History will be made on July 20, 2020. MSNBC‘s weekend host of AM Joy will officially be the first African-American woman to anchor a show during primetime on cable television. Many of her viewers and followers, many of whom have been following her for years, feel like they’re a part of this history. And as a result, many have shared their strong views in celebration of this historical moment. African-Americans specifically feel like their sister or their Aunt Joy has made history. She has recently been praised by CA Rep Maxine Waters who made it clear how huge this was for African-American women. Many women have shared that this is a great opportunity and door for all women that Joy is walking through.
You also have a number of esteemed journalists coming forth to congratulate her on this historic accomplishment and great promotions, such as Dan Rather, former anchor of “CBS Evening News”, and iconic Carole Simpson, the first African-American woman in history to host a show on a major news network. Simpson, who anchored “NBC News” in 1975, became the first African-American woman to anchor a major network newscast.
Joy Reid’s Journey…
Many people don’t know that Joy has been working for this moment for nearly 25 years. According to Wikipedia, Reid began her journalism career in 1997, leaving New York and her job at a business consulting firm to begin working in southern Florida for a WSVN Channel 7 morning show.[10] She left journalism in 2003 to oppose the war in Iraq and President George W. Bush, but returned to broadcasting as a talk radio host, and then worked in the Barack Obama presidential campaign.[1] From 2006 to 2007, Reid was the co-host of Wake Up South Florida, a morning radio talk show broadcast from Radio One’s then-Miami affiliate WTPS, alongside “James T” Thomas.[7] She served as managing editor of The Grio[11] (2011–2014), a political columnist for Miami Herald (2003–2015), and the editor of The Reid Report political blog (2000–2014).[12] From February 2014 to February 2015, Reid hosted her own afternoon cable news show, The Reid Report.[13] The show was canceled[14] on February 19, 2015 and Reid was shifted to a new role[15] as an MSNBC national correspondent.[16] Since May 2016, Reid has hosted AM Joy, a political weekend-morning talk show on MSNBC, and is a frequent substitute for other MSNBC hosts, including Chris Hayes and Rachel Maddow. As of 2018, Reid’s morning show on Saturday averages nearly 1 million weekly viewers.
In June 2020, it was announced that Reid would likely be taking over “Hardball with Chris Matthews”. But in July, MSNBC announced that Reid would host “The ReidOut”, a new weeknight show at 7 p.m. EST that was once slotted to replace Hardball and Chris Matthews’s following his sudden retirement.
Joy Reid was the one that brought us the Trayvon Martin story. She reported this horrific tragic loss of life from its conception to today, as well as countless others who’ve been unarmed and murdered by the police. She is a wife and mother and finds time for family while leading a successful career. Joy is known as the no-nonsense journalist, the one you cannot lie to. She’s quick with follow-up questions and will literally pull out receipts as they call it while live on air. She has been wrongly attacked and made to look bad in the media for previous LGBTQ comments that were taken out of context… an unsuccessful attempt to stop her successful rise. In fact, the LGBTQ community came to her rescue. Trained journalists and everyday citizens know that Reid has been a strong advocate for the LGBTQ community, as well as other marginalized communities. She is someone that everyone loves to hear from, talk to, or take a picture with while attending the annual National Association of Black Journalist Convention (NABJ), where she has held multiple nominations. So I am personally excited about this move by MSNBC to make history with Joy Reid in July 2020. I hope that we support her as she has supported us over the years.
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