Newsmax Hires Greta Van Susteren, Bumps Sean Spicer Amid Shakeup
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Right-wing cable network Newsmax made it official on Tuesday when it announced that former Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren will join the channel and “lead the network’s weeknight lineup” with her own show.
While the network’s press release didn’t say what time slot Van Susteren’s program will occupy, multiple sources familiar with the situation told The Daily Beast that the veteran journalist will take over Sean Spicer’s 6 p.m. ET spot amid a shakeup of the weekday programming slate.
A network rep confirmed to The Daily Beast that The Record with Greta Van Susteren will replace Spicer and Co., which will move to another time slot to be announced at a later date.
“Newsmax may make some adjustments in timing of other shows and we will announce those changes at a later date,” the representative added. Spicer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Newsmax insiders added that a number of shows are going to be shifted around in the lineup, with one staffer saying they’ve “heard everyone is being moved” but that the production teams don’t even know yet.
“Not everyone, but a few shows,” another staffer said, dismissively adding: “Nothing new there. Networks do it all the time. Just trying to see if new time slots will increase ratings on a few shows hopefully.”
Spicer, who was Donald Trump’s first White House press secretary, has been a mainstay of Newsmax’s weekday lineup since joining the network in early 2020. Featuring the former Trump spokesperson with a rotating series of co-hosts, Spicer and Co. has long been the lead-in for Newsmax’s top-rated program Greg Kelly Reports.
According to Newsmax’s announcement, The Record with Greta Van Susteren will debut on June 14 and will feature a “solid hour of factual, fair, and independent perspective on the news.” Mediaite reported last month that Van Susteren was in talks with Newsmax to join the network. She would later moderate a Pennsylvania GOP Senate debate for the channel.
Van Susteren is just the latest ex-Fox News personality to join the little-watched pro-Trump network as it continues its Quixotic quest to compete with the conservative cable giant.
In recent months, Newsmax CEO Chris Ruddy has brought on two longtime Fox News producers to oversee his newsroom while hiring former Fox reporter James Rosen as the network’s chief White House correspondent. On top of that, the channel’s weekday lineup is filled with Fox News castoffs like Eric Bolling, Greg Kelly and Rob Schmitt.
She is scheduled to make her first official Newsmax appearance Tuesday afternoon on Bolling’s program.
Van Susteren, who came to prominence in the mid-1990s covering the explosive O.J. Simpson trial as a legal analyst, is one of the few anchors who have hosted shows on Fox News, CNN and MSNBC. Recently, she was a contributor with Voice of America and hosted a weekly Sunday show for Gray TV.
“Honestly, it’s great for the network,” one Newsmax staffer said of Van Susteren’s hiring. “She is a well-respected journalist and big name in the field so it can do nothing but add to our cred.”
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