Ever since Greta Van Susteren resigned from her weeknight On the Record program for the Fox News Channel on September 6, a great deal of speculation has centered on where the former criminal defense and civil trial lawyer would turn up next, with many pundits predicting that she would join the team on MSNBC.
That rumor was verified on Thursday, when Phil Griffin, president of the liberal cable news television channel, announced that Van Susteren will host For the Record With Greta, which will air for an hour weeknights starting at 6 p.m.
According to an article written by Mediaite's Justin Baragona , Griffin praised the new program by stating:
For the Record with Greta will provide news coverage and analysis of the day’s top headlines spanning politics and beyond.
The early evening broadcast will build on MSNBC’s strategic shift to a breaking news focus during the day and, along with MTP [Meet the Press] Daily and Hardball, will provide one of the key bridges to prime time.
The company executive also asserted that “MSNBC marked its most-watched year ever in 2016 and was the fastest-growing top 100 cable network in weekday prime.”
The program, which will debut on Monday, January 9, will be based in Washington, D.C., and replace Bloomberg’s political television show With All Due Respect, which ended in early December.
Van Susteren's latest move makes her the second person to anchor a show on all three cable news channels, Baragona noted. The only other person to accomplish that is Tucker Carlson, who co-hosted Crossfire on CNN and anchored Tucker on MSNBC before launching Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News in November.
After becoming well known after her coverage of the O. J. Simpson murder trial in 1994, she appeared as a legal analyst on the Cable News Network while co-hosting Burden of Proof with Roger Cossack from that year to 2002, playing defense attorney to Cossack's prosecutor. That was the year Van Susteren switched to the Fox News Channel after a highly publicized contract bidding war.
Earlier this year, while still on Fox News, she was listed as the 94th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes, up from 99th in 2015.
Due to her abrupt departure from FNC, she was not able to say goodbye on-air, as the network immediately filled the On the Record anchor spot with long-time journalist Brit Hume.
Van Susteren, who said that Fox "has not felt like home to me for a few years," chose to take advantage of a clause in her contract that allowed her to resign from the network immediately: "The clause had a time limitation, meaning I could not wait."
On January 5, she posted: “This is all I am looking for: an hour when I can do my best and fairest work and the necessary resources to do it
Joe Concha, media reporter for The Hill, also stated on Thursday:
It's hard to imagine any Fox News talent on the channel, described in 2012 as "Fox's Evil Twin" by the New York Times' Alessandra Stanley.
From my perspective, Greta isn't what one would call conservative. She isn't exactly liberal either. She seems to go issue to issue with a particular interest in controversial legal cases, which only makes sense given her background.
Describing the channel's recent history, Concha indicated that in 2014, “MSNBC went harder to the left by adding more opinion programming in the early afternoon via Ronan Farrow and Joy Reid to complement a lineup that already included Alex Wagner and Ed Schultz, both proud progressives.”
“All of the programs hosted by the aforementioned were canceled in 2015 as the network pivoted back to more relatively traditional news programs,” he added.
Concha also stated that “MSNBC's liberal audience likely won't embrace her at first simply for having 'Fox News' on her LinkedIn page.”
“But perhaps broadening the network's viewer base isn't such a horrible thing,” he continued, “if the echo chamber MSNBC created in 2014 with one opinion show after another sounding like a Nickleback album.”
However, not everyone is thrilled about adding Van Susteren to the liberal channel's lineup.
For example, @vardmin posted: “You are screwing your base,” and the only shows worth watching are hosted by Joy Reid, Chris Hayes and Lawrence O'Donnell.
Meanwhile, Dan Morgan asked: “What has my favorite network become” with Greta Van Susteren on MSNBC and Megyn Kelly on NBC? “UGH. F**king unwatchable now! Thank God for Netflix and PBS.”
And @hopefuloptimist complained: “Say what? MSNBC is in line to becoming next mini-me Faux News. Guess they've seen how profitable Hate & Deceit is for networks.”
Concha concluded his article by asking: “Will MSNBC's audience rally around her or give the proverbial Bronx cheer?”
Only time -- and ratings -- will tell.
