Keith Olbermann Suspended!

quote:

MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a statement Friday:

I bet this dude is on Keitypoos "Worst Person in the World" list right now.Couldn't have happened to a better person. I hope he never gets on air again.

Olbermann needs to ascend to the CEO position at MSNBC. Then he could follow the model of Rupert Murdoch, owner of "fair and balanced" Fox News, and give $1,000,000 to the political party of his choice with impunity, as Murdoch did. This matter of contributions by NBC staffers was illuminated by Fairness and Accuracy in Media with their release, reproduced below:



Action Alert

If Olbermann's Donations Are Bad, What About GE's?

11/5/10

MSNBC host Keith Olbermann has been placed on indefinite suspension without pay in the wake of a Politico report (11/5/10) that revealed Olbermann had donated $7,200 to three Democratic candidates, in violation of NBC's standards barring employees from making political contributions.

A journalist donating money to a political candidate raises obvious conflict of interest questions; at a minimum, such contributions should be disclosed on air. But if supporting politicians with money is a threat to journalistic independence, what are the standards for Olbermann's bosses at NBC, and at NBC's parent company General Electric?

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, GE made over $2 million in political contributions in the 2010 election cycle (most coming from the company's political action committee). The top recipient was Republican Senate candidate Rob Portman from Ohio. The company has also spent $32 million on lobbying this year, and contributed over $1 million to the successful "No on 24" campaign against a California ballot initiative aimed at eliminating tax loopholes for major corporations (New York Times, 11/1/10).

Comcast, the cable company currently looking to buy NBC, has dramatically increased its political giving, much of it to lawmakers who support the proposed merger (Bloomberg, 10/19/10). And while Fox News parent News Corp's $1 million donation to the Republican Governors Association caused a stir, GE had "given $245,000 to the Democratic governors and $205,000 to the Republican governors since last year," reported the Washington Post (8/18/10).

Olbermann's donations are in some ways comparable to fellow MSNBC host Joe Scarborough's $4,200 contribution to Republican candidate Derrick Kitts in 2006 (MSNBC.com, 7/15/07). When that was uncovered, though, NBC dismissed this as a problem, since Scarborough "hosts an opinion program and is not a news reporter." Olbermann, of course, is also an opinion journalist--but MSNBC seems to hold him to a different standard.

Two years earlier, the Washington Post reported (1/18/04):


NBC chief executive Robert Wright has contributed $8,000 since 1999, including $3,500 to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and $1,000 to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). Andrew Lack, a former NBC News chief, gave $1,000 to Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.) while NBC president, and Wright contributed $1,500--after the House committee Tauzin chairs held hearings on the networks' election night failures. NBC spokeswoman Allison Gollust said the network allows its executives to make contributions and that Wright "does not make any decisions specific to news coverage."


Wright, however, was reported in a recent New York magazine piece (10/3/10) to have told then-NBC News chief Neal Shapiro to move to the right of Fox News in response to the September 11 attacks: "We have to be more conservative then they are," the magazine quoted Wright.

MSNBC's treatment of Olbermann is also in sharp contrast to Fox News' handling of Sean Hannity, who was revealed by Salon (9/23/10) to have given $5,000 to the campaign of Rep. Michele Bachmann (R.-Minn.), a Tea Party favorite--without Fox expressing any public disapproval. Hannity has allowed Republican candidates to use his Fox program for fundraising (Mediaite, 10/17/10); as Salon noted, Hannity was this year's keynote speaker at the National Republican Congressional Committee's annual fundraising dinner.

If the concern is about how giving money to politicians threatens journalistic independence, then companies like NBC should explain why their parent companies can lavish so much money on political candidates or causes with no concern about conflicts of interest or the need to disclose these donations to viewers. The lesson here would seem to be that some of the workers shouldn't make political donations, but the bosses are free to give as much as they'd like. Anyone who watches Olbermann's show knows what his political views are. So what do the far larger contributions from GE tell us?

ACTION:
Ask NBC and MSNBC to explain their inconsistent standards regarding political donations.

CONTACT:

MSNBC President
Phil Griffin
phil.griffin@nbcuni.com

NBC News President
Steve Capus
steve.capus@nbcuni.com

Phone: (212) 664-4444




TAKE ACTION!

Action:

Ask NBC and MSNBC to explain their inconsistent standards regarding political donations.

CONTACT:
MSNBC President
Phil Griffin
phil.griffin@nbcuni.com

NBC News President
Steve Capus
steve.capus@nbcuni.com

Phone: (212) 664-4444
Please post copies of your letters in the comments section on the FAIR Blog




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quote:

Originally posted by beternU:
Olbermann needs to ascend to the CEO position at MSNBC. Then he could follow the model of Rupert Murdoch, owner of "fair and balanced" Fox News, and give $1,000,000 to the political party of his choice with impunity, as Murdoch did.

No offense ma'am, but Keith Olbergoof does not deserve to move higher than the rank of toilet scrubber anywhere. With a pretentious moniker like you have, I would think you would be a lot more sensible of a lady than to like Olberman.

Give it a rest people! His only mistake is making the contribution directly! To me, this is honorable. Nothing snakey about it.

quote:

Originally posted by mad.bum:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:
Olbermann needs to ascend to the CEO position at MSNBC. Then he could follow the model of Rupert Murdoch, owner of "fair and balanced" Fox News, and give $1,000,000 to the political party of his choice with impunity, as Murdoch did.

No offense ma'am, but Keith Olbergoof does not deserve to move higher than the rank of toilet scrubber anywhere. With a pretentious moniker like you have, I would think you would be a lot more sensible of a lady than to like Olberman.

The substance of your post is as erroneous as is your misapprehension of my gender. Enjoy yourself silly with Limbaugh, Hannity, Heck and the other lying clowns wh can't hold a candle to Olbermann or Rachel Maddow. The right-wing putrid punditry needs a counterbalancing force and MSNBS does that pretty well.

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by mad.bum:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:
Olbermann needs to ascend to the CEO position at MSNBC. Then he could follow the model of Rupert Murdoch, owner of "fair and balanced" Fox News, and give $1,000,000 to the political party of his choice with impunity, as Murdoch did.

No offense ma'am, but Keith Olbergoof does not deserve to move higher than the rank of toilet scrubber anywhere. With a pretentious moniker like you have, I would think you would be a lot more sensible of a lady than to like Olberman.

The substance of your post is as erroneous as is your misapprehension of my gender. Enjoy yourself silly with Limbaugh, Hannity, Heck and the other lying clowns who can't hold a candle to Olbermann or Rachel Maddow. The right-wing putrid punditry needs a counterbalancing force and MSNBS does that pretty well.

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by mad.bum:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:
Olbermann needs to ascend to the CEO position at MSNBC. Then he could follow the model of Rupert Murdoch, owner of "fair and balanced" Fox News, and give $1,000,000 to the political party of his choice with impunity, as Murdoch did.

No offense ma'am, but Keith Olbergoof does not deserve to move higher than the rank of toilet scrubber anywhere. With a pretentious moniker like you have, I would think you would be a lot more sensible of a lady than to like Olberman.

The substance of your post is as erroneous as is your misapprehension of my gender. Enjoy yourself silly with Limbaugh, Hannity, the deranged Glenn Beck and the other lying clowns who can't hold a candle to Olbermann or Rachel Maddow. The right-wing putrid punditry needs a counterbalancing force and MSNBS does that pretty well.

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by mad.bum:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:
Olbermann needs to ascend to the CEO position at MSNBC. Then he could follow the model of Rupert Murdoch, owner of "fair and balanced" Fox News, and give $1,000,000 to the political party of his choice with impunity, as Murdoch did.

No offense ma'am, but Keith Olbergoof does not deserve to move higher than the rank of toilet scrubber anywhere. With a pretentious moniker like you have, I would think you would be a lot more sensible of a lady than to like Olberman.

The substance of your post is as erroneous as is your misapprehension of my gender. Enjoy yourself silly with Limbaugh, Hannity, the deranged Glenn Beck and the other lying clowns who can't hold a candle to Olbermann or Rachel Maddow. The right-wing putrid punditry needs a counterbalancing force and MSNBS does that pretty well.

Dang little lady, are you that bored that you want to repeat your post 3 times?

Keith is the man!!

quote:

Originally posted by tree:
Give it a rest people! His only mistake is making the contribution directly! To me, this is honorable. Nothing snakey about it.

''''NBC has a rule against employees contributing to political campaigns, and a wide range of news organizations prohibit political contributions — considering it a breach of journalistic independence to contribute to the candidates they cover.''''

Had he just given to the dem party, that would have got around the rules.

I suspect it had more to do with Comcast buying NBC and wanting to get rid of the liberal loudmouth.

quote:

Dang little lady, are you that bored that you want to repeat your post 3 times?

