KOTA (Rapid City, S.D.) anchorman temporarily sidelined after tea party appearance

[Newsjock]

Source: Rapid City Journal

KOTA TV newsman Shad Olson will be back on the air soon, following a disciplinary suspension from his news anchor duties in the Rapid City coverage area because of his speech at a tea party rally.

Olson was taken off the air locally a few days after his April 15 speech at the Citizens for Liberty tax day rally in Memorial Park.

“Shad’s speech to the tax day rally was a lapse in ethics, so we took appropriate action,” KOTA news director John Petersen said.

Petersen said Olson will resume his anchor duties for KOTA at some point in the near future, but declined to offer a date. He also declined to discuss specifics of the disciplinary action taken against Olson.

Olson also declined to discuss specifics of the disciplinary actions, but did say he has continued to produce news shows at KOTA and appear on air for KDUH TV in Scottsbluff, Neb., a KOTA sister station under Duhamel Broadcasting Enterprises.


Read more: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/article_a0740daa-5237-11df-afea-001cc4c03286.html

[joeybee12]

1. Fire him...no excuse...n/t

[Blue_Tires]

2. wow..how is that not a firing offense?

once upon a time that was a clear-cut, turn-in-your-resignation transgression in the media world...

[pattmarty]

3. David Schuster was suspended for how long (still not back) at...............

.........MSNBC for trying out for another job at another company and this fucktard gets a "few days" off?

[Ready4Change]

4. Sorry, I don't agree with this action.

I have no problem with a news person having personal opinions, including expressing them in a public venue such as this.

I may not agree with his/her opinions, but I'd say they have a right to them, and to expressing them. I can accept the possibility that a person can have strong personal opinions, yet report on topics in a non-biased manner. It may cause me to examine their reporting more closely, but I tend to do that anyway.

OTOH, if said news person was posturing as if they were there as a representative of their news program, without said news programs say-so? That's something I can see their employer objecting about. But the article doesn't make it clear whether or not that was the case. Perhaps this person has pushed this line before, and been warned about it in private. This might have been the final straw.

Not enough info to know if this was a first instance, or a repeated 'problem.'. Anyone in that area know more?

[PSPS]

11. That's not the way it works

Any on-air personality, including "news readers," agree that both they and their likeness become a property of the employer as a condition of their employment. It is customary to prohibit (or at least control and charge for) their appearance in any other venue.

[No Elephants]

12. It's a mega breach of journalistic ethics. He should have been fired.

When this guy decided to be a journalist, he knew he would have to stop taking partisan positions in public. You can't do both, at least not for a decent station.

The new role that has sprung up, that of "commentator," is different.

[POAS]

21. All too often the line between

"commentator" and "reporter" is being blurred.

[TwilightGardener]

5. Doofus. Glad they're at least suspending him.

[UTUSN]

6. Why is my local radio wingnut station's news reader performing at ALL Teabagger rallies

without anybody's raising questions about ethics or conflict of interest?

I'm asking seriesly. I had assumed that the station is privately owned and therefore can do what it wants.

What are the FCC regs?

[mwooldri]

10. FCC regs, more technical than content-orientated.

Broadcast hate speech on the radio and no-one at the FCC blats an eyelid. Not maintain your transmission facilities and cause major interference to other competing nearby stations? FCC will come in and tell you to fix it or be fined.

I wish I could come up with some clean acronym for FCC that indicates that the FCC has no real bite, but I can't. Maybe this... FCC - Denture Paste holds stronger.

[No Elephants]

17. The FCC has plenty of regs about profanity, violence, sexual content, etc.

Before Sirrius, Howard Stern's station used to get fined every half hour--and that's only somewhat exaggerated.

Since the RW as a whole seems to mind profanity and sex a lot more than hate speech, I'm not all that surprised that the FCC is light on regs when it comes to hate speech.

But, FCC regs and public pressure are two different things. People can boycott, complain to stations and sponsors and the like, no matter what applicable law does or does not say. And money talks.

[No Elephants]

13. Maybe you should start raising questions and complaining.

This is a matter of journalistic ethics.

Doesn't really matter what the FCC regs are. Doesn't matter that the station is privately owned. As a consumer, you have a perfect right to complain anyway, both to the station and to the sponsors.

I say, Go for it!

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Same here

Plus she's talking about running for office.

No I don't understand why this is okay.

[Downtown Hound]

7. I know I'll probably get crucified for this

But whatever. This man has the right to attend whatever demonstration he wants on his own time as long as it doesn't interfere with his job. I was never comfortable with retaliation being taken against those who participated in anti-war protests from their place of work, and I'm not comfortable with this either. I hate the stupid fucking tea party with every blood fiber in my being, but this seems to me to be an attack on individual expression.

