Jen Psaki, Former White House Press Secretary, to Launch Streaming MSNBC Show in 2023

variety.com:

Brian Steinberg Senior TV EditorOne of the news industry’s worst-kept secrets is finally seeing the light of day.Jen Psaki, the White House Press Secretary who resigned from the role a few weeks ago, is slated to join MSNBC in the fall, where she will host a new streaming program that is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2023.

She will also appear on NBC and during MSNBC’s special programming related to the 2022 midterm elections and the 2024 presidential election.

MSNBC is confirming a hire that has been known about in TV-news circles for several months.“Her extensive experience in government and on the campaign trail and perspective as a White House and Washington insider is the type of analysis that sets MSNBC apart,” said Rashida Jones, MSNBC’s president, in a prepared statement. “She’s a familiar face and trusted authority to MSNBC viewers, and we look forward to her insight during this consequential election season.” Psaki’s hire is emblematic of big changes taking place at MSNBC, which for the past few years had portrayed itself as a placed where viewers might get breaking-news coverage across the day and even into the evening when warranted, while being served opinion programming from a progressive lens in the evening.

Increasingly, however, the network is ceding more hours to opinion programming — “Morning Joe” was recently expanded to four hours and MSNBC has hired analysts and opinion hosts like Katie Phang and Ayman Mohyeldin — and has shrunk the number of programs devoted to straight news.Many of these shifts take place as the advent of streaming video pushes NBCUniversal to shake up how it operates its news assets.