Keith Olbermann SUSPENDED From MSNBC Indefinitely Without Pay



Keith Olberman is a douchebag. That being said, the suspension is ridiculous. Was anybody not aware that he was an ardent democrat? It's not like he has ever been balanced in his opinions on anything political, so it's not like his donations would influence his opinion show in any way that it isn't already biased towards.

Also - how fucked up is it that people and corporations are allowed to contribute money to political campaigns of candidates that aren't even in their district?
 
Unarmed Gunman said:
Keith Olberman is a douchebag. That being said, the suspension is ridiculous. Was anybody not aware that he was an ardent democrat? It's not like he has ever been balanced in his opinions on anything political, so it's not like his donations would influence his opinion show in any way that it isn't already biased towards.

Also - how fucked up is it that people and corporations are allowed to contribute money to political campaigns of candidates that aren't even in their district?
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Why is the suspension ridiculous? He signed a contract stating that as long as he would be an analyst at MSNBC, he would not contribute to any political campaigns.
 
jeffrey said:
Why is the suspension ridiculous? He signed a contract stating that as long as he would be an analyst at MSNBC, he would not contribute to any political campaigns.
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Their contracts do not say that. It simply says that they are to notify NBC management of any political contributions. Read the article. I would be OK with it if he were a serious journalist, but he isn't. I are about this as much as I would care if I found out that Sean Penn made political contributions to 3 candidates. He works in entertainment, not news.
 
I have not seen the MSNBC contract, so I can't speak to it. But a company spokesperson said the MSNBC ethics policy bans journalists from making contributions. I'm not gonna get into a "rabbit hole" debate about what constitutes a journalist or "serious journalist" (whatever that means).

Seems to me Olbermann meets Wiki's definition, so he falls under MSNBC's ethics policy.

If you ran MSNBC, and wanted to perpetuate a facade of propriety, you would suspend him. It's a good business decision. It's good PR for the company, good press exposure, and it sends a clear message to other personnel not to violate the ethics policy since doing so exposes MSNBC to bad press.

An example:

Every major news network has a clearly stated policy that they will not pay for interviews since doing so taints the information. But they have no problem paying this guy, who funnels the money to interviewees:

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The news networks get to keep their hands clean, the interviewees get paid, and the public has no clue about what is going on behind their TVs. Kinda the same deal here.

As BluAffiliate said, Olbermann will be back. He won't lose many fans. He'll only "lose" detractors - or, to put it differently, detractors will become more rabid. Meanwhile, he gets press time.

Not a bad deal for everyone involved, including the pols who received the contributions. Everyone wins - except the dummies who think they can rely on network news.
 
I haven't seen the contract either, of course. I'm just going off this quote from the article:

While NBC News policy does not prohibit employees from donating to political candidates, it requires them to obtain prior approval from NBC News executives before doing so.
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So it isn't like he was suspended for making the donations, he was suspended for not telling them ahead of time. If we believe that to be the case, then the rule has nothing to do with journalistic integrity, and only has to do with NBC being able to cover their asses with a disclaimer somewhere at the bottom of the MSNBC website. That's why I think it's ridiculous. I would love the rule if it absolutely prohibited any and all political contributions, but it doesn't do that.
 
I would actually like this guy if he was half as critical of the current administration as he was the Bush admin. He turns a blind eye to a lot of Obama's policies that he (rightly so) ripped Bush a new one for... This commentary pseudo journalism is retarded.
 
Unarmed Gunman said:
So it isn't like he was suspended for making the donations, he was suspended for not telling them ahead of time. If we believe that to be the case, then the rule has nothing to do with journalistic integrity, and only has to do with NBC being able to cover their asses with a disclaimer somewhere at the bottom of the MSNBC website
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On this, it seems you and I are in total agreement.

Here's how I see this thing playing out in the MSNBC offices:

After finding out about the contributions, Olberman's handlers sat him down and said, "Keith, we know about the contributions. And you know we have an ethics policy. Now, we're in a jam. Your detractors are gonna post this on their blogs. Someone already leaked the contribs since the info is public. It's gonna hit mainstream, and hurt us and you. We gotta do something. What do you suggest?"

Olbermann said, "How about this? Suspend me "indefinitely." Makes you guys look good. And because I'm painted as a left-leaning guy, I'll come out looking like a martyr to my people. I was never going to gain the trust or admiration of the right, so this further polarizes the audience. Good for me, and good for MSNBC. I get to sell books and speaking gigs, and you guys get ratings. Then, bring me back and have your spokesguy say that I've learned my lesson."

MSNBC says, "Sounds good. When do you want to leave?"

Olbermann says, "Now's good. Election's over, so everyone's burnt out on this stuff. Plus, I've been dying to take a vacation and work on my new book."

MSNBC: "Great. We'll give you a call when things calm down. Probably a week or two."
 
JakeStratham said:
On this, it seems you and I are in total agreement.

Here's how I see this thing playing out in the MSNBC offices:

After finding out about the contributions, Olberman's handlers sat him down and said, "Keith, we know about the contributions. And you know we have an ethics policy. Now, we're in a jam. Your detractors are gonna post this on their blogs. Someone already leaked the contribs since the info is public. It's gonna hit mainstream, and hurt us and you. We gotta do something. What do you suggest?"

Olbermann said, "How about this? Suspend me "indefinitely." Makes you guys look good. And because I'm painted as a left-leaning guy, I'll come out looking like a martyr to my people. I was never going to gain the trust or admiration of the right, so this further polarizes the audience. Good for me, and good for MSNBC. I get to sell books and speaking gigs, and you guys get ratings. Then, bring me back and have your spokesguy say that I've learned my lesson."

MSNBC says, "Sounds good. When do you want to leave?"

Olbermann says, "Now's good. Election's over, so everyone's burnt out on this stuff. Plus, I've been dying to take a vacation and work on my new book."

MSNBC: "Great. We'll give you a call when things calm down. Probably a week or two."
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I'd say that sums it up pretty well.
 
You break the rules you get suspended. Doesn't seem so hard to understand...

On a side-note, I'm guessing Fox News doesn't have a "tell us before you donate" rule? If they do, it has to be staffed by a few people working 24/7/365 just to approve all the requests.
 
subigo said:
You break the rules you get suspended. Doesn't seem so hard to understand...

On a side-note, I'm guessing Fox News doesn't have a "tell us before you donate" rule? If they do, it has to be staffed by a few people working 24/7/365 just to approve all the requests.
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true enough.

that said, I didn't think you could get FOX News in North Korea! ;)
 
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