Gabriel Sherman's piece in New York magazine (10/3/10) on the cable news wars includes a bit of history on MSNBC's firing of progressive host Phil Donahue in 2003; an internal memo at the time worried that the show would be "a home for the liberal anti-war agenda at the same time that our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity." Sherman focuses on MSNBC personality Chris Matthews--who sometimes claims he was opposed to the Iraq War--and his desire to get Donahue fired:
Like LiA blogger Dragontide, I wonder if MSNBC was just looking for a reason to get rid of KO;
From the NY Times link:
"The suspension comes at a particularly tricky time for MSNBC. NBC Universal is in the midst of a change of ownership, with its potential new owner, Comcast, seeking final federal approval for the sale. It hopes to conclude the deal by the end of the year."
Maybe Comcast wants a completely different NBC. Seems to me that the proper thing to do would have been to ask Olbermann to not contribute to anymore campaigns and leave it at that. In any event, it's going to be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Then we have Rick Sanchez who was fired from CNN after giving a satellite radio interview in which he called Jon Stewart a “bigot” and suggested that Jews run CNN and the news media in general.
Keith Olbermann was suspended after POLITICO reported he made three campaign contributions to Democratic candidates. POLITICO recently hired former republican Congressman Joe Scarborough and they have a daily segment on Morning Joke, I mean Joe.
Starting on Oct. 1, Politico will run weekly opinion columns by Joe Scarborough, the MSNBC host and former United States representative, and Michael Kinsley, a columnist for The Atlantic.
I smell a rat too.
So let me get this straight; MSNBC suspends Keith Olbermann for donating money to dumbocratic candidates, and their rivals, Radio Rwanda, allows their on air personalities to run for republican office? I swear liberals are getting softer and softer by the day. You all have got to get hard core like the republiclowns. Do you think Radio Rwanda would fire one of their biggest earners over some s^&t like this? Hell News Corp gave over a million dollars to that racist- right out of central casting- Haley Barbour, and didn't even sweat it.
Still, like Aaron Goldstein, I smell a rat. You know the world is upside down when conservatives are ripping MSNBC for suspending Olbermann.
It ought to be against network policy to use the public airways to spread lies and misinformation but I digress. Did Keith Olberman actually violate NBC policy?
Check out the fine print of what NBC policy said, as of 2007, about political activities on the part of NBC employees:
"Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest. Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the President of NBC News or his designee."
Emphasis mine. This is a bit difficult to parse. But this does seem to say that those who are worried that their "standing as an impartial journalist" would be jeopardized by political activity should report it. Last time I checked, Keith Olbermann doesn't pretend to be an "impartial journalist."
So let me see if I have this right(pun intended), MSNBc employees have to ask permission from management to donate their own damn money to political candidates? What if management says no? I guess only anonymous corproations are allowed "freedom of speech".
The story behind is the story is Keith Olberman got Dan Rathered by GE. Scared of losing influence with the Republicans in Congress, GE Executives cravenly did what they do best: protect their bottom line. Suspending Olbermann had nothing to do with drawing "a distinction between the journalistic standards of their news division and the standards of Fox." GE's own record of political contributions makes that very clear.
The difference between Keith Olbermann and Juan Williams is that Olbermann is in trouble for putting his money where his mouth is. Williams was putting his mouth where his money is. h/t AllesKlaar
Psst Keith, Rick and Dan! I feel your pain. You should join forces and start your own Network.
I keep on asking: WHERE THE H.... IS THE PRO-DEMOCRATIC MEDIA? (specially radio). I can drive through Texas and listen to at least dozens of Spanish radio stations and I can't find 1 pro-democratic station (only 1 in Dallas).
As long as we don't have "Pro-democratic" (liberal) radio in every major city in the US. Republicans are going to keep on ruling this country.
President Obama needs to speak on this.
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