Did Keith Olbermann even violate NBC policy?

[tpsbmam]

(Snips from The Plum Line) All emphases are Greg Sargent's.


Check out the fine print of what NBC policy said, as of 2007, about political activities on the part of NBC employees:

"Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest. Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions. You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the President of NBC News or his designee."

This is a bit difficult to parse. But this does seem to say that those who are worried that their "standing as an impartial journalist" would be jeopardized by political activity should report it. Last time I checked, Keith Olbermann doesn't pretend to be an "impartial journalist."

[krispos42]

1. He's a commentator, not a journalist or anchor

MSNBC is full of shit.

[sweetloukillbot]

8. But when the BillO and Hannity fans said that Keith was the same, we always argued that he wasn't...

The argument was that he was a journalist, not a partisan commentator.

[krispos42]

9. I don't think I ever made that argument personally...

...and I don't think I really ever got involved in a discussion about KO's specific status before. I've always thought of him as a commentator with a pretty strong basis in fact and a liberal viewpoint. But he doesn't file stories. He and his team pick the juiciest topics of the day, especially the ones the "journalist" media is under-reporting, reporting with RW spin, reporting incompletely, or reporting with unchallenged assumptions and broadcast them on TV, with critisism.

[Ozymanithrax]

2. There is also a difference between the words "should" and "will."

[dchill]

3. Nope. He's not an "impartial journalist."

Impartial journalists give equal weight to truth and lies. They are, after all, impartial.

[emulatorloo]

4. Take a look at Rachel Maddow's comment on it from tonight's show

She explains the story from the inside, and envicerates Fox at the same time. It is near the top in the video forum. Per Rachel the rule applies to all hosts. She says some pretty wonderful things about Olberman .

[Johonny]

5. It probably matter more if

he interviewed or promoted said groups or candidates on the air in a partisan way. At least probably to KO. Of course espouse controversial positions is sort of loaded. You go to dinner with a climate scientist and some people would tell you they are radicals hell bent to destroy America. It's sort of an open ended clause to allow them to basically can you when ever they feel embarrassed or worried you might cost the a $ or 2. He didn't get suspended because he violated this clause, he got suspended because they wanted to suspend him. It's proving something to someone.

[sorcrow]

6. more parsing

How about the part that says, "political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions." I would argue that mainstream candidates aren't all that controversial....

Crow

[uppityperson]

7. k&r