For the second time this week a longtime Fox News anchor is joining the NBC family.
Greta Van Susteren, who left Fox News in September when a window in her contract allowed her to leave, is jumping back in to TV and will anchor MSNBC’s 6 p.m. program beginning Monday.
Van Susteren, who spent 14 years at Fox News, last week teased that she’d received a “tempting offer” to return to TV. It turns out that offer was from MSNBC.
This means MSNBC will have a formidable Washington DC-based lineup from 5-8 p.m. ET, with Van Susteren in between Chuck Todd at 5 p.m. and Chris Matthews at 7 p.m. Van Susteren is expected to host from NBC’s 400 N. Capitol studios, a building which is also home to Fox News’s D.C. operations. Todd and Matthews host their shows from NBC’s bureau on Nebraska Ave.
During her time away from daily TV for the last several months Van Susteren has made humanitarian trips to Cambodia, Liberia, and Haiti. And just last week, as she weighed the MSNBC offer, Van Susteren visited Cuba.
On Tuesday, Megyn Kelly announced she was leaving Fox News to join NBC where she will anchor a daily program for the broadcast network as well as a Sunday night newsmagazine show likely replacing the Sunday edition of Dateline NBC.
More: On Facebook, Greta writes, “I am excited to work with friends who I have known for years at MS/NBC (and even worked with some years ago at both CNN and Fox as we all move around in this business) and I am also anxious to meet new friends and colleagues. The ink is barely dry on my contract and I have heard from many at MSNBC. (I have also made courtesy calls to my CNN competition Wolf Blitzer and FNC Bret Baier. Note, they are not just my competitors…they are first my friends, old friends, and my good friends.)”
More: The show’s name, “For the Record,” is a take on her Fox News show, “On the Record.” Here’s the release from MSNBC:
JANUARY 5, 2017 – Veteran broadcaster Greta Van Susteren will join MSNBC, it was announced today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC.
Van Susteren will host “For the Record with Greta,” which will air weeknights from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. ET. The program will debut on Monday, January 9, based in Washington, D.C. It replaces the timeslot of Bloomberg’s political television show “With All Due Respect,” which ended in early December.
“For the Record with Greta” will provide news coverage and analysis of the day’s top headlines spanning politics and beyond. The early evening broadcast will build on MSNBC’s strategic shift to a breaking news focus during the day and, along with “MTP Daily” and “Hardball,” will provide one of the key bridges to primetime. MSNBC marked its most-watched year ever in 2016, and was the fastest growing top 100 cable network in weekday prime.
“Greta is a true pro with a proven record of tough journalism,” said Griffin. “Her broad range of experience and sharp news judgment will be of great value to MSNBC as we build on our momentum going into a new year and a new administration.”
“I’m thrilled to start my next chapter at MSNBC,” Van Susteren said. “The network is the right destination for the smart news and analysis I hope to deliver every day, and I look forward to joining the talented journalists and analysts I respect there.”
A 25-year cable news veteran, Van Susteren joins MSNBC from Fox News Channel, where she hosted “On the Record with Greta Van Susteren” for 14 years. Previously, Van Susteren spent more than a decade at CNN, where she served as a legal analyst and co-host of “Burden of Proof” and hosted the news program “The Point.” She is an experienced breaking news anchor and has traveled the world – including Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, North Korea, Sudan, and more – often with Presidents, Secretaries of State and Defense, and other leaders.
Van Susteren was part of the investigative team that won a first place National Headliner Award for the “Attack on America.” Additionally, her legal analysis and contribution to the election coverage in 2000 earned her the American Bar Association’s Presidential Award for Excellence in Journalism. Prior to her career in journalism, Van Susteren was a criminal defense and civil trial attorney.
Van Susteren graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in economics, with distinction, from the University of Wisconsin. She earned a Juris Doctor and a Master of Law from Georgetown Law. She is the first Stuart Stiller Fellow at Georgetown Law Center and was awarded honorary Doctorates of Law from Georgetown and Stetson Law School. In 2016, the American News Women’s Club honored Van Susteren with the prestigious 22nd annual Excellence in Journalism award.
Van Susteren is the co-author of My Turn at The Bully Pulpit: Straight Talk About The Things That Drive Me Nuts. She lives with her husband John P. Coale in Washington, D.C.