Alex Witt Signs Off as MS Now Anchor After 27 Years: ‘It Has Been Such a Privilege to Earn Your Trust’

MS Now anchor Alex Witt signed off from the network Sunday afternoon, capping off a nearly three-decade run at the outlet. Witt, who has hosted a three-hour weekend afternoon program on the network since 2011, anchored her final broadcast on the network, handing off duties on-air to her successor Antonia Hylton. Hylton’s weekend program “The Assignment” debuts Sept. 12. “Please, Alex, can I say something real quick? You are one of one. You are the anchor’s anchor,” Hylton told Witt during the emotional exchange on the final edition of “Alex Witt Reports.” “You are someone who, when the world is uncertain, the news is breaking, and we’re a little unsure or scared. And we turn on our televisions. And we see you at this desk, sitting at this chair, we suddenly feel calm and more assured because you always guide people to the truth and to the facts, and you do it so gracefully, so dutifully, and beyond your many, many talents. You are so real.” Witt recalled watching Hylton’s early days as a broadcaster saying, “This girl’s got talent” and returned some praise for her successor: “You’re smart and beautiful and I love the hair then and now.” Tributes to Witt were peppered across MS Now’s programming Sunday, with colleagues like Jacob Soboroff, Alicia Mendez, Katy Tur, Jonathan Capehart and Jackie Alemany honoring her long career at the network. Witt began in the TV news industry in 1990, with tenures at “Today,” WNYW-TV. She joined MS Now (then MSNBC) as an anchor in 1999. Her weekend program on the network launched in 2011. In her final monologue, Witt thanked her administrative, archives and production team, along with her executive producer Nick Kovijanic as well as her two children. “It takes a village. My village is here. I want to thank all of the wonderful colleagues at MS Now, my studio crew, my technical crew in the control booth, especially these people, my team for their excellence, for putting in long hours to make it happen every single weekend,” Witt said. “And to you, the viewers, it has been such a privilege to earn your trust delivering the news. I’m grateful for your loyalty, keeping me right here in this anchor chair all these years doing this job that I love. Thank you.”