Cuban President Fidel Castro in 2001.
(NBC News)
Mitchell joined NBC News in 1978 to cover energy affairs as the Iranian revolution disrupted global oil markets. She moved into politics in 1980, where she has covered every presidential election since. Her work as a foreign correspondent has taken her to North Korea, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, the West Bank, Ukraine, Bosnia, Kosovo, Pakistan, Haiti, Sudan, and Japan.
Mitchell began her career in 1976 at an all-news radio station in Philadelphia. She was given a night shift to avoid disrupting the newsroom, which was still a male preserve.
Mitchell soon joined the generation of female journalists who emerged as network news stars in the 1970s, including Lesley Stahl, Connie Chung, Judy Woodruff, and Carole Simpson.