No, he's that in love with himself and the big old fancy $10.00 words he uses to try to give the impression that's he's soooooo much smarter and "bettern" others. Sadly, according to the word he used, you "misunderstood" his gender. That means he's got to grow a bit to become a lady. I guess he calls himself "betternu" because pompous a** was already taken.

Before the right crys foul too long and loud, while this is a violation of policy for hosts at MSNBC at least MSNBC does have a no donation policy. And although you may not claim him on the far right, Joe Scarborough counts himself as a republican (he was a congressman from Florida) so, why isn't he suspended? Fox doesn't even pretend to not be partisan. The article below doesn't even address the one million dollar donation to the RNC from the parent company of Fox.

Report: Sean Hannity and Joe Scarborough also made political donations
Published: Friday, November 05, 2010, 3:40 PM
By: Kristi Turnquist for The Birmingham News

First, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann was indefinitely suspended when the Web site Politico revealed that Olbermann had donated to three Democratic candidates.

Politico's post included this statement from MSNBC President Phil Griffith: "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."

Now, the Web site The Wrap is reporting that Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity and MSNBC host Joe Scarborough have also donated to candidates.


As the site reports: "This year, Hannity gave $5,000 to Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn.) political PAC and $4,800 to New York Republican John Gomez's unsuccessful congressional race."

The Wrap also reports: "(Scarborough) donated $4,200 to Oregon Republican Derrick Kitts' failed 2006 campaign for a U.S. House seat."

Who cried foul?

quote:

Originally posted by rocky:
Before the right crys foul too long and loud, while this is a violation of policy for hosts at MSNBC at least MSNBC does have a no donation policy. And although you may not claim him on the far right, Joe Scarborough counts himself as a republican (he was a congressman from Florida) so, why isn't he suspended? Fox doesn't even pretend to not be partisan. The article below doesn't even address the one million dollar donation to the RNC from the parent company of Fox.

Report: Sean Hannity and Joe Scarborough also made political donations
Published: Friday, November 05, 2010, 3:40 PM
By: Kristi Turnquist for The Birmingham News

First, MSNBC host Keith Olbermann was indefinitely suspended when the Web site Politico revealed that Olbermann had donated to three Democratic candidates.

Politico's post included this statement from MSNBC President Phil Griffith: "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."

Now, the Web site The Wrap is reporting that Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity and MSNBC host Joe Scarborough have also donated to candidates.


As the site reports: "This year, Hannity gave $5,000 to Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn.) political PAC and $4,800 to New York Republican John Gomez's unsuccessful congressional race."

The Wrap also reports: "(Scarborough) donated $4,200 to Oregon Republican Derrick Kitts' failed 2006 campaign for a U.S. House seat."

Fox doesn't have the same rules as MSNBC. KO knew the rules and violated them. Just too bad!

Thank you for the correction Jennifer. I was mistakenly assuming those on the right would be inflamed by a left leaning news commentator making political contributions to a candidate. I forgot that when it comes to ethics and standards, all rules are broken for those who are devotees of Fox and friends.
Keith Olbermann broke a rule of his contract. At least there WAS a rule in his contract concerning ethics. This isn't the case for Sean Hannity and WHO KNOWS what kind of contract Glenn Beck has?????????

Yay! I'm glad that douchebag was suspended!

Maybe the horse he rode in on should be, too!

Olbermann was fired from ESPN and then from Fox. Looks like he's trying to go for three strikes. I suspect Comcast will not bring him back. MSNBC is severely under performing and needs new direction. Be interesting to see if Olbermann's other persona, Rachel Maddow, will stay on. With the right makeup, KO becomes a more masculine, if slightly homely version of himself. But, you can't hide the eye/nose/cheek physiognomy.

quote:

Originally posted by mad.bum:

quote:

MSNBC President Phil Griffin said in a statement Friday:

I bet this dude is on Keitypoos "Worst Person in the World" list right now.Couldn't have happened to a better person. I hope he never gets on air again.

....

quote:

Originally posted by rocky:
Thank you for the correction Jennifer. I was mistakenly assuming those on the right would be inflamed by a left leaning news commentator making political contributions to a candidate. I forgot that when it comes to ethics and standards, all rules are broken for those who are devotees of Fox and friends.
Keith Olbermann broke a rule of his contract. At least there WAS a rule in his contract concerning ethics. This isn't the case for Sean Hannity and WHO KNOWS what kind of contract Glenn Beck has?????????

