A poll of cable news hosts found that Andrea Mitchell, not Rachel Maddow, was voted the best host on MSNBC.
Mediaite polled dozens of cable news hosts on MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News and asked them who the best and worst hosts were on the three cable networks. In a surprise, MSNBC’s noon host Andrea Mitchell was the runaway winner of the best host voting.
According to Mediaite, “The host of the noon hour program, Andrea Mitchell Reports, garnered a majority of the anonymous votes, besting a slew of single-vote runners-up that included Chris Matthews, Rachel Maddow, Abbie Huntsman, and Joe Scarborough. Mitchell has been in the broadcasting business a long time, and has developed a respected reputation among her peers for her many years as either a foreign affairs, White House, or congressional correspondent for the Peacock Network.”
Mitchell is beloved by her colleagues, and she is a well-respected journalist, but she is not the best host on MSNBC. The worst host category on MSNBC came down to Ronan Farrow and Al Sharpton. Farrow is terrible, so that vote makes sense. Sharpton has his fans, but he is not a professional host. Rev. Al mispronounced names and mangles reading from a teleprompter on a daily basis. Again, none of this is Sharpton’s fault. He isn’t a professional host. Sharpton seemed to get dinged in the poll because the people in charge of MSNBC decided to give him a nightly show.
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I suspect that MSNBC viewers would have a vastly different view of who is the best host on the network. Maddow is the runaway favorite host of the audience. The network doesn’t have a consensus second most popular host. Ed Schultz, Chris Hayes, Lawrence O’Donnell, and Chris Matthews all have their fans and their detractors.
Rachel Maddow isn’t a part of the Beltway media club, and it wouldn’t be surprising if she lost votes because she isn’t afraid to criticize the media. The idea that Joe Scarborough got votes as the best host on MSNBC is laughable, and it demonstrates how conservative some of the hosts on cable news are.
The media think that Andrea Mitchell is the ideal MSNBC host, but for viewers Rachel Maddow is the obvious choice.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
