MSNBC has suspended the heart and soul of its network - that delightful Keith Olbermann.
What did Olbermann do to be taken off the air? It must have been something major, right?
He must have said something out of line. No, that can't be it. His career is based on saying things that are completely out of line and deranged.
Maybe something happened behind the scenes, like sexual harassment. No, that's not it either.
He was suspended by MSNBC for making political contributions.
That's absolutely nuts.
From the Washington Post:
Keith Olbermann's suspension from MSNBC without pay for making $7200 in political contributions is, I think, clear proof that MSNBC brass is extremely sensitive to claims that the network is evolving into the Fox News of the left.
MSNBC has had a policy in place since at least 2007 that bars "anyone working for NBC News" to make political contributions without prior approval of the network's president.
But Olbermann is hardly the first MSNBC personality to make political contributions. As Atrios notes, Pat Buchanan has made over $2000 in political donations. He doesn't have his own show, though, and he's just playing the role of your grumpy conservative uncle. So maybe he doesn't really count, or something.
But Joe Scarborough, too, gave at least $4,200 in 2006, to House GOP candidate Derrick Kitts of Oregon, according to the FEC.
To be fair, Scarborough may have notified MSNBC's president and gotten prior approval. Or maybe this policy didn't exist in 2006.
From Politico:
It's hard to see the Olbermann suspension as entirely different from the Juan Williams firing: An excuse to go after a guy who has legendarily difficult relations with management.
...Indeed, MSNBC management is striking at two birds with one stone here: Olbermann and, in the contrast, Fox, whose hosts Sean Hannity and Neil Cavuto, not to mention Huckabee, have given to political candidates, as Media Matters was quick to post.
The suspension does seem to cut hard, though, against the source of MSNBC's success, its unabashed liberalism in prime time.
ALSO: Worth noting that these sums of money are trivial in comparison to the value of the airtime and support partisan hosts on both sides give candidates on cable.
What NPR did to Juan Williams is not the same. A suspension isn't the same as being fired outright.
Olbermann hasn't lost his job.
That said, MSNBC's reason for suspending Olbermann is a joke.
We know that members of the liberal media are personally in the tank for (surprise!) liberals.
From the Daily Caller:
Senior executives, on-air personalities, producers, reporters, editors, writers and other self-identifying employees of ABC, CBS and NBC contributed more than $1 million to Democratic candidates and campaign committees in 2008, according to an analysis by The Examiner of data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.
The Democratic total of $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks, with an average contribution of $880.
By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates
and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744.
Disclosure of the heavily Democratic contributions by influential employees of the three major broadcast networks follows on the heels of controversy last week when it was learned that media baron Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. contributed $1 million to the Republican Governors Association.
The News Corp. donation prompted Nathan Daschle, executive director of the Democratic Governors Association and son of former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, to demand in a letter to Fox News chairman Roger Ailes that the cable news outlet include a disclaimer in its coverage of gubernatorial campaigns. Fox News is owned by News Corp., which also owns The Wall Street Journal.
It's a strange policy that NBC News bans "political contributions without prior approval of the network's president."
I don't believe that the network's president is running down a list of political contributions.
If the president did do that, that's incredibly intrusive.
Who knows why Olbermann was really suspended?
I'm guessing it has more to do with a clash of personalities than ideological differences.
4 comments:
This is outrageous, Keith Olbermann is the best news caster on that channel. How he spends his money is his business, his political perference has never come accross on his show. I enjoyed him greatly, and often rushed home from work to watch him, becuase I knew you would get the truth from Keith no matter what. I hope MSNBC hires him back, or someone picks up this true TV Talent and honest man. I enjoy MSNBC, greatly but today is a sad day for there political programing..It is nice to see that this news channell sticks to some sort of princpical, but not at this cost. This is not a moral dilema, I am hoping the MSNBC makes the right decision and hires him back.
To Suspend Keith Olbermann, was probably not the smartest move on the part of MSNBC. He was the back bone of the News Programing and truly a pleasure to watch. He always made you feel like he was speaking to you, and he truly had a concern about the political process and not just pushing a party. He gave you the truth, and you never felt like you where missing something with him. Keith connected with the middle man, and had a comperhensive understanding of the working classwas going through and it came out in his delivery of the news. He will truly be missed...whom he gives his money to, is his business as long as he does not use his platform to promtoe whom he supports. What should be SUSPENDED is this stupid rule that MSNBC has. This is a good News Network..and Keith Olbermann, is part of the reason why.
"his political perference has never come accross on his show."
WHAT? WHAT???
I'm sure Olbermann would disagree with you on that.
Olbermann isn’t being suspended for campaign donations or for being one of the most hated people in broadcast television. The latter is a résumé enhancer at NBC. And you can bet your bottom dollar that every other “face” at MessNBC has kicked a few thou in the direction of the Democrats at some time or another. In show business (and that’s what TV news is), at some point, it’s all about the ratings. So this is merely a convenient opportunity for NBC to do what they’ve wanted to do for awhile.
As to honest: an elitist media organization demonstrate some degree of honesty? Well, they say there’s a first time for everything, but I don’t expect to see that one in my lifetime.
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