MS NOW has named Ali Velshi its chief data reporter, giving the veteran anchor and correspondent an expanded role at the news brand.
The new role will see Velshi manning MS NOW’s interactive data board on election nights, providing polling updates and real-time election results.
“I’ve had the privilege of learning from Ali for the last twenty-plus years in various newsrooms. One of his many gifts is his unique ability to take complex data and make it digestible,” says MS NOW president Rebecca Kutler. “Ali will guide our audience through the real-time information that will determine the outcomes of the midterm and presidential elections. I’m thrilled Ali will bring his understanding of public opinion and voters to our election coverage in the years ahead.”
Velshi, of course, is just about ubiquitous on MS NOW, hosting his eponymous weekend show and frequently filling in as an anchor on weekdays.
Online, he hosts the Velshi Banned Book Club podcast and the weekly YouTube Live series, It’s Happening with Velshi & Ruhle alongside Stephanie Ruhle.
He has also manned the channel’s “big board” in the past, though in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter late last year (alongside Ruhle), he previewed how the MS NOW split would give him more of a chance to dig into the data.
“I’ve always loved this opportunity. I was always the guy in the background when Steve Kornacki was doing it, but Kornacki would just never give me my shift, because the deal was he’d work 10 hours and I’d work the next 10 hours, but he’d never leave after the first 10 hours,” Velshi said. “I was the relief pitcher.
“I’ve been doing this for a long time. I did it at CNN. I know the board, it’s the same people we’ve been using, and I would really like to evolve this into a data machine,” he added. “In other words, not just election returns or polling or whatever the case is. That device you can put data into, and I can talk about anything. I can talk about where unemployment is highest, where SNAP payments are lowest, where costs are increasing, where jobs are available, where AI energy costs are hitting people. So I’m really loving this opportunity.”
Velshi joined MS NOW in 2016 (it was, of course, called MSNBC at the time) and before that was an anchor and correspondent for CNN and Al Jazeera America.