UPDATE:
It was a publicity stunt designed to give Keef Olberdouche a little attention in spite of his barely existent ratings. Via Hot Air:
MSNBC will put Keith Olbermann back on the air after two unpaid days off following the admission that the anchor broke NBC’s ethics rules designed to protect their staff’s “standing (cough) as an impartial (cough cough) journalist (cough cough cough cough cough)”……
……Obviously, ethics had nothing to do with it. Why did (MSNBC’s chief executive Phil) Griffin go through this little farce? He wanted to use it to supposedly position MSNBC as somehow more journalistically pure than Fox News, and to give the channel’s defenders a talking point after one of the most embarrassing displays in American telejournalism on Tuesday night. Olbermann, who kept oddly quiet during his hours in the wilderness, presumably knew better what was happening than the “Free Keith” contingent who demanded that Griffin reverse his decision and who worried that Olbermann’s right to free speech was somehow threatened.
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/11/08/olbermann-returns-after-two-nights-off-on-tuesday/
Only two days??? Not that Olby had anywhere else to go. Especially with a talent for making frothing rage look like “righteous inspiration:”
Is it fair to describe you as the first left winger to express anger as a television host? Fury used to be the province of right wingers, until that day in 2006 when you delivered a tirade against Donald Rumsfeld.
I once had a conversation with the man who is now the vice president when he was still in the Senate, who asked me for advice about how to turn anger into righteous inspiration.Joe Biden took you to lunch to ask you for tips on getting angry?
He said, ‘‘I just come across like I’m angry and out of control, and you seem to focus it and make it look useful and expressive.’’—from an interview in the NYT.
So now that The Worst Person in the Universe is back to work, B. Hussein Obama can count that as a “job saved”.
Original story:
I’m gonna have a big sip from my cup of Schadenfreude.
MSNBC has suspended prime-time host Keith Olbermann indefinitely without pay for contributing to the campaigns of three Democratic candidates this election season.
Olbermann acknowledged to NBC that he donated $2,400 apiece to the campaigns of Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona Reps. Raul Grivalva and Gabrielle Giffords.
NBC News prohibits its employees from working on, or donating to, political campaigns unless a special exception is granted by the news division president—effectively a ban. Olbermann’s bosses did not find out about the donations until after they were made. The website Politico first reported the donations.
“I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night,” Phil Griffin, MSNBC’s chief executive, said Friday. “Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.”
Olbermann was not immediately available for comment.
……Sean Hannity, a conservative radio talk show host with a popular hour on Fox News Channel each weeknight, donated $2,400 to the congressional campaign of New York Republican John Gomez in May. In August, he donated $5,000 to the Minnesota-based Michelpac, or Many Individual Conservatives Helping Elect Leaders Everywhere, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Fox’s parent company, News Corp., gave $1 million this summer to the Republican Governor’s Association, which helps elect GOP gubernatorial candidates nationally.
When Fox host Neil Cavuto donated $1,000 to President George W. Bush in 2002, Fox executive John Moody told The Washington Post, “I wish he hadn’t.”
MSNBC’s own Joe Scarborough, who hosts the “Morning Joe” program, is listed in campaign records as donating $4,200 in 2006 to Derrick Kitts, a failed Republican congressional candidate.
Grijalva was asked to be a guest on Olbermann’s show because the congressman’s office in Tucson had received a suspicious envelope in the mail, spokesman Adam Sarvana said. Grijalva did not ask for a donation and Olbermann did not say he was giving one.
“I assume that Olbermann decides on his own who to give his money to,” said Sarvana, adding that the campaign was surprised when the check arrived.
http://bigjournalism.com/pjsalvatore/2010/11/05/report-olbermann-suspended-from-msnbc/
Herein lies the difference:
MSNBC already attracted criticism this week for having its liberal hosts and commentators anchor election night coverage. Typically, nonpartisan journalists anchor major news events—such as election results—while commentators like Bill O’Reilly (Fox News) or James Carville (CNN) offer analysis.
It’s ironic that Olbermann gave to political candidates after criticizing Fox News because its owner, Rupert Murdoch, gave $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association. “Fox News has put its money where its mouth is,” Olbermann said in an August segment that questioned the network’s impartiality.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101105/bs_yblog_upshot/msnbc-suspends-olbermann-over-political-contributions
It remains to be seen if this is just a lover’s spat between Olbermann and the MSNBC management or if it’s permanent.
keith who??????
True, Olbermann shouldn’t have done it. But it’s accepted practice at Fox News: http://mediamatters.org/research/201010270005
James,
MediaMatters? Good gawd. It’s just as bad as MSNBC. In any case, re-read what I posted:
Herein lies the difference:
It wasn’t the donations per se, but the fact that once again, MSNBC’s bias paraded as “analysis” during election night.
It’s no great loss.
SFC MAC
Am I the only one who finds this not a big deal? Why are we supposed to be offended that Keith Olbermann give money to some candidates? His entire show is an hour infomercial for the Democrat Party.