New York Times: Political Gifts by Olbermann Bring Suspension by MSNBC

[Hissyspit]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/06/us/06olbermann.html?_r=1&src=twr

Political Gifts by Olbermann Bring Suspension by MSNBC

Virginia Sherwood/MSNBC
Keith Olbermann, center, with Chris Matthews, left, and Rachel Maddow, on MSNBC Live on election night.
By BRIAN STELTER and BILL CARTER
Published: November 5, 2010

Keith Olbermann, the leading liberal voice on American television in the age of Obama, was suspended Friday after his employer, MSNBC, discovered he made campaign contributions to three Democrats last month.

The indefinite suspension was a stark display of the clash between objectivity and opinion in television journalism. While Mr. Olbermann is anchor of what is essentially the “Democratic Nightly News,” the decision affirmed that he was being held to the same standards as other employees of MSNBC and its parent, NBC News, both of which answer to NBC Universal. Most journalistic outlets discourage or directly prohibit campaign contributions by employees.

Mr. Olbermann’s contributions came to light in an article by Politico on Friday morning. He said he had donated $2,400 to the campaigns of Representatives Raúl M. Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and Attorney General Jack Conway of Kentucky, who lost his Senate race to Rand Paul. He told Politico, “I did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns, nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level.”

On Friday evening, no one at NBC suggested that Mr. Olbermann would be fired.

Reaction was swift and mixed, with some condemning Mr. Olbermann’s donation and many others saying that they saw nothing wrong with it. Campaign contributions are a form of activism, said Bob Steele, the director of the Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University. “When a journalist becomes an activist, the principle of independence is not just eroding, it’s corroding from within,” he said.

MORE