Ali Vitali to Anchor MSNBC’s Way Too Early

Joining the Early Shift: Ali Vitali will anchor MSNBC’s early morning program Way Too Early starting Monday, Jan. 6. She takes over from Jonathan Lemire, who joins Morning Joe’s 9 a.m. broadcast in an expanded role as a co-host. Vitali joined NBC News in 2012 and has been a Capitol Hill correspondent prior to this new role. “I’m thrilled to join the Way Too Early team, anchoring a show that’s been helmed by some of the smartest reporters in Washington,” she told Variety. “I’ll continue working my sources and bringing viewers into the halls of power with fresh reporting and news-making interviews from Capitol Hill and across Washington.”

Personal news that’s ’Way Too’ good not to share! Can’t wait to get started with #WayTooEarly in January: variety.com/2024/tv/news… ⏰ ☕️ ☀️

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— Ali Vitali (@alivitali.bsky.social) December 9, 2024 at 10:23 AM

Also joining the early morning anchor crew is Marc Lotter, who has been named co-host of Newsmax’s Wake Up America alongside Sharla McBride. Lotter most recently served as chief communications officer for the America First Policy Institute, and also worked as a special assistant to the president and press secretary for Vice President Mike Pence during the first Donald Trump administration. He begins his new assignment on Dec. 16.

From TV to Digital: NBC News is losing one of its premiere journalists to Politico—Dasha Burns has been named the digital outlet’s White House bureau chief. In a note to staff, global editor-in-chief John Harris said: “​​Dasha has rapidly established herself as one of the most compelling voices in political journalism, combining sharp insights, relentless curiosity, and a fearless approach to tackling the stories that shape our world.” Burns had been with NBC for the past eight years, most recently covering the Trump campaign during the just-concluded presidential election. She begins her new assignment in January.

Meanwhile, a former NBC News staffer is coming back to the network. MSNBC senior executive Daniel Arnall will serve as a deputy on the standard and practices team. Arnall’s return had been in the works before MSNBC was spun off as part of the SpinCo assortment of NBCUniversal cable networks.

White House Chair Switch: CBS News announced that Jennifer Jacobs will be its new senior White House reporter after she previously covered the beat for Bloomberg. “Jennifer will be a key member of our White House unit as we continue our coverage on the White House beat,” CBS News vice president and Washington, D.C. bureau chief Mark Lima said in a statement.