MSNBC temporarily changes Craig Melvin’s hour to ‘White House Reports’

MSNBC is offering a special week of White House-centric coverage the week of Feb. 28, 2022 as multiple stories continue to unfold that lead right back to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Anchored by White House correspondents Peter Alexander and Kristen Welker, the show, which is billed under the name “White House Reports,” airs at 11 a.m. eastern, taking over the normal hour of news anchored by Craig Melvin.

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MSNBC has not officially retitled the show, meaning it still has the “Melvin” name in most listings.

The name of the show draws from MSNBC’s March 2021 rebranding of “MSNBC Live” as “MSNBC Reports” in order to better distinguish it from the analysis and perspective programs aired at other times of the day.

Under the rebranding, each block of news coverage is official named as “(Anchor Name) Reports” but fall under the umbrella name of MSNBC Reports. MSNBC also unveiled a new logo at when it switched branding.

The network uses a nearly identical open for all “Reports” hours, with updates made to the on-screen anchor name and accompanying imagery, while also using generic a consistent blue, yellow, white and black graphics package and on screen wipes throughout.

For the occasion, MSNBC updated its opens to feature imagery from around the White House and replaced the spot normally reserved for the anchor name with the word “White House.”

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After a rollout delayed by news cycle, here’s a look at the new ‘MSNBC Reports’ graphics

The opens continue to use “We Are Forever” from VideoHelper’s “Win or Go Home” production music album. 

On Monday, Feb. 28, Alexander and Welker started the hour from the row of broadcast booths set up in the northwest corner of the property, but then journeyed south later in the show to another common standup location near the entrance to the West Wing, where the Oval Office is, for an interview with White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, whose office is also in that part of the building.

After the interview, they returned to the north lawn.

Not only was the broadcast’s White House locale used for the interview, but it was also used as the backdrop for ongoing coverage of the Ukraine-Russia crisis, coronavirus pandemic and upcoming State of the Union address, which is likely still be prepped inside those walls.

In addition to the White House MSNBC also incorporated video on video and walk and wander floating camera shots from Studio 3A in New York, which is normally the home of “Melvin Reports.”

This will mark the first time an inanimate object (other than the network name) is featured in the “Reports” naming schema — resulting in the “White House Reports” name.

In some ways, the name is a bit odd, especially when considered in relation to the structure of the anchor specific names that are seemingly meant to be read in the context of “this is (anchor name) reporting.” Given that the White House is a place, it can’t exactly being a reporter in the journalistic sense.

The name does play into the common usage of the name of the building to not only refer to the structure but the presidency and administration as a whole, however.

Despite being absent from MSNBC air, Melvin is still expected to return to the network after this week. He appeared on “Today” earlier in the day Feb. 28, where he is a de facto third co-anchor typically popping up behind the anchor desk around 7:30 a.m. eastern and serving as a primary fill in for Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb.