Stephanie Ruhle joins MSNBC’s late-night lineup, replacing Brian Williams
MSNBC has selected news anchor Stephanie Ruhle to replace Brian Williams as host of the network’s popular 11 p.m. hour.
Ruhle, a versatile journalist who worked in finance before making the jump to work at Bloomberg’s business-oriented TV network in 2011, is leaving behind the 9 a.m. hour she has hosted since joining MSNBC in 2016. Ruhle also serves as a senior business correspondent for sister network NBC News.
MSNBC’s 9 a.m. hour will now become part of the “Morning Joe” franchise, expanding the morning political talk show hosted by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski from 6-10 a.m.
Williams surprised the TV news world when he announced in November that he would leave the network and the show he has hosted since 2016, “The 11th Hour With Brian Williams.”
Ruhle had guest-hosted for Williams after he departed the network in December after a 28-year run at the company following the expiration of his contract.
For Williams, his late-night role on MSNBC had provided a career revival of sorts after his troubled tenure as anchor of NBC’s “Nightly News” broadcast. In 2015, Williams was suspended by NBC after admitting that he had told a false story about being attacked by enemy fire during a helicopter ride while covering the Iraq War.
After announcing his coming exit from MSNBC in November, Williams encouraged viewers to keep watching the program after his departure. “I ask all those of you who are part of our loyal viewing audience to remain loyal,” he said. ” ‘The 11th Hour’ will remain in good hands produced by the best team in cable news.”
In a memo announcing the programming changes, which will take effect a few months from now, MSNBC President Rashida Jones told employees that Ruhle will be “bringing her business acumen, hard-hitting interview style and original reporting” to the 11 p.m. time slot. “Stephanie has been a staple of our dayside anchor team and a trusted voice on topics at the intersection of politics, finance and international business,” she added.
In addition to her morning show, Ruhle previously co-hosted an MSNBC afternoon show with anchor Ali Velshi titled “Velshi & Ruhle” before he moved a time slot on the weekend at the end of 2019.
In 2020, Ruhle triggered ethical questions when she participated in a video conversation with Chase Bank and former basketball star Jay Williams that was marketed by the financial institution as a sort of partnership.
Ruhle, however, was not compensated for participating in the “Chase Chats Webcasts” series, which an MSNBC official said she appeared in as “a subject matter expert.” A bank spokesperson later told The Washington Post that “it was our mistake to promote it,” and the webcast was removed.
The 11 p.m. time slot was once an afterthought in cable news but has become a more competitive time slot across the industry in recent years – particularly during the news-heavy years of the Trump administration. MSNBC’s 11 p.m. show originally launched as a sort of pop-up show to cover the gusher of news at the start of his presidency, expanding from 30 minutes to a full hour.
Over on Fox News, comedian Greg Gutfeld has achieved some of the highest ratings in the entire cable news industry as host of the network’s 11 p.m. program, which had replaced a newscast anchored by journalist Shannon Bream.
In November, Williams’ last full month as host of the 11 p.m. hour on MSNBC, the show attracted an average of 1 million total viewers each night, behind Gutfeld’s Fox News audience of nearly 2 million but well ahead of CNN 11 p.m. host Don Lemon’s 448,000 total viewers.