When it was announced that former NBC News chief Andy Lack would be returning to his old position at the network, all the focus was on the Brian Williams fiasco. It seems fairly likely that Lack will want to at least attempt to figure out how to successfully bring his friend back to the anchor seat of NBC Nightly News, and while that task seems pretty huge, given Williams's admission of having an embellishment problem, it may not be Lack's biggest problem to tackle. MSNBC is tanking in the ratings, so figuring out how to keep the news network afloat is actually something Lack has done before. During his last tenure as news chief, he found the balance that helped MSNBC to stay uniquely competitive, and now he will struggle to do it all over again.
According to a report by Newsmax, "While he was gone, MSNBC changed from traditional news to a political network with a liberal lens. Now that it is mired in a ratings slump, Lack's mandate as chairman will be figuring out if MSNBC needs a complete overhaul or a sharpening of its mission.
"The current picture is seriously ugly. Through early March, Chris Hayes's viewership at 8 p.m. on weekdays was down 23 percent from last year, Rachel Maddow was off 24 percent and Lawrence O'Donnell down 26 percent. Among the 25-to-54-year-old demographic, which is the basis for advertising sales, the prime-time lineup lost nearly half its audience. Daytime isn't much better," explained an insider.
In the last few years, MSNBC's viewership has dropped off so much that it seems to be little more than an afterthought network rather than a news source that people choose to turn to. Lack will need to work some real magic to bring NBC's all-news channel back from the brink of going dark.
Do you think Lack really is the salvation NBC needs to help squash the negative press? Will he be able to save MSNBC and Williams's career in a relatively short period of time? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below.
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