Fox, MSNBC, and CNN Point in Different Directions with New Hosts and Shows | Breaking News Updates

Fox took the right-wing speech even further, promoting fun and fiercely anti-Biden commentator Jesse Watters to lead his 7pm hour. MSNBC went in the opposite direction politically, as one would expect, but it followed a similar direction conceptually, hiring former Biden insider Symone D. Sanders to host cable talk shows and streaming.

CNN certainly has plenty of political commentators on the payroll – Sanders was one of them – but the recent wave of hires for CNN + has been made up of J-capital journalists like Chris Wallace and apolitical figures like food writer and chef Alison Roman.

CNN executives have reported that the streaming service will offer a wide range of programming, including travel and lifestyle shows.

MSNBC has also focused on expanding video streaming. The Sanders deal is emblematic of the market approach of MSNBC owner, Comcast. She will host a weekend show on MSNBC, for cable subscribers, and she will also have a show on The Choice, a branch of the Peacock streaming service, for those subscribers.

Other MSNBC personalities, including Ayman Mohyeldin and Mehdi Hasan, have similar cross-platform gigs.

For the most part, these MSNBC programs present liberal views and prioritize guests over journalists in the field. The programs are more news-related, however, than the equivalent hours on Fox, which function as an outrageous opposition to traditional news media.

Fox’s anti-media bent extends to his streaming company, Fox Nation, which features a mix of Central American lifestyle programming and far-right rhetoric from Tucker Carlson. The platform launched in late 2018 and Fox Corporation has yet to release specific subscriber figures.

Watters, who rose through the ranks at Fox as Bill O’Reilly’s ambush interviewer and Donald Trump’s fan club frontman, is a Tory commentator and at times a comedian. The time slot it supports, 7 p.m., was much more like a newscast format, albeit tilted to the right. But it’s now a right-wing talk show through and through, filled with political guests who advance GOP goals and ridicule the left.

The main credentials Fox listed in Monday’s press release about Watters were the high ratings of his television shows. (He will continue to co-host “The Five” and end his Saturday show “Watters’ World”.)

MSNBC, in the press release announcing Sanders, highlighted her political credentials, noting her work on several Democratic presidential campaigns and her role last year as a senior advisor and chief spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris. Sanders left the vice president’s office last month.

And CNN, in the Cornish ad, touted his journalistic accomplishments, such as covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the election of Barack Obama.

Three very different frames, showing three very different priorities for networks too often amalgamated.