The MSNBC news network announced Monday that it will change its name to My Source News Opinion World, or MS NOW for short, as part of its corporate separation from NBC.
With a lineup of liberal-leaning celebrities including Nicole Wallace, Ari Melber, and Rachel Maddow, the TV network has been developing a news section apart from NBC News. The makeover will go into effect later this year and will also eliminate NBC’s peacock symbol from its logo.
NBC Universal, which in November split off cable networks USA, CNBC, MSNBC, E! Entertainment, Oxygen, and the Golf Channel into its own business, Versant, ordered the name change. Not a single network is altering its moniker.
When MSNBC was first established in 1996 as a collaboration between Microsoft and NBC, it was given this name. Many people found the moniker confusing even in those days. Versant CEO Mark Lazarus stated in the early days of the spinoff that it would remain, so Monday’s statement was an unexpected reversal of course. However, it persisted long after the NBC relationship with Microsoft that created it ended.
According to MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler, staff find it difficult to see the network under a new name. Name changes are always risky. In a memo to workers, she stated that this decision was not made hastily or without much discussion.
“NBC Universal determined that our brand needs a new, distinct identity during this period of transition,” she stated. As we continue to establish our own contemporary newsgathering organization, this choice now gives us the freedom to choose our own path and demonstrate our independence.
Kutler stated that the editorial direction of the network will not change. She stated that although our name would change, our identity and actions will remain the same.
Nevertheless, it’s significant that CNBC, a business channel, is dropping NBC from its moniker. According to MSNBC, CNBC has always kept a bigger distance and is less likely to discuss many of the same subjects because of its corporate concentration.
There has long been conflict between a news section that emphasizes impartiality and one that is open about its leftist stance. The cable network is referred to by President Donald Trump as the Democratic National Committee, or MSDNC. NBC News had been using its personalities less on MSNBC even prior to the corporate transition.
Several NBC News celebrities have joined MSNBC, including Antonia Hylton, Brandy Zadrozny, Vaughn Hillyard, and Jacob Soboroff. Carol Leoning, Eugene Daniels from Politico, and Catherine Rampell and Jackie Alemany from the Washington Post have also been employed by the network.
“MSNBC will no longer have to compete with NBC News programs for reporting product from out in the field,” Maddow said in a recent episode of Pivot, suggesting it will no longer receive the leftovers.
According to Maddow, in this situation, we may use our own intuition, our own questions, and our own priorities to gather the information we require from reporters and correspondents. It will therefore be better.
On his show Monday morning, Joe Scarborough of MSNBC unveiled the network’s new logo. He remarked, “It looks very sporty.”