Like ethics mean anything to a democrap. "Tingle down my leg" ring a bell? How about "Are you hypnotized"? Or do you remember Katie Couriwacky crying on air when Al Bore lost? Yep, real ethical reporting.

A very emotionally written response Jennifer using a clever play on words technique. I almost had that to an art form at one time, but was advised to "grow-up"

quote:

Originally posted by rocky:
A very emotionally written response Jennifer using a clever play on words technique. I almost had that to an art form at one time, but was advised to "grow-up"

I see you didn't take that advice.

quote:

Originally posted by mad.bum:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by mad.bum:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:
Olbermann needs to ascend to the CEO position at MSNBC. Then he could follow the model of Rupert Murdoch, owner of "fair and balanced" Fox News, and give $1,000,000 to the political party of his choice with impunity, as Murdoch did.

No offense ma'am, but Keith Olbergoof does not deserve to move higher than the rank of toilet scrubber anywhere. With a pretentious moniker like you have, I would think you would be a lot more sensible of a lady than to like Olberman.

The substance of your post is as erroneous as is your misapprehension of my gender. Enjoy yourself silly with Limbaugh, Hannity, the deranged Glenn Beck and the other lying clowns who can't hold a candle to Olbermann or Rachel Maddow. The right-wing putrid punditry needs a counterbalancing force and MSNBS does that pretty well.

Dang little lady, are you that bored that you want to repeat your post 3 times?

There are people like you who are too dense to reach without repetition, since reason does not work with your ilk.

Where was all this self-righteous indignation when NPR fired Juan Williams for a trumped up charge?

Qoute from b50m: Where was all this self-righteous indignation when NPR fired Juan Williams for a trumped up charge?

Mainly over at Fox who immediately invited him into the fold with a 2 million dollar contract. That was a serious mistake by NPR and even admitted as such by commentators like Chris Matthews on MSNBC. I am not defending Keith Olbermann, but I think it is very illuminating on the ethics of the two broadcasting networks that MSNBC suspends a commentator for political contributions while Sean Hannity did the same thing over at Fox. Shows the ethics or lack their of in comparison of MSNBC to Fox.

Shows the difference in the contracts.

Olbermann's charge was as bogus as Juan's, just a way to get rid of someone who doesn't help the image a network wants to present.

Well, would not the difference in the contracts be called an "ethics" clause?

quote:

Originally posted by b50m:
Where was all this self-righteous indignation when NPR fired Juan Williams for a trumped up charge?

Good luck getting any of them to answer that question, or explain why others that did far worse than Williams didn't get fired.

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by mad.bum:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:

quote:

Originally posted by mad.bum:

quote:

Originally posted by beternU:
Olbermann needs to ascend to the CEO position at MSNBC. Then he could follow the model of Rupert Murdoch, owner of "fair and balanced" Fox News, and give $1,000,000 to the political party of his choice with impunity, as Murdoch did.

No offense ma'am, but Keith Olbergoof does not deserve to move higher than the rank of toilet scrubber anywhere. With a pretentious moniker like you have, I would think you would be a lot more sensible of a lady than to like Olberman.

The substance of your post is as erroneous as is your misapprehension of my gender. Enjoy yourself silly with Limbaugh, Hannity, the deranged Glenn Beck and the other lying clowns who can't hold a candle to Olbermann or Rachel Maddow. The right-wing putrid punditry needs a counterbalancing force and MSNBS does that pretty well.

Dang little lady, are you that bored that you want to repeat your post 3 times?

There are people like you who are too dense to reach without repetition, since reason does not work with your ilk.

Seflf righteaous arrogance is not an attractive quality in a lady, ma'am. You might get your point accross better if you would be less obtuse.

Best view of the situation I have seen.

http://www.foxnews.com/opinion...-ko-keith-olbermann/

quote:

The episode has caused the latest of many KO-inspired media feeding frenzies where he calls former President Bush bad a “fascist” or compares conservative star Michelle Malkin to a “mashed-up bag of meat with lipstick on it.” Olbermann was suspended indefinitely without pay because he gave new meaning to the idea of pay for play. He gave $2,400 each to three Democratic candidates – all while claiming he’s not “liberal” and complaining Fox News was supporting the GOP.

