[Oldschool]

I'd like to take Olbermann, Beck, and all the other right/left wing pundits, lock them in a room and throw away the key.

[Ratmagiclady]

Silly man. You cant donate to a political party as an anchor. You can only do that if you are the owner of the broadcasting network, like Murdoch.

Jason

Hee. Well, he's not an anchor, he's an opinion guy. It's important to note that it's MSNBC policy, not the law, that he broke, he was aboveboard about it, and MSNBC, as mentioned, didn't discipline a conservative host for doing the same thing.

Also worthwhile to note that Fox has no such ethics policy at all.

Worth a re-quote, this, actually. (emphasis added) Where'd you get this, anyway, Jeff?

Earlier today, MSNBC declared that it would be suspending progressive host Keith Olbermann because he violated NBC’s ethics rules by donating to three Democratic candidates for Congress. As many bloggers have noted, conservative MSNBC host Joe Scarborough has donated to Republican candidates for Congress while promoting the same candidate on air, but has never been disciplined. ---Moreover, Gawker notes that MSNBC has been exempt from the formal NBC ethics rules for years. It is still a mystery why MSNBC selectively applied NBC’s ethics rules to Olbermann.---- However, it important to realize that MSNBC has undergone a fundamental change in leadership in the last two months

Funny, this information didn't make the morning news. Sounds like a simple matter of Olbermann getting caught between when new management started applying NBC's ethics policy to MSNBC.

As for Olbermann himself, I've only seen a couple of his shows... It's kind of like 'Hrm, shoutey liberal. Almost as rare as a funny conservative.'

[Nesster]

Hey fans, he was suspended not NPR fired.

The distinction may have something to do with Olbermann's contract.

[jeffkrol]

Hey fans, he was suspended not NPR fired. Look at it like a post election vacation in the Carib or someplace nice.,,,,,a little consultation and maybe format adjustments and he is back with a nice winter sun tan. Hey, maybe he is with Obama traveling.......

MSNBC president Phil Griffin said in a statement Friday: "I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay."

Read more: Olbermann suspended for political gifts | Philadelphia Inquirer | 11/06/2010

[Phil1]

I still think it is a post election breather. MSNBC made press, Oberman made press, there should be more for Oberman to talk about going forward. Suspended isn't fired. Look at it like a self (MSNBC) imposed harmless penalty with a purpose. Time to regroup and maybe redesign.

A little time will tell what is really going on.

[jeffkrol]

I still think it is a post election breather. MSNBC made press, Oberman made press, there should be more for Oberman to talk about going forward. Suspended isn't fired. Look at it like a self (MSNBC) imposed harmless penalty with a purpose. Time to regroup and maybe redesign.

A little time will tell what is really going on.

MSNBC rules state that staff can only make political contributions if you are given the all-clear from superiors in advance, which the star newscaster did not do.

He gave the maximum legal donation of $2,400 to two candidates in Arizona and one in Kentucky, but it did not come to light until it was reported by Politico.com.

"I understand the rule. I understand what it means to break it," Maddow said. "I believe everyone should face the same treatment under that rule. I also personally believe that the point has been made and we should have Keith back hosting Countdown."

Read more: Rachel Maddow on suspended Keith Olbermann: MSNBC should reinstate him

[Phil1]

""I also personally believe that the point has been made and we should have Keith back hosting Countdown.""

I believe his show had #1 or close to #1 ratings with MSNBC in a sinking market. Ratings (aka money) talks. He was also important in adding left bias to MSNBC's total format.

Vacation time, resturucture time and renegotiate time is my bet.

[Phil1]

I stumbled on this:

An interesting subplot to MSNBC talk show host Keith Olbermann's suspension for making campaign contributions to three Democratic political candidates involves the man initially tapped to replace him: Chris Hayes (pictured right), Washington editor of The Nation and an MSNBC contributor.


MSNBC quickly reconsidered its decision to insert Hayes into Olbermann's slot, perhaps in part because of this story in September by OpenSecrets.org's own Megan R. Wilson, who discovered that Hayes was among dozens of identifiable reporters, editors and other news professionals to have this election cycle made political contributions.


In the story, Hayes tells Wilson that he made a $250 to Josh Segall, a Democratic candidate in Alabama 3rd Congressional District, because of "personal admiration" for a man he considers a good friend.


