Olbermann suspended for political donations.

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Quote :: MSNBC suspends Olbermann for political donations

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.

Given how much money Fox News tosses around, can we finally lay to rest the myth of the "liberal media"?

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Yet rightie Joe Scarbourough gets treated differently...
Joe Scarborough did the exact same thing
If you have any doubt about Phil Griffin's real motive in suspending Keith Olbermann, you need look no further than how the network reacted to Joe Scarborough's donation of $4,200 to a Republican House candidate in 2006:

Joe Scarborough, host of the "Morning Joe" talk show and the evening newscast "Scarborough Country," $4,200 in March 2006 to Derrick Kitts, Republican candidate for the House from Oregon. ... A spokesperson for NBC, Jeremy Gaines, replied to questions sent to Scarborough. "Yes, he did make a donation to Derrick Kitts. Kitts is an old friend of Joe's. Joe hosts an opinion program and is not a news reporter."

Griffin might try to defend himself by saying the difference is that Olbermann interviewed one of the candidates that he contributed to after making the contribution. But Griffin's problem would be that Joe Scarborough did the exact same thing. As JohnKWilson pointed out in a diary, after donating to Derrick Kitts, Scarbrough interviewed Kitts on his program.The bottom-line here that both Keith Olbermann and Joe Scarborough both host opinion shows. They both made personal contributions to political candidates. But Olbermann supports Democrats, and Scarborough supports Republicans, so even though Olbermann is the network's top-rated host, and even though Scarborough hides his ratings sheet in a little box in the basement, it's Olbermann that gets silenced.

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There's been some chatter that Olbermann may have done this deliberately in order to call attention to the out-and-out blatant fundraising Fox News Rolling Eyes

engages in on a regular basis.

Rachel Maddow addresses the suspension and Fox News last night:

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Ah! Very interesting. Thanks for the link.

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Here is what I think about the whole thing. The left seems to think they are above it all, complaining about what the other side does. Once again those who talk the talk can't walk the walk. If it is in bad taste for foxnews to do so, then why wouldn't it be in bad taste for him to do the same. He should be suspended, for talking out of both sides of his mouth if nothing else. Be honest, both sides, and things just might get a little better for us all.

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Face wrote:: If it is in bad taste for foxnews to do so, then why wouldn't it be in bad taste for him to do the same.

I don't think they are quite the same thing, though.

Olbermann privately donated to three candidates; he didn't do it on air or do it as an endorsement from his show. I don't think any of the candidates in question ran with an "endorsed by Olbermann" tag line anywhere. And he only got suspended because he didn't ask the administration first per their policy, and rightfully so.

Fox News, however, are exactly the opposite. They openly pander to Republican candidates, raising funds on air, handing out endorsements all over the place, running with demonstrably phony stories, all the while maintaining that they are an unbiased and impartial news source.

That's a big difference, I think, and as Maddow correctly points out, it highlights the differences between the two networks: one a news network, the other just a front for the Republican party.

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Keith Olbermann to return Tuesday night Very Happy

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Heretic wrote:

Face wrote:: If it is in bad taste for foxnews to do so, then why wouldn't it be in bad taste for him to do the same.

I don't think they are quite the same thing, though.

Olbermann privately donated to three candidates; he didn't do it on air or do it as an endorsement from his show. I don't think any of the candidates in question ran with an "endorsed by Olbermann" tag line anywhere. And he only got suspended because he didn't ask the administration first per their policy, and rightfully so.

Fox News, however, are exactly the opposite. They openly pander to Republican candidates, raising funds on air, handing out endorsements all over the place, running with demonstrably phony stories, all the while maintaining that they are an unbiased and impartial news source.

That's a big difference, I think, and as Maddow correctly points out, it highlights the differences between the two networks: one a news network, the other just a front for the Republican party.

Here is the problem. He is not honest with his complaints at all. He has the ability to twist any program he hosts in any way. Therefore he is doing the same thing Fox is doing. If he did say he gave money, and then did the story he would be untouchable, but he lied.... He was not honest with his viewers or his boss. he knew the rule and broke it. He should be suspended for much longer than he was.

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Face wrote:: Here is the problem. He is not honest with his complaints at all. He has the ability to twist any program he hosts in any way. Therefore he is doing the same thing Fox is doing.

No he's not. Fox hosts like Hannity & Beck actively promote fundraising for GOP candidates on their shows. They also appear at conservative political events.

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face wrote:: Here is the problem. He is not honest with his complaints at all. He has the ability to twist any program he hosts in any way. Therefore he is doing the same thing Fox is doing.

Sure, but again, we can still recognize the difference in magnitude: three private donations by a single host vs an entire network showboating for an entire party. And I don't really see either of it as a problem unless they're tailoring news stories towards the hosts favored cause. You can't watch "fair and balanced" Fox News for 10 mins without hearing the latest round of unfounded and ridiculous Republican talking points presented as "news". What's this week's? "Global warming's a scam" again? Or are we still on "Obama's 200 million/day trip to India"? Until I see such egregious fabrications of news stories from Olbermann, yeah, they may both be reptiles, but it's the difference between an iguana and a T-Rex.

And remember, he did get punished for it; the entirety of Fox News, for reasons that should be painfully obvious, has no such journalistic integrity.

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Quote :: After abruptly departing MSNBC in January, Keith Olbermann returns to broadcasting on June 20 with a new version of Countdown on the Current TV network.

He tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross that his new show resembles his old show on MSNBC but "with some additional bells and whistles and a little bit more commentary." And, he says, he's looking forward to being at a network where he can say things he wasn't able to say before.

"This is not specific to NBC or MSNBC, but I just saw an environment growing in which there were more and more conflicts of interest within these large national corporations where no matter what you said, you had the potential to affect some other part of the big company's business," Olbermann explains. "The more that that's true, the less they want you to say. Even if there is no explicit attempt to censure or to proscribe or otherwise to interfere, there becomes an issue of the larger the corporation, the more fear in the part of the people involved in its production."
http://www.npr.org/2011/06/07/136931640/keith-olbermann-the-countdown-to-his-new-show?ps=cprs

Current TV is available on
ATT U-verse TV
Comcast Corporation
DIRECTV
DISH Network

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I already set the DVR...channel 107 for me.

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Artie60438 wrote:

Ahh, the company they keep.

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CurrentTV will now have to hire a man in order to maintain gender balance.
I wonder if Maddow is in the market for a career move.

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First week of Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Current TV beats CNN

Quote :: The Hollywood Reporter (emphasis mine):

Keith Olbermann’s Countdown on Current finished the week ahead of CNN in news’ target demographic of 25-54-year-olds. According to Nielsen, Countdown averaged 131,000 viewers in the demo for the week ending June 24, while CNN’s In the Arena pulled in 117,000 demo viewers.

Arena host Eliot Spitzer was on vacation last week. And CNN beat Current in total viewers in the 8 p.m. hour averaging 379,000 viewers to Current’ 354,000. Countdown did trend down after its June 20 premiere, which drew 179,000 viewers in the demo. But the ratings nevertheless are a victory for the network, which averaged 30,000 viewers in primetime for the first quarter 2011. And Current is in nearly 40 percent fewer homes than CNN.

Quote :: That last line is the key here. Not only is Current not available in as many homes, it's also harder to find than CNN. But over time, with a programming lineup anchored by Keith Olbermann, as viewers demand access and availability to Current, they're going to get it. And the ratings will continue to climb. We're at the early stages of something really big. And it's off to a strong start.

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