EXCLUSIVE: MSNBC's Baffling Rebrand Blasted By Expert Who Claims Network Is Sacrificing 'Actual Journalism' for 'Opinions' — 'What Were They Thinking?'
MSNBC's rebrand to MS NOW has been met with criticism.
Aug. 20 2025, Published 6:06 p.m. ET
Major media pundits have joined in on the "bash MSNBC" bandwagon, RadarOnline.com can report, after the network announced a new name and identity.
The news outlet will soon drop its "NBC" affiliation and rebrand itself as MS NOW – much to the chagrin of viewers.
MS WOW!
Employees including Rachel Maddow will soon be broadcasting on a new network.
MSNBC originally debuted as part of a partnership between Microsoft and NBC. Now, parent company Comcast is spinning the cable channel off into a new company named Versant, forcing it to ditch any previous reference to the peacock network.
Instead, network execs have unveiled MS NOW, an acronym for "My Source News Opinion World." But almost immediately viewers shared their disapproval at the awkward name, and media analysts agreed.
Syracuse University Broadcast Journalism Professor Les Rose told Radar the new name instantly discredits the new network.
"You are including 'opinion' in the name of a news organization, which should pride itself on, you know, actual journalism and not their opinion! WHAT were they thinking?”
The Name Evokes Other References
Syracuse journalism professor Les Rose was not impressed.
Rose also critiqued the branding itself, adding: "'My Source News Opinion World' sounds like the answer for a Scrabble player with too many tiles. Or a drunk at a bar."
His criticism echoed fan feedback on X, where users insisted the name evokes other references, including the chronic disease affecting nearly three million people worldwide.
"Multiple Sclerosis Now! Mississippi Now!" one person tweeted. "Did they seriously not even Google MS before going with this? Or are they just going all in on the single women 'Miss' thing?"
Another sarcastically echoed: "Who wants MS NOW? It’s an insult to all the sick people. Terrible renaming."
One person scoffed about the liberal-leaning network: "MS now stands for 'Misinformation Superstars' NOW."
As a fourth person reasoned: "MSNBC is acting like changing its name to MS NOW is going to bring viewership up. Viewership will never go up for them if they only keep having radical Democrats on spewing their garbage."
The Name Game
Media pundits and viewers have skewered the new name.
In a memo sent to employees Monday, MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler said the new name is meant to reflect the network's mission to provide "breaking news and best-in-class opinion journalism."
She added the change was not taken lightly.
"I want to acknowledge that for many of you who have spent years or decades here, it is hard to imagine the network by any other name," Kutler continued. "This was not a decision that was made quickly or without significant debate."
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The liberal-leaning network has been hemorrhaging viewers to conservative sources like Fox News.
Execs are promising the new name is expected to come with some major new changes as the network desperately goes into crisis mode over tanking ratings – and current staffers are sweating for their jobs.
"It's gonna be a bloodbath," warned an insider amid growing rumors that layoffs are on the horizon. "The network's making sweeping changes, and no one's job is safe. Execs are desperate to stop the ratings freefall, but it might be too late."
The struggling network previously canceled The ReidOut, hosted by Joy Reid, and shuffled several of its other hosts into new time slots, including Michael Steele, Symone Sanders-Townsend, Katie Phang, and Alicia Menendez.
Insiders say the changes are all a reflection of Donald Trump's rise to power and the network's seeming lack of connection to American viewers who are flowing to conservative outlets like Fox News.
