Megyn Kelly is apparently flying from Fox with a new position lined up with NBC.
The NBC News chairman, Andrew Lack, wooed Ms. Kelly away from Fox News by offering her a triple role in which she will host her own daytime news and discussion program, anchor an in-depth Sunday night news show and take regular part in the network’s special political programming and other big-event coverage.
Kelly gained a tinge of notoriety in the recent election cycle from sparring with Trump, and for backing up Gretchen Carlson on the frequent sexual advances made toward women working at Fox News by former network chairman, Roger Ailes. During the campaign Kelly complained that Trump’s comments created security issues for her family. However, Trump was interviewed by Kelly several times and she frequently defended his positions. She was one of several reporters wooed by Trump with offers of visits to his properties and flights on private planes.
Though Kelly was the second-most-watched host at Fox, Trump’s win puts her in an odd position.
Kelly ... finds herself at an impasse: What does a figure who’s positioned herself in opposition to the establishment do when a massive number of her potential viewers see her as the establishment?
As the post-Ailes Fox retools from into the Trump Network, it’s not surprising that Kelly might shop around for a new home. It would be nice to think that, in hiring Kelly, NBC might be after someone who has talent and gumption to take on Trump. However, NBC is also certainly after something much more important to them than any news chops Kelly might display—her audience. An audience that is generally more conservative than Trump supporters.
Though Kelly has gained a patina of “rebel” over the last few months, she was a close confident of Ailes. Her 12 year turn at Fox News chiefly consisted of Kelly giving voice to statements scripted to support Republican positions. Her popularity at Fox hasn’t come because she’s opposed conservative positions, but because she’s defined them.
Even so, there was a bit of joy to be had in the last weeks as Kelly was increasingly willing to take a swing at some of her fellow propagandists.
“We’ve got Trump speaking to our own Sean Hannity. We’ll see whether he speaks to the journalists in this room after that interview.”
Kelly’s deal follows on the heels of earlier rumors that former Foxer Greta Van Susteren is going to be seated at the MSNBC 6 PM anchor desk to “bring gravitas” to the time slot.
Gretchen Carlson has also been rumored to be considering a position at NBC. In her first television appearance since leaving Fox, Carlson guest hosted a segment of Today on January 2.
In 2010, MSNBC adopted a catchphrase of “Lean Forward,” along with the suggestion that it was taking a more progressive approach, but the neither the cable channel nor its broadcast parent seemed willing to make a sustained commitment that ran much beyond their ad spots, maintaining conservative hosts such as Joe Scarborough and never adopting the unified approach that turned Fox into the propaganda arm of the Republican Party. Instead, MSNBC became best known for heavy duty “both-sides-ism” and working hard to generate false equivalencies.