MSNBC suspends Keith Olbermann

He has to be one of the most obnoxious pundits on TV. I didn't like him when he was a sports reporter in LA. Good for MSNBC!

He's obnoxious...but that's what he's paid for. It looks like he was suspended over a technicality, and I'm sure he'll be back. I think he's as important to their "brand" as O'Reilly is to Fox, so I can't imagine this would be permanent. And I don't see it as that big a deal; if it's news to his management that he supports Democratic candidates, they just haven't been watching their own channel!

Wasn't he the one who said he'd be willing to cheat on voting to make sure Democrats won?

As I understand it, he would not have been fired at Fox for the same infraction, and, in fact, Sean Hannity has been a contributor to a number of Republican candidates.

Perhaps this whole situation is lost on me, but really, I don't get why there is such controversy over the fact that he donated money to some campaigns. Big deal! If he wants to give his money away to people running in an election, that's his business.

Besides, this statement here makes no sense to me:

Does that mean any journalist who does election coverage has to forgo their right to vote in an election? Just going to a voting station and casting your vote for an individual, is picking a favourite.

According to that statement above, picking a favourite while leading election coverage is against the law/policy.

So far as I know you can't deny someone their right to cast a vote...IE: pick a favourite. IMHO giving money to a political party is no different.

He wasn't fired. He was suspended for going against written MSNBC policy. Apparently the policy of MSNBC is different than Fox's policy.

I agree that he should be able to contribute to any candidate he wants. I guess the issue is that he didn't ask permission ahead of doing it. If that is MSNBC's policy, and Olbermann ignored it, then I guess they have the right to reprimand him.

Still doesn't change the fact that he is obnoxious and I can't stand watching him even when he isn't doing political commentary. He was/is obnoxious as a sports reporter too.

The deal with the election coverage is the concern that he might attempt to suppress or encourage the vote in some given district. There was some concern that the premature calling of the Florida election in 2000 skewed the vote in the western parts of the state.


However, when you consider how many people watch MSNBC (almost nobody, literally), I don't think any race was ever in danger of undue influence.
And, technically, the same would be true of Fox. It's viewership is actually quite small, compared to those who see the 3 major networks every night.

Actually, Fox's election night coverage beat all the network news channels, and firmly trounced on CNN and MSNBC.

Election Night Ratings story #1 - speaks to the network ratings.
Election Night Ratings story #2 - Cable news channel ratings.
...and before you say it's just Fox tooting their own horns, both stories are from the Huffington Post. Pretty much all of the media analysts said that Fox provided the most balanced coverage with equal number of commentators/political analysts from both sides of the aisle.

If you haven't seen/heard, Olberman's suspension was lifted after 2 days. They said they think that was enough punishment.

In 99% of local markets and it used to be 100% of national markets, any journalist in print, radio or tv would be automatically fired if they donated any amount or stumped for any candidate. No questions asked, no excuses garnered. That exdended to immediate family too. I guess that was in that long-ago era where journalistic integrity was still held in high esteem.

While I can see a difference between a Hannity and Olberman since they host commentary/editorial shows that plainly state their bias up front (Olberman on a normal basis, however he did host election night coverage which was supposed to be a news program and not commentary), according to my husband who just finished broadcasting school there is no difference. They are hosts on a news channel.

Obviously Olberman got a slight tap on the wrist for breaking the network's rules and I'm sure it was quite worth it to him. Most likely, with a network with a hard slant like MSNBC, the executives will be revising the rules to it isn't an issue in the future.