Pressure of Truth
The news, with the spin made visible.
Outlet profile

MSNBC / Rachel Maddow Blog

U.S. left

Owned byVersant Media Group (publicly traded, Nasdaq: VSNT; spun off from Comcast January 5, 2026; formerly owned by NBCUniversal, a Comcast subsidiary)
FundingCable television advertising revenue and cable carriage fees; a direct-to-consumer streaming service is planned for 2026
On the administrationbroadly critical

Background

MSNBC launched in July 1996 as a joint venture between Microsoft and NBC, pairing a cable news channel with an early internet news portal. After several years of mixed-format programming that struggled to find an identity, the network began shifting toward progressive political opinion programming in the mid-2000s, a pivot it made explicit with its 'Lean Forward' marketing campaign in 2010. Microsoft sold its remaining stake in 2012, leaving the network fully under NBCUniversal, then a Comcast subsidiary. MaddowBlog launched around 2009 as a written companion to The Rachel Maddow Show, and is written primarily by Steve Benen, who serves as both the show's producer and the blog's editor; it covers U.S. politics from a progressive standpoint with a strong emphasis on Republican governance and accountability. Rachel Maddow's primetime show became the network's flagship, attracting a loyal progressive audience and making her one of the most influential voices in left-leaning cable news. When Comcast announced plans to divest most of its cable networks, MSNBC separated from NBCUniversal News Group and rebranded as MS NOW on November 15, 2025, relocating studios from 30 Rockefeller Plaza to the former New York Times Building. The rebrand became part of Versant Media Group upon that company's Nasdaq debut on January 5, 2026, with Comcast's Brian L. Roberts retaining roughly 33% of voting power through supervoting shares. Media bias organizations AllSides and Media Bias/Fact Check both rate the outlet as left-leaning, noting consistent progressive framing and story selection as well as a record of factual inaccuracies in opinion commentary.

Sources

  1. MS NOW – Wikipedia
  2. MSNBC rebranded as MS NOW, leaving NBCUniversal behind – The Hill
  3. MSNBC officially rebrands to MS Now: What to know – WHNT
  4. MSNBC Media Bias – AllSides
  5. MS Now (MSNBC) – Bias and Credibility – Media Bias/Fact Check
  6. Steve Benen – Wikipedia
  7. MaddowBlog – MS NOW
  8. MSNBC Ups Rachel Maddow to Five Nights for Trump's First 100 Days – Variety

Profile compiled 2026-06-25; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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