Controversial Reverend to lose nightly slot as broadcaster sways from left
President Phil Griffin hopes sea change will bring back lost viewers
Ed Schultz, Chris Hayes, and Lawrence O'Donnell also in the firing line
Sharpton's critics rejoice as gaff-prone anchor's four year stint nears end

MSNBC is set to pull the plug on contentious Reverend Al Sharpton in a last ditch attempt to revive dwindling audience numbers.

The liberal anchor's nightly Politics Nation show is to be shelved by broadcasting bosses as they make drastic changes in the hope of clawing back viewers.

Company President Phil Griffin is believed to be placing his faith in a swing from the left in their Congress coverage - insisting that the station's Republican bashing glory days are now firmly in the past.
An MSNBC source told the Daily Beast: 'Going left was a brilliant strategy while it lasted and made hundreds of millions of dollars for Comcast. 'But it doesn't work anymore. 'The goal is to move away from left-wing TV.'

Sharpton's removal - which may see his politics show rehomed to a weekend slot - will be music to the ears of conservatives and right-wingers, often agitated by the 60-year-old's opposition stance.

It follows the exit of liberal firebrand Keith Olbermann, who left to join ESPN in 2011.

Long-term NBC anchor Brian Williams is also on six-month's unpaid leave after fabricating a story of coming under fire in a US military helicopter in Iraq.

It's thought that both of these factors were key in the broadcaster's decision to alter its stance to straight news from left-leaning.

The source added: 'Everybody in the food chain from top to bottom understands that the Olbermann era is over.'

Rev Al Sharpton has always been a larger-than-life personality.

The baptist minister - who was once James Brown's tour manager - attracts a 35 per cent African-American audience and is renowned as a prominent civil rights and social justice activist.

However, families of two murdered Americans were earlier this week revealed on camera to believe the Reverend was more focused on making money than helping them fight for justice.

Erica Snipes, the daughter of Eric Garner who died in Staten Island last July after a New York City Police officer put him in a chokehold, aired her complaints about Rev Sharpton, the founder of the National Action Network, during a secretly recorded conversation with two conservative activists.

The nearly 8-minute-long video also includes interviews with other African-American community leaders and activities, most of whom had something negative to say about Rev Sharpton.

Miss Snipes was asked by undercover investigators working for investigative group Project Veritas in January if she believed Sharpton was in a sense 'a crook'. 'He's about this,' Snipes replied, rubbing her thumb and index finger together in a universal sign symbolizing money.

'He's about money with you?' the Project Veritas staffer asked, to which Snipes, 24, replied in the affirmative.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...l#ixzz3SuY8ANEh
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What? only in a sense a crook?
How about he IS a crook? TM