Greta Van Susteren is joining MSNBC, taking over the channel's 6 p.m. time slot with a new show called "For the Record," the network announced Thursday.
Van Susteren’s show will feature both news and analysis, working as a bridge from MSNBC's dayside news shows into its more opinion and analysis-focused primetime. She starts on Jan. 9, and the show will be based out of Washington D.C.
“Greta is a true pro with a proven record of tough journalism,” MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a statement. “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.”
Her show replaces Bloomberg's "With All Due Respect" time slot, which ended in December.
“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.”
It’s yet another major Fox News pickup for the NBC family, which on Tuesday announced that it had hired Fox News star Megyn Kelly to host a daytime and Sunday newsmagazine show on the broadcast network.
Van Susteren abruptly left Fox News and her 7 p.m. show “On the Record" in September after 14 years with the network. Brit Hume briefly filled in until the election when Tucker Carlson was named host. On Thursday, Fox News announced Martha MacCallum was taking over the slot, as Carlson would take over the the 9p.m. slot vacated by Kelly.
The announcement is far from a surprise for those in the media world. MSNBC began posting positions for a 6 p.m. Washington D.C. show a few weeks ago, and Van Susteren has been open to her fans on social media about wanting to return to television. Several MSNBC insiders knew Van Susteren was coming, and several reports, including in POLITICO, had already been published noting that she was likely moving to the network, though the announcement was delayed until everything had been signed, sources said.
Van Susteren, a lawyer by training, was with CNN for a decade before joining Fox in 2002. Since her departure from Fox, she’s been active in charity work around the world, regularly communicating with fans about her desire to return to television.
"I have had to tie up a lot of loose ends....I would have liked to move the process faster,” she wrote to one fan on Twitter just the day before the MSNBC announcement.
In a Facebook post on New Year’s Day, Van Susteren addressed comments critical about various networks.
“When people work for a large company - including a network - they are not responsible for everyone else who works there. They ARE responsible for themselves,” she wrote. "Because I have seen so many comments critical of me for working at Fox, and now the chatter that I may be going to another network, CNN or MS/NBC. Yes, it is indeed true that I am considering going back to TV but that is not the point of this posting but rather to emphasize that if I do go back, like always, I will be responsible for myself and my hour. This is the way it has always been...and if I sign a contract and you liked my show before, you will like it now (I am the same person.). And if you didn't like my show before? Well...you won't like what I do now."