[No Elephants]

15. "Crucified?" Is that what you consider being disagreed with?

I don't know why you think this man has a "right" to do whatever he wants on his own time. Or that speaking at a Tea Party rally does not is not connected to his job.

Rights are usually against governments and his employer is not the government. When people take certain kinds of jobs with private employers, they trade away all kinds of "rights" as to what they can do or say, even on their own time.

People in the public eye have morals type clauses in their contracts. Anytime something they do becomes the subject of negative feedback, they can be fired. Actresses used to contract not to get pregnant while a movie was filming or a TV series continued, and so on.

Anyway, see Reply #12. He probably had a contractual obligation to comport with journalistic ethics. News is supposed to be objective. IMO, his actions cost his station's news department a lot of crediblity in terms of appearing to be objective; and he should have been fired, not only suspended.

[Downtown Hound]

22. In 2003, I worked for ABC

I was a lowly Account Executive fresh out of college, and I attended just about every anti-war protest I could, including a breakaway march in San Francisco 5 days before the war started in which the cops chased us all through the city and fired tear gas at us, and Day X five days later when we shut the city down after fighting broke out. I was arrested and spent time in jail.

I wasn't the only one. My station manager happened to be a liberal and he also marched. Do you think we deserved to be fired from our jobs for it? Both of us did it on our own time and it never interfered with our jobs.

I don't buy the argument that you give up your right to political expression when you take a job, even if that expression happens to be the embodiment of stupidity.

[proud2BlibKansan]

24. The guy in the OP was a speaker at the rally

That's a lot different from just attending, as you did.

[Downtown Hound]

25. I would have spoke at the rallies if somebody had asked me.

I would have even publicly bashed the media coverage of the war.

[proud2BlibKansan]

26. And as much as I am against the war,

if you were an anchor on TV, as this guy is, I would have found your involvement inappropriate.

[Downtown Hound]

27. Somehow, back in the dark days of 2003

when the corporate media was cheerleading the war and talking heads everywhere were quick to pounce on anybody that opposed it as being unpatriotic, I kind of doubt you would have found my stance inappropriate. I have a hunch that you and many other liberals would have cheered me on.

If I had been fired, I bet that many people would have cried foul and said that it was yet another incident of the government repressing free speech. True, we'll never know for certain, but hindsight from a time when Bush has since been disgraced and we have the Dems in power once again really doesn't mean much to me, sorry.

If I had been fired, there would have been many pissed off liberals wondering why was I fired when just about every other talking head on TV can cheerlead the war and get promoted? Why are only the liberals fired? Stick an American flag pin on your suit when you go on TV, have patriotic bumper stickers on you car, yellow ribbons, go to a Support the Troops rally, all those things are okay. But speak at an anti-war rally and you're fired. Is that how it works?

Those are the questions that liberals would have been asking. And, while I'll admit that my opinion is a little biased here, I think they would have been right to do so.

[Doctor_J]

8. He'll have a lucrative gig at Fox within a couple weeks

Being a slimy piece of shit disqualifies a person from being a journalist, but not from working at Fox.

Besides, his name is Shad

[mwooldri]

9. K-DUH eh?

He's on Homer Simpson's TV station???

Well if you're a prominent local figure and you are supposed to be neutral and you show up in a highly politicized environment as the main billing, well duhhhh - you probably are going to get problems at work.

You got to be careful... remember the case of the former Delta Airlines cabin crew who posed in her uniform @ work (showing maybe a little too much leg) and posted that picture to her blog? She got fired. He should be thankful he just got suspended from his main duties.

Mark.

[newfie11]

20. Yeah that is my local station and the name fits. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

14. Take a moment to vote on one question: Should journalists participate in political events?

http://hotair.com/archives/2010/04/28/south-dakota-news-anchor-suspended-for-tea-party-participation/

http://kota.images.worldnow.com.nyud.net:8090/images/4040649_BG1.jpg

Teabagger Shad Olson

[No Elephants]

16. I voted no, but

IMO, the more correct answer would be that it depends upon the nature of the event and upon the nature of the participation.

However, I guess the story above the poll gave enough context.

And know you know why I always have trouble with polls. Too literal, I am.

[MetaTrope]

18. Journalistic ethics? On teevee? In this decade?

:rofl:

[newfie11]

19. He is not fired because kota is very very pro republican

This stations news could well be a copy of fox. It is here in NE as well as WY, and SD. Everyone of these areas are very big repug states.

[KamaAina]

28. Darn that lib'rul media!

:sarcasm: