CBS’s O’Donnell on Megyn Kelly: Not covering politics ‘an odd choice to make’

“CBS This Morning” anchor Norah O’Donnell on Wednesday called Megyn Kelly’s decision not to cover politics on her new NBC morning show “an odd choice.” 

“We are all friends with Megyn,” O’Donnell prefaced when the topic of Kelly came up during a panel discussion at the Paley Center for Media, according to TVNewser. “We want to see her succeed and are fans of her past work and hope she will continue to do well.”

“I think the early move saying she wouldn’t cover politics was an odd choice to make,” O’Donnell, a former NBC host, said. “As a political journalist myself, I believe covering politics is important, and I don’t know how you can be a journalist and not cover politics. It’s at the heart of covering our democracy.”

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Kelly, an ex-Fox News host, said in her first opening monologue on “Megyn Kelly Today” that politics, which are dominating her former cable news home due to President Trump, will not be a focus on her program. 

“The truth is, I am kind of done with politics for now,” Kelly said during the opening monologue of the first episode of her morning show on Sept. 25.  “You know why, right? We all feel it, it’s everywhere. It’s everywhere, and it’s gotten so dark, and I’m just like over.”

“Megyn Kelly Today” struggled out of the gate from a ratings perspective, but picked up steam last week when the show largely focused on sexual harassment in the wake of allegations against former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly and former NBC/MSNBC political analyst Mark Halperin.

Kelly’s ratings grew double digits last week, according to Nielsen.

For the week of Oct. 23, the 9 a.m. ET NBC program jumped 10 percent when compared to the average from previous week, averaging 2.338 total viewers, its highest since the show premiered in late September.