Ronan Farrow As New MSNBC Host
NEW YORK – October 16, 2013 – Ronan Farrow has joined MSNBC as the host of a new show currently in development. The weekday, one-hour program will begin in early 2014. The announcement was made today by Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC. Farrow, a writer, human rights lawyer, and former government official will also contribute to msnbc.com and across the platforms of NBC News.
“Ronan has established himself as a provocative, independent journalist capable of challenging people’s assumptions and empowering audiences,” said Griffin. “His show will be a game changer for MSNBC, representing a fresh approach to how we deliver news.”
“This is a new generation of news show for a new, more engaged generation of viewers. It’s a show about why the news matters to you – and what you can do to be a part of the story,” said Farrow. “I’m excited to shake up people’s expectations for cable news. And to get a ton of Twitter followers.”
MSNBC has been in development talks with Farrow for several months.
Prior to joining MSNBC, Farrow was a foreign policy official in the first Obama administration. He founded the State Department’s Office of Global Youth Issues and reported to the Secretary of State as the United States’ first Special Adviser for Global Youth during the Arab Spring revolutions. He also served for two years as a US diplomat focused on the conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Farrow has written about human rights and foreign policy for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal and other publications. Writing for the Wall Street Journal in 2006, he was among the first to report on the role of Chinese investments in fueling the Darfur conflict, a piece that helped spark a major international divestment campaign. He has also appeared as a frequent commentator on major television networks and as an expert witness before the U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus.
Before joining the State Department, he served as Spokesperson for Youth at UNICEF, working with youth groups on the AIDS epidemic in Nigeria, on post-war reconstruction efforts in Angola, and in the Darfur region of Sudan.
“Ronan has packed more experience into his 25 years of life than most people have in a lifetime,” said Griffin.
In 2008, Farrow was awarded Refugees International’s McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian Award, for “extraordinary service to refugees and displaced people.” In 2009, he was named by New York Magazine as its “New Activist” of the year and included on its list of individuals “on the verge of changing their worlds”. Forbes Magazine has ranked him number one among its “30 Under 30” most influential people in Law and Policy. Esquire Magazine recently named him the man of his year of birth.
Farrow is a graduate of Yale Law School and a member of the New York Bar. He conducted doctoral research at Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He is two seasons behind on “Breaking Bad”.