Even the most lefty network in the universe had to swallow its pride and suspend him. NBC execs claim KO violated journalistic standards that no one – left or right – felt applied to him because only NBC actually considered him a journalist. Actually, few even considered him sane, luckily not a job requirement at MSNBC. His nightly bile was so laughable that he was a self caricature. When “Good Will Hunting” star Ben Affleck lampooned Olbermann on “Saturday Night Live,” he couldn’t muster rants near as outlandish as the real thing. It was such a sad exercise, Affleck made himself laugh.

Comsidering this source is Fox, isn't this a little like the pot calling out the kettle, and at least the kettle has ethics.

The source may be the Fox site, but it did not come from a Fox employee.
...............................................

Dan Gainor is The Boone Pickens Fellow and the Media Research Center’s Vice President for Business and Culture. His column appears each week on The Fox Forum. He can also be contacted on FaceBook and Twitter as dangainor.

Just "keeping it honest" b50m:


From Wikipedia:
Media Research Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search
Media Research Center Founders L. Brent Bozell III
Type media analysis
Founded October 1, 1987
Location Alexandria, Virginia, United States
Key people Tim Graham, Rich Noyes, Brent Baker
Focus Reporting allegations of liberal media bias
Method editorials, online newsletters, reports, activism
Motto "The Leader in Documenting, Exposing, and Neutralizing Liberal Media Bias"

The Media Research Center (MRC) is a conservative content analysis organization based in Alexandria, Virginia, founded in 1987 by conservative activist L. Brent Bozell III. Its mission, according to its website, is "to bring balance to the news media",[1] and the MRC catalogs and reports on media bias in the United States press. The organization makes the stated assumption in its mission statement that "liberal bias in the media does exist and undermines traditional American values", so part of its purpose is to actively "neutralize its impact [of liberal bias] on the American political scene."[1] MRC is widely called "conservative".[2]

The MRC has received financial support from several foundations, including the Bradley, Scaife, Olin, Castle Rock, Carthage and JM foundations.[3] It also receives funding from ExxonMobil.

Counter:
About Us

Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

Launched in May 2004, Media Matters for America put in place, for the first time, the means to systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation — news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda — every day, in real time.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by b50m:
Counter:
About Us

Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

Launched in May 2004, Media Matters for America put in place, for the first time, the means to systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation — news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda — every day, in real time.

b50m I am really not trying to embarass you, you didn't qoute Media Matters, you used the Media Research Center. These are two completely different media watchdogs.

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About Us

Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

Launched in May 2004, Media Matters for America put in place, for the first time, the means to systematically monitor a cross section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation — news or commentary that is not accurate, reliable, or credible and that forwards the conservative agenda — every day, in real time.

http://www.mrc.org/about/about.aspx

Media Research Center


About the MRC

The mission of the Media Research Center, "America's Media Watchdog," is to bring balance to the news media. Leaders of America's conservative movement have long believed that within the national news media a strident liberal bias existed that influenced the public's understanding of critical issues. On October 1, 1987, a group of young determined conservatives set out to not only prove — through sound scientific research — that liberal bias in the media does exist and undermines traditional American values, but also to neutralize its impact on the American political scene. What they launched that fall is the now acclaimed — Media Research Center (MRC).

The MRC, headquartered in Alexandria, VA, began modestly with a handful of employees, a black and white TV, and a rented computer. The first order of business was to organize a research operation second to none. For years, conservatives could only present the anecdotal evidence of liberal journalists' bias — a question in this interview, a statement in that report. However, anecdotal examples of bias do not prove a liberal agenda. Only through thorough, comprehensive, and ongoing analysis based on quantitative and qualitative research can one document liberal bias in the media.

Yes, they are different. I quoted Media Matters, the HATE GROUP FOR ALL THINGS CONSERVATIVE.

Your apology is accepted.

Let me see if I can get the meaning of whatever point you are attempting to make: Are you trying to show that there are both left and right media watchdog groups? If that is your purpose, you are right although this is nothing new and in no way has anything to do with the fact that your counter to the qoute you used as provenance was this wasn't a Fox employee and I pointed out that the MRC is as close to Fox as you can get without speaking Australian. It is getting increasingly harder to debate you right wing types intelligently, I may just go back to getting all 5th grade on your asses, seems that is all you comprehend.

I'll go simple.

You put up that Dan works for a conservative media site. Meaning, he was biased.

I countered with Media Matters, a liberal site that goes after conservatives.

Counter point.

The two sites are opposites of each other. I was showing that there is a hate site for both sides.