In August, OpenSecrets Blog also reported that all major news companies themselves play politics to some degree.

[Parallax]

I would really like to know what MSNBC's justification is for dictating to whom employees may contribute.

"MSNBC rules state that staff can only make political contributions if you are given the all-clear from superiors in advance, which the star newscaster did not do."

[jeffkrol]

I would really like to know what MSNBC's justification is for dictating to whom employees may contribute.

there's the outrage......
And:

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow closed her program Friday night with a segment about the suspension of her "colleague and friend Keith Olbermann," arguing that the suspension underscores the difference between MSNBC and Fox News.

Maddow ran down a list of Fox News hosts' and contributors' political donations and fundraising activities, ranging from Sean Hannity's political donations to Glenn Beck's on-air fundraising to Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin's political careers.

Maddow argued that MSNBC's suspension of Olbermann in light of his political donations (without prior network approval) showed that it is a real news organization, as opposed to Fox News, which allows its hosts to engage in political activity without consequence.

"Let this incident lay to rest forever the facile, never-true-anyway, bull-pucky, lazy conflation of Fox News and what the rest of us do for a living," she said. "I know everybody likes to say, 'Oh, that's cable news, it's all the same. Fox and MSNBC, mirror images of each other.' Let this lay that to rest forever. Hosts on Fox News raise money for Republican candidates. They endorse them explicitly, they use their Fox News profile to headline fundraisers. Heck, there are multiple people being paid by Fox News now to essentially run for office as Republican candidates....They can do that because there's no rule against that as Fox. They run as a political operation; we're not."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/05/maddow-keith-olbermann-su_n_779851.html

[cardinal43]

He's coming back. Saw something on the news this morning that he will be back on Tuesday night. No word on who will sit in for him tonight. I'm actually one of those that like Olbermann and Maddow, actually like Maddow better. I watch both networks, and can tolerate all of the Fox group except Hannity. Beck, who seems to be in love with George Soros, is actually funny sometimes because he is such a phony idiot. YMMV.

[Phil1]

I caught that info too on the news that he would be back tomorrow. Maybe MSNBC had time to rebuild the set or something. Lets see if he has that suggested Carib sun tan.

MSNBC and the slot got tons of engineered publicty out of it.

[jeffkrol]

followup:

"I believe you made a serious mistake, Keith, with these Democratic donations (MAYBE it should havebeen repub. donations ), beyond the question of whether you knew about the NBC policy," he said. There has to be some kind of line separating journalists, and I know you consider yourself a journalist, from partisan players."
Olbermann asked Kurtz that, if he felt that journalists personally could not donate, that meant that Olbermann's corporate bosses at General Electric -- or, in the near future, at Comcast -- could not give money to politicians either. Kurtz said that Olbermann was raising a different set of issues there.


Kurtz, who is now the Washington bureau chief for the Daily Beast, and the Nation's media writer Greg Mitchell (who also blogs for the Huffington Post) were on the show to debate the ethics of political contributions by members of the news business. Unsurprisingly, the debate focused on Olbermann's three donations to Democratic candidates in late October. Olbermann's failure to ask his superiors for permission to donate -- he said he was unaware that this rule existed -- resulted in his suspension, which ended on Tuesday.

Kurtz told Olbermann that he had overstepped the line separating journalists from partisans.

"I believe you made a serious mistake, Keith, with these Democratic donations, beyond the question of whether you knew about the NBC policy," he said. There has to be some kind of line separating journalists, and I know you consider yourself a journalist, from partisan players."

Olbermann asked Kurtz that, if he felt that journalists personally could not donate, that meant that Olbermann's corporate bosses at General Electric -- or, in the near future, at Comcast -- could not give money to politicians either. Kurtz said that Olbermann was raising a different set of issues there.
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"Once you get up to the corporate level, where they're not meddling with newsroom decisions (wow, who does he think he's kidding) ...corporations are going to give money," he said.

Mitchell disagreed with Kurtz, saying that "in the real world, owners of companies have an interest" in the output of their news divisions.

Howard Kurtz Tells Olbermann Donations Were A 'Serious Mistake' (VIDEO)

[cwhans]

Looks like NBC is trying to play it fair.

Joe Scarborough suspended over political donations - Politics - Decision 2010 - msnbc.com

[jeffkrol]