MSNBC’s liberal purge continues with the news that Al Sharpton’s Politics Nation show is being sent to cable news Siberia by airing on Sunday mornings at 8 AM.
Sharpton tried to spin his removal from weeknights as not a demotion. He told The New York Daily News, “I’m very happy. First, I can reach a wider audience of people who don’t get home by 6 at night. Second, I can now get the A-list guests and newsmakers I want. And third, a Sunday morning host is what I always wanted to be. I never wanted to be a weeknight pundit. I wanted to be a Sunday morning newsmaker. I wanted to be Dr. Martin Luther King, not Larry King.”
Al Sharpton’s optimism should sound familiar. Ed Schultz expressed similar thoughts when he was removed from the 8 PM weeknight slot and shipped off to weekend afternoons. The reality is that Sharpton will have a much smaller audience at 8 AM on Sunday. The Sunday news shows do not begin airing until 9 AM, so MSNBC relocated Sharpton to an out of the way timeslot, so that his show didn’t not interfere with their core vision of no liberal programming outside of primetime.
Politics Nation’s move to weekends was first reported to be happening back in February, “In the longer term, these sources said, the Rev. Al Sharpton—a larger-than-life personality who attracts a 35 percent African-American audience but continues, after 3½ years of nightly practice, to wrestle with his Teleprompter—could eventually be moved from his weeknight 6 p.m. slot to a weekend time period, as MNSBC President Phil Griffin attempts to reverse significant viewership slides by accentuating straight news over left-leaning opinion.”
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MSNBC just told Sharpton’s African-American audience that their voices belong on television at 8 AM on Sunday mornings. The fact that Sharpton is going to tape some of his shows illustrates the scale of the demotion.
The former Lean Forward network continues to blame liberals and African-Americans for their poor programming decisions and shabby treatment of viewers. The problems at MSNBC had begun years before Comcast took over. When the left blames Comcast, they deny the reality that MSNBC has been poorly run and consistently mistreated their viewers.
Blue collar liberals were given the shaft when MSNBC canceled Ed Schultz, and African-American viewers are being blamed with the exile of Al Sharpton. There is a large liberal audience yearning for decent programming. Outside of understanding the value of Rachel Maddow, MSNBC bosses have torched every bridge imaginable with this potential audience.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
