MSNBC’s solo anchor plans…
Updating last night’s scoop, MSNBC appears to be testing the new single anchor format out minus the half-hour part. Last week Natalie Morales twice anchored solo at the 2 pm shift. Yesterday and today Chris Jansing has anchored solo at the Noon shift.
Some new things are being done today. A new set position with the return of the “descending from the ceiling” video monitor which MSNBC used all the time years ago but for the past couple of years has been mostly seen on Countdown. Also yesterday’s and today’s show during Jansing’s shift appeared to rely heavier on headlines and packaged pieces and less on interviews. Yesterday Jansing twice appeared with Sean McLaughlin at MSNBC’s Weather Center for the weather segment which has never been done before. Today they had a weather segment at the 25 minute mark which hasn’t been done before either. So while MSNBC is obviously tweaking its afternoon format and news delivery, I don’t think you can come to any definative conclusions yet about how the format will shake out in the end.
UPDATE: Was MSNBC originally going to try half hour shifts today? Here’s an interesting tidbit that suggests it might have been in the planning. At the end of the noon hour Jansing, reading the tele-prompter, said, “That’s it for this HALF HOUR” before she did a toss to Alex Witt to continue the news which was bizarre because instead MSNBC went to break.
i thought todays line-up was great. each host anchoring solo for an hour. I also like the new desk location!!
Comment by jman — December 22, 2005 @ 4:59 pm
About relying on headlines and packages and less on interviews-I have noticed this for a long time now. Pretty much after 11am the amount of live interviews and live shots go down drastically. It wasn’t always this way. I posted earlier that I didn’t know if it was simply an editiorial decision or what but they definitely don’t do that many live interviews after the morning hours especially when you compare it to the amount that they did in the last few years.
Comment by bravesfan — December 22, 2005 @ 5:11 pm