'A great start': News of Chuck Todd's MSNBC show demotion met with cheers

MSNBC's Chuck Todd will have his daily show aired as a streaming service instead of as cable news, a decision that generated a great deal of social media discussion on Friday.

"Meet the Press Daily, the MSNBC program based on the Sunday public affairs show, will go streaming-only beginning next month. The show, which is anchored by Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd and runs at 1 pm weekdays, will be renamed Meet the Press Now, and will stream at 4 pm weekdays," Alex Weprin reported for The Hollywood Reporter.

Chris Jansing will inherit Todd's slot on MSNBC.

Todd has been a controversial figure at MSNBC and the network has received pressure to "fire Chuck Todd."

At the White House Correspondents' Association dinner, host Trevor Noah roasted Todd's journalism.

The Daily Beast reported, "To Meet the Press host Chuck Todd, Noah asked, 'How are you doing? I’d ask a follow-up, but I know you don’t know what those are.' When the crowd groaned, he added, 'Don’t boo him, he’s trying!'"

It was against this backdrop that social media weighed in on Todd's demotion.

Media analyst Jeff Jarvis described it as a move to the "kiddie table."

"I'm sure the company line is that this is an investment in the digital future. And others will say good riddance," he noted.

Democratic strategist Adam Parkhomenko referenced Noah's joke.

"Trevor Noah’s joke was so good it booted Chuck Todd off MSNBC," he said.

But New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen disagreed.

"I have no inside information, but I doubt that Trevor Noah's dig is the reason NBC decided to move Chuck Todd's MSNBC show to streaming," Rosen said. "If they concluded that, yes, he's too weak an interviewer, would they keep him in his marquee job as host of Sunday's Meet the Press on NBC?"

Historian Kevin Kruse suggested that NBC News also fire Todd from Meet the Press.

"This is a great start, but can we get his Sunday morning gig moved to Quibi or the Weather Channel's app and replace that spot with an actual journalist too?" Kruse wrote.

He then clarified that "the Weather Channel is actually useful, and doesn't deserve being linked to Chuck Todd."

Nelly Torres of the watchdog group Center for Public Integrity said Todd is "among the worst."

"Can't interview and doesn't know how to challenge lies and misinformation. So bye Felicia! Streaming news is where you go to die," she wrote.

Journalist Allen McDuffee argued it is worse than it looks.

"Most people would take this spiral as a sign they should exit. Kinda suggests nobody else is opening a door for him to enter. And it's telling that NBC didn't even try to offer Chuck Todd's show as premium content to paying Peacock subscribers. Instead, they're putting it on the NBC News app, which anybody can watch for free," he noted.