Accuracy in Media

“Four well-placed sources tell HuffPost that MSNBC has not been in contact with O’Donnell’s team of representatives to negotiate a new deal. The absence of active negotiations weeks before a contract expires is highly unusual and often a sign that a contract won’t be renewed.”

The ratings for O’Donnell’s show, The Last Word, along with other programs at MSNBC, are surging thanks to the network’s coverage of President Trump, as liberals are seeking out programs with an anti-Trump message.

The higher ratings seem to matter little to NBC News chairman Andy Lack, who according to HuffPo isn’t a fan of O’Donnell’s, and thinks his ratings success has more to do with the Rachel Maddow lead-in than anything O’Donnell has done:

“If O’Donnell’s contract is not renewed, that would not come as a surprise to many network insiders. Andy Lack, the chairman of NBC News, is no fan of O’Donnell’s program, sources say. Some say it’s because he doesn’t appreciate the liberal nature of ‘The Last Word,’ but others say it’s about the fact that O’Donnell rejected Lack’s request to move his program from 10 p.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time. This decision was O’Donnell’s prerogative, two sources said, because his contract stipulates that his program must air in prime time.”

One possible successor to O’Donnell should his contract not be renewed is Brian Williams, who hosts The 11th Hour and is a Lack favorite despite the former NBC Nightly News anchor’s previous history of exaggerating and making up facts in his reporting. Lack now considers that “ancient history.”