Andrea Mitchell Is Ending Her MSNBC Show

After 16 years on the air, “Andrea Mitchell Reports” will come to an end shortly after a new president is inaugurated in January, Mitchell told viewers at the end of her Tuesday broadcast.

But, reports The Washington Post, the veteran journalist has no plans to retire and will continue serving as chief foreign affairs correspondent and chief Washington correspondent for NBC News. In fact, the network recently extended her contract.

Ending the show, which airs at noon Eastern time weekdays on MSNBC, was “such a tough decision,” Mitchell said in an interview. “I wrestled with this for a long time.”

\Mitchell, 77, said she was motivated by a desire to do more of the on-the-ground reporting that has made her one of the most recognized journalists in television news for nearly five decades. Among other big stories, she hopes to do reporting in Ukraine, which she said is best covered with several months on the ground; in Cuba, which she has covered extensively, including interviews with Fidel Castro; and in Darfur, Sudan, a trip she hasn’t yet pitched to her bosses.

“It’s going to be such a big adventure for me,” she said. “I think it’s going to be good for everybody. And I’m really excited about what I can do.”

Mitchell, who joined NBC News in 1978.

Rebecca Blumenstein, president of editorial at NBC News, said she welcomed Mitchell’s interest in getting back into the field. “Being an anchor is pretty time-consuming,” she said. “It’s time that she doesn’t have to be doing reporting that can resonate across NBC.”