Andrea Mitchell is leaving MSNBC anchor desk but staying at NBC News

Veteran journalist Andrea Mitchell will leave her daytime program on MSNBC after the presidential inauguration in January, the network announced Tuesday.

Mitchell, who turns 78 this week, will remain at NBC News as chief Washington correspondent and chief foreign affairs correspondent, covering the department's programs on broadcast network MSNBC and streaming channel NBC News Now. At the end of her show “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” she told viewers that moving away from daily moderation was her decision.

“And after sitting in the anchor chair every day for 16 years, I want to have time to do more of what I love most,” Mitchell said at the end of her program. “More networking, listening and reporting on the ground, especially as whoever is elected next week will take on the monumental task of navigating two wars abroad and political divisions here at home.

In a memo to employees, NBC News leadership said Mitchell's “deep sourcing and ability to land interviews with the biggest newsmakers is unmatched.”

“Her contributions to NBC News over the past 46 years have been invaluable to the network and we are pleased that she will remain an integral part of the News Group for years to come,” the memo said.

“Andrea Mitchell Reports” was launched in 2008 when NBC News added more of the network's big names to the network's programming lineup.

Mitchell's nonpartisan approach to Washington politics has fallen out of favor with some MSNBC viewers, who have increasingly turned to the progressive-leaning network for critical coverage of former President Trump. Chuck Todd, whose show “Meet the Press Daily” was removed from MSNBC in 2022, also faced hostile comments on social media.

Mitchell joined NBC News in 1978 to cover energy, at a time when the Iranian Revolution was upsetting the world's oil markets. She entered politics in 1980 and has covered every presidential election since then. Her work as a foreign correspondent took her to North Korea, Cuba, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Israel, the West Bank, Ukraine, Bosnia, Kosovo, Pakistan, Haiti, Sudan and Japan.

Mitchell began her career in 1976 at an all-news radio station in Philadelphia. She was given a night shift so as not to disrupt a newsroom that was still an all-male domain.

Mitchell soon joined the generation of female journalists who broke through as network news stars in the 1970s, which included Lesley Stahl, Connie Chung, Judy Woodruff and Carole Simpson.