Why MSNBC is demoting Ed Schultz [Updated]

MSNBC's Ed Schultz had a big scoop on Wednesday night: An interview with Scott Prouty, the previously anonymous Florida bartender who secretly recorded Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's disparaging comments about 47 percent of Americans. Then, at the end of the show, Schultz announced that, starting in April, his prime-time show would move to the weekends. (Watch below.)

Schultz said the time switch was his idea — "I raised my hand for this assignment for a number of personal and professional reasons," he said. "I'm very proud of the work our team has done here at 8 p.m., but sitting behind this desk five nights a week doesn't cut it for me." Few people are convinced. "Sources at MSNBC told Politico that that was a very generous interpretation of events," says Politico's Dylan Byers. "Schultz was pushed out to make way for new talent, they said."

Until we get that backstory, all we have is speculation — and Brian Stelter of The New York Times. Last November, Stelter reported that MSNBC was thinking about replacing Schultz with Washington Post wunderkind blogger Ezra Klein, drawing a furious denial from Schultz. "If somebody is telling Stelter that I'm going to be replaced, we know that his nose as a reporter doesn't sniff very well," he said on his radio show.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

On Wednesday night, Stelter cited his old story, saying Schultz's ouster "has been expected at least since late last year," and repeated that Klein is still the frontrunner for Schultz's spot, along with Chris Hayes and Joy Reid. He doesn't say why Schultz is being pushed out, but in a March 1 profile of Schultz in the Columbia Journalism Review, Stelter tells Michael Meyer: "When MSNBC talks about its brand, it talks about Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell and Chris Hayes. It doesn't talk as often about Ed Schultz."

With his bombast and focus on the labor movement, "Schultz is as close to a perennial underdog as you could find," says CJR's Meyer. But "one area where even Schultz can't cast himself as underdog, for the moment at least, is ratings."

"The change may be one of tone rather than numbers," say Anjali Sareen and Jack Mirkinson at The Huffington Post. This is "a clear demotion" for Schultz — "the 8 p.m. cable news slot is one of the biggest prizes in prime time," and the weekend is "simply a less prestigious time period" — but it probably says more about MSNBC than Schultz.

"It's arguable that, just as the Democrats viewed Schultz as the right man for the job during the heart of the Bush years, MSNBC is beginning to view others as a better fit in the age of Obama," says CJR's Meyer.

Update: Chris Hayes has been picked as Schultz's successor at 8 p.m.