Olbermann Indefinitely Suspended From PMSNBC

Mediaite ^ | 11/5/10 | Steve Krakauer

[careyb]

Blowback to the political donation is immediate, and shocking.

Statement from Phil Griffin, President of MSNBC:

I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.

[Responsibility2nd]

Maybe the other hags here...

 

 

have room for yet another old queen.

 

Hey Keith: Send in a resume. Can't hurt.

[Question Liberal Authority]

I can only handle DU for about 30 seconds a year, but I gleaned this little nugget:

If he went on Al Jazeera English he'd get a global audience Updated at 5:07 AM

I'd love that as I can't get MSNBC where I live and it would encourage more people in the US to watch AJ English.

That has to be a Freeper troll, right? Right?

[Callahan]

It’s a good excuse to get rid of him. His numbers suck!

That was my first thought. His ratings stink and supposedly even the libs who work with him think he's an ass. They were looking to dump him. I wonder which loon will get his spot. Allen Grayson check your email.

[WebFocus]

RE: Maybe the other hags here...

have room for yet another old queen

---

The one on the left of that picture does not look like a hag to me. As for the rest....

[dfc1]

And, Michelle handled it like the man Olbermann isn’t.

Yes she did!!

[mmichaels1970]

IMO, bigger news is that I'm hearing that he made one of these donations on the SAME DAY he had one of the candidates on his show.

To me, it may well turn into a scandal that he's been using his show as a political donation in and of itself. Not that this isn't going on all the time, but it seems a lot more provable when you can tie a monetary donation and guest appearance on the same day.

[eleni121]

Ordureman whatever may find a gig at BBC or Gramma.

Or Al Arabiya.

[mmichaels1970]

Via politico:

Chris Hayes to fill in for Olbermann

[HollyB]

I think Comcast bought them out. Maybe they are cleaning house and trying to salvage their investment.

[paulycy]

Do you see any problem with him interviewing someone on his show just after he donates to them? Seems over the top biased.

He's an opinion guy. As long as his donations - or anybody's donations - are public record I have no problem with them. If someone like Bret Baier (sp?)on Fox donates, that's his business, too, as long as his donations are public record. (A true professional would make a disclaimer during the show at some point.)

The point here is that I think that 1)All donations to public candidates and incumbents be public records and 2) Anybody has a right to freedom of speech in the form of donating their own money to whomever they wish.

Note that unions do NOT have the right to extort union dues from people and then use them without the permission of the individual union member. That is unconstitutional theft IMO.

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Life is good!.....

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Which would be worse for his future viability, getting taken off the air as just happened or getting dropped due to low ratings which was probably going to happen soon? This may be a preemptive strike to save his career by presenting him as semi damaged goods. His agent might be able to sell him to other networks better with this rather than having fired for poor ratings stamped on his forehead.

[Brookhaven]

Gimme a break. MSNBC contributes tens of millions of dollars of TV time to the Democratic Party. They pay Olbermann to editorialize in favor of the Democratic Party.

---

The previous owners of MSNBC did, but Comcast recently purchsed MSNBC. But they were stuck with the on air personalities big contracts...till now.

My guess is Comcast is scouring donation records to see if they can pull the same stunt on Rachel Madcow.

GE (the previous owners of MSNBC) didn’t seem to care that the lost money on MSNBC, there were more concerned about politics. I don’t think Comcast purchsed MSNBC to lose money, they want to make a profit. That means dumping the current “talent” and changing the lineup to something that might actuall pull in viewers and make money.

[Thunder90]

Isn’t Comcast partially owned by News Corp?

[Southnsoul]

Granted, MSNBC has the lowest ratings in cable news, however, Olbermann’s show was usually at the top of the most watched, which makes his suspension more surprising.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

The NBC/Universal Comcast merger is still in work, with announcements coming on the cable side of the deal either next week or at least before Thanksgