Report: Joy Reid Expected To Land Evening Show On MSNBC

Joy Reid

MSNBC is expected to tap political analyst Joy Reid to anchor a 7 p.m. daily news and opinion program, The Wall Street Journal reports citing people familiar with the matter said, filling the vacancy created at the cable news channel when Chris Matthews resigned abruptly in March.

Ms. Reid currently hosts a weekend morning program called “AM Joy.” In her new role, she would serve as the lead-in for MSNBC’s left-leaning prime-time lineup, which includes Rachel Maddow and Chris Hayes.

Ms. Reid has occasionally guest-hosted for both Ms. Maddow and Mr. Hayes. She also frequently filled in for Mr. Matthews and, like him, is seen as combative and inquisitive and not afraid to challenge guests.

Talks over Ms. Reid’s appointment are still ongoing and an agreement isn’t a certainty, one person close to the situation said.

Matthews, the longtime anchor of “Hardball,” left amid accusations that he had a history of making inappropriate remarks toward female guests, as well as criticism of his coverage of Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign. In his last on-air remarks, Mr. Matthews acknowledged making inappropriate remarks and said it was time to let a younger generation “take the reins.”

Since Mr. Matthews’s exit, MSNBC has used a rotation of guest hosts in that hour, although the primary fill-ins have been Ms. Reid and Steve Kornacki, a political correspondent who was a regular on “Hardball.”

Already the most prominent black anchor on MSNBC, Ms. Reid would have a potentially bigger platform to attract viewers than her current weekend morning show offered. Before her weekend show, she was a political correspondent and previously hosted the MSNBC afternoon show “The Reid Report.”