Phil Griffin

The youngest of four children, Griffin grew up in Chappaqua, New York[2] and Toledo, Ohio.[3] His father was an executive at Macy's. Griffin's family were Democrats and politically minded. As a child, his mother took him to rallies for the hungry. His brother was a conscientious objector.[3]

In 1979, Griffin graduated with a degree in English from Vassar College.[2] He wrote his thesis on Milton's Paradise Lost.[2]

Following graduation, Griffin moved to Atlanta to take a minimum wage job at the fledgling CNN.[2] Griffin was working a camera at CNN when it aired for the first time, on June 1, 1980.[2]

At CNN, he befriended future MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, who worked there as a sportscaster.[2] After several years with CNN, working primarily as a writer-producer-editor in their sports department, Griffin began work at NBC in 1983,[2] working as a relief producer for vacationing producers at The Today Show.[3] Six months later Griffin convinced The Today Show's executive producer to hire him on staff.[3]

In 1987, he became a producer at USA Today: The Television Show. After it was canceled, he returned to The Today Show.[3] At NBC, Griffin had several jobs, including as a senior broadcast producer for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw. He led the NBC News coverage of the O. J. Simpson trial.[4]

Griffin was with MSNBC from its start in 1996.[2] He has been executive producer for shows such as Hardball with Chris Matthews[5] and MSNBC's The Big Show with Keith Olbermann.[6] He was the head of prime-time programming for the network.[5] Griffin approved the launch of many shows, including The Rachel Maddow Show and Morning Joe.[3] He also hired Lawrence O'Donnell, Ed Schultz,[7] and Chris Hayes.[8]

In 2005, former NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Zucker appointed Griffin senior vice president of NBC News and in 2008, president of MSNBC.[3]

In 2013, Griffin said he wanted MSNBC to be more of a lifestyle brand than a political hub.[3] In 2014, Griffin said the network would take steps to widen its demographic to include a more ethnically diverse audience, to increase its coverage outside of the Washington, D.C. beltway and to appeal to younger viewers, including with online initiatives.[9] Griffin has asserted that MSNBC is an independent voice that does not favor Democrats. He has rejected claims that partisanship is equivalent at MSNBC and Fox News.[10]

In 2016, after MSNBC started covering more hard news during the day, Griffin likened its evening shows to an op-ed page in a newspaper.[11] The network had its highest ever ratings in 2016 and in the first quarter of 2017 averaged 1.46 million views in prime time, beating CNN.[12] Griffin said that he thought the surge in audience was attributable to scoops and new information, rather than partisan leanings.[13]

In May 2017, Griffin signed a multi-year renewal contract to remain as president of MSNBC in the midst of a ratings surge during and following the 2016 presidential election.[14] In June 2017, he said that the network was making an effort to include diverse political voices.[15] Earlier in the year, Griffin signed former George W. Bush communications director Nicolle Wallace to host an afternoon program for the network.[16]

In October 2019, Ronan Farrow reported that in a staff meeting, Griffin showed a picture of television reporter Maria Menounos having a "wardrobe malfunction" with her bathing suit. "Would you look at that?" Griffin reportedly said while exhaling hard. "Not bad, not bad."[17]

On December 7, 2020, MSNBC announced that at the end of January, Griffin would be replaced with journalist and television executive Rashida Jones.[18]

In 1997, Griffin married Kory Kim Apton in a civil ceremony in New York.[19][20] They have two children, daughter Riley and son Jackson.[21]

He has said his idols are former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw, and television news executive Andrew Lack.[3] "I am one of the few people in television who never wanted to be on-air," he told The New Republic in 2013.[3]

• Biography at MSNBC