NY Daily News: Olbermann Suspension Was Right

[NYMdaveNYI]

MSNBC's suspension of Keith Olbermann for making campaign donations without the approval of MSNBC brass is wise. An ump mustn't bet on baseball, and a legitimate news organization should not have one of its journalists - an anchor of its election-night coverage - play the role of a partisan investor while he's on the network payroll.

But, there's a "but" here - two "but"s, in fact.

One: Let's not pretend that everyone is playing by the same rules. Fox News as a company, as an employer, gave $1 million to the Republican Governors Association, making no mistake that the entire network is in one partisan corner. That was a huge mistake for which they ought to pay a price.

Two: Many journalists these days straddle the razor-wire fence between being straight reporters and being ideological commentators, spending as much if not more of their time spouting opinion as they do disseminating fact. Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Chris Matthews are liberal versions - tamer liberal versions, most of the time - of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck, who make their livings throwing rhetorical bombs and supporting candidates, as is their right.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/11/05/2010-11-05_keith_olbermanns_suspension_by_msnbc_was_right__but_theres_a_double_standard.html#ixzz14YwNzQV9

K&R please

[napi21]

1. I won't dispute that Keith should have been repromanded for breaking

one of the items in his contract, BUT I believe the punishment should fit he crime. In this case I think the bosses ego took priority over logic. A fine, a # of days off without pay, both would have been more appropriate. It seems someone at MSNBC is hooked on this indefinite suspension thing. It's been a LONG TIME since they suspended David Schuster and it's like he fell off the earth! I sure havent heard a word about him since and I do keep checking. Now they seem to want to do the same thing with Keith. I HOPE some bigger boss speaks to Phil and instills a bit of logic into his thought process. I'd like to see BOTH Keith & David come back!!!

[Me.]

2. The Daily News...That Should Tell Anyone How Wrong It was

[NYMdaveNYI]

5. Daily News = Cablevision’s puppet newspaper here in NY.

The same is happening to Newsday, it’s sickening.

[Me.]

6. Where Is Breslin When You Need Him?

[regnaD kciN]

3. The author is an idiot...

...since he apparently believes that KO is supposed to be an impartial newsanchor. But, on the bright side, the page has a poll we can DU (and which is running 78%-9% against MSNBC already).

[NYMdaveNYI]

4. He IS an idiot. but look deeper:

NY Daily News is owned by Cablevision (a cable-tv conglomerate), whose rival is Comcast, who owns MSNBC. Of COURSE they want to jump in.

[ezmerelda39]

7. Keith's suspension indicates

that MSNBC would have overlooked his contributions if they had been made to the GOP, which indicates that the network is controlled even though some of their commentators appear to favor the left. My question is this, commentators are citizens and as a citizen they should have the right to contribute to any candidate they support, why does the network dictate what they can and cannot do as a citizen? MSNBC is the only network I follow (on my computer) and I find this to be insane and now wonder where do I do from here..about all is that is left is the comedy channel and even though I enjoy the Daily Show I would still like to have some sort of sane news available. Any suggestions?