Ari Naftali Melber[1] (born March 31, 1980) is an American attorney and Emmy-winning journalist who is the Chief Legal Correspondent for MSNBC and host of The Beat with Ari Melber.
"The Beat with Ari Melber" is "often the most-watched show on MSNBC," the A.P. reported in 2023, noting "the Emmy-winning NBC News legal analyst... brings a methodical, 'follow the facts' style to the issues he addresses."[2]
"The Beat" had the highest ratings of any show on MSNBC or CNN, "outranking everything else on MSNBC — the first time in the network’s 27 years that a show outside the prime-time window took top honors," the New York Times reported in 2023.[3]
Forbes reported The Beat was the highest rated show across all of MSNBC and CNN in January 2024,[4] and the show is widely viewed online, including its YouTube playlist (msnbc.com/ari). [5]
The Beat was "the highest-rated non-Fox News show in the demo" on cable news, AdWeek reported in November 2023.[6]Forbes[7] notes it has "MSNBC's best rating ever for the time slot."[8][9][10]
"The Beat" is one of "the most-watched news programs on cable," Variety noted in 2023, along with Fox's "The Five."[11]AdWeek reported The Beat's ratings made it one of "most watched cable news" shows in 2022.[12][13]
"The Beat's" ratings were up 46%" in 2021,[14] performing better against Fox News "than any other show before it."[15][16] In January 2021, The Beat hit No. 1 among cable news shows at 6 p.m., averaging 2.6 million viewers per night.[17][18]
The Beat was nominated for a 2020 Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Interview.[19]
Early life and education
Melber is Jewish, the son of an Israeli immigrant. His grandparents were Holocaust survivors.[20]
In April 2013, Melber was named a co-host of "The Cycle" with S.E. Cupp, Krystal Ball, Touré, and Steve Kornacki.[25] "The Cycle" was canceled in July 2015, and Melber continued working for the network as Chief Legal Correspondent. Melber was a substitute host for The Rachel Maddow Show and other programs.[21]
He has won an Emmy Award for his Supreme Court coverage.[28] In 2017, Melber hosted The Point on Sundays on MSNBC.
The Beat premiered on July 24, 2017, and became the "longest-running" show at "MSNBC's 6 p.m. hour in network history" in 2021.
Melber reported that the firing of FBI Director James Comey could trigger an investigation into obstruction of justice on May 9, 2017 — the day Comey was fired.[29] A probe was announced on May 18, 2017, which included an obstruction investigation.
Melber reported President Trump's actions toward Ukraine provided a potential case of impeachment for "bribery" in October.[30] The next month, top Democrats began making the bribery case, showing "Democrats agreed with the MSNBC host" (Mediaite),[31] while a Republican congressman cited a bribery segment from The Beat at an impeachment hearing.[32]
A few months into the Mueller probe,[33] Melber broke the story that a state investigator was exploring jurisdiction to charge potential defendants in the Mueller probe with state crimes, meaning a conviction would not be eligible for a federal pardon. Politico followed up on Melber's scoop the next day,[34] and New York State prosecutors ultimately filed separate charges against Paul Manafort in 2019.
2019
Melber interviewed former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in February 2019 about whether Trump asked him to interfere in the Mueller probe,[35] and Melber later reported that Lewandowski's response was false.[36] In a 2019 congressional hearing, investigators aired the Beat clip and questioned Lewandowski about that false answer.[37]
Melber broke the story[38] of police repeatedly tasing a Virginia man until he died in police custody, an investigative report[39] that led to an FBI investigation of the officers' conduct.[40]
The Beat with Ari Melber has featured newsworthy interviews, such as Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who talked to Melber after receiving the first pardon of Trump's administration;[45] Eric Holder, Kamala Harris, Trump attorneys Jay Sekulow, Drew Findling and Joe Tacopina; WH aide Stephen Miller, Dave Chappelle, Robert De Niro, Meek Mill, Erykah Badu, Ken Starr, and a range of witnesses in the Mueller probe, including Steve Bannon, whose Beat interview was his first-ever appearance on MSNBC.
Melber has drawn attention for his interviewing skills, nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Live Interview,"[19] for interviewing four key witnesses in the Mueller probe at once.[46]
Columbia Journalism Review stated Melber is "a remarkably effective interviewer", adding "his veins appear to contain ice water; he betrays no emotion at all" during intense exchanges. The A.P. reports "Melber is respected enough as a lawyer that some figures in Trump world, like Peter Navarro and lawyer Joe Tacopina, have appeared on “The Beat” to tell their stories."[47]
The New York Times columnist Peter Wehner, a former Republican official, said "Melber is an outstanding interviewer, among the best on television."[48] Director Lee Daniels got emotional in a 2019 interview about his life and career with Melber, saying it was the only time he would ever "cry on television".[49]
2020
In June 2020, conservative commentator Tiana Lowe wrote "Ari Melber on MSNBC" runs a "good straight news hour."[50]Mediaite[51] wrote The Beat is a "thought-provoking" and "idiosyncratic show" that "avoids the singular focus on Trump's misdeeds that consumes some other hosts",[52] adding Melber's interviewing style uses "the facts of the story and logical reasoning, [not] partisan cheap shots" for "fascinating" exchanges.[53]
January 6 reporting
Melber conducted several newsworthy interviews[54] with former Trump aide Peter Navarro, and one of the interviews was cited as evidence by Congress to hold Navarro in contempt, which led to his DOJ indictment and subsequent conviction.[55][56]
Melber wrote a foreword to the HarperCollins edition of the January 6 Report,[57][58] which became a #1 New York Times bestseller.[59]
"The Beat" Streaming
"Melber’s reach goes well beyond the dwindling number of people who watch cable television," wrote the Los Angeles Times in a 2023 profile, reporting The Beat's YouTube ratings were higher "than any other personality‘s at the network."[60] "The Beat" hit 1.5 billion total online views in 2024.
Semafor reported on the "enormous numbers," noting "on YouTube, The Beat just crossed 1.5 billion views, and averages more than 500,000 views a clip — good engagement by any measure of YouTube success."[61]
AdWeek asked Melber about the show's large YouTube audience, and he discussed the show's 1.6 billion views, and why interviews with Bill Gates, 50 Cent and Robert De Niro did well. ("The Internet likes quality, length and 'big' people or topics.")[62][63]
Melber's show is one of the most viewed shows online (Daily Beast),[64][65] and drawing over a billion streams is a "notable feat for a cable news program" (Reliable Sources).[66]The Beat has been credited as the "most streamed MSNBC show on YouTube";[67] with some of the most watched MSNBC segments online.[68][69]
Music and Culture
Melber regularly uses hip hop lyrics to explain political or legal scenarios.[70][71][72] A Vanity Fair article about MSNBC dubbed him the "secret fourth Beastie Boy", writing he is "shockingly smart and well read."[73]
Apple Music launched a music show hosted by Melber, Nevuary Radio,[74] in 2019.[75]
In 2022, Melber did a special report on the song "God Did" by Jay-Z and DJ Khaled,[76] with "acutely detailed dissection" of his verse, and Jay Z then released audio of Melber's report as a new Jay-Z track, "Hov Did," on streaming music platforms.[77] Meek Mill references The Beat in his music video "Mandela Freestyle,"[78] as does rapper Benny The Butcher in another song; Harlem rapper Dave East cites the show in the chorus of his song "Eyes Can See."[79]
^Ballon, Marc (February 26, 2004). "Local Kerry Support Shows Softness". Jewish Journal. The senator plans to fight for every Jewish vote, said Ari Melber, a Southern California deputy political director on the Kerry campaign who's responsible for Jewish outreach. Melber and other staff members have assembled a group of prominent Jewish Democratic supporters to spread the word about Kerry in the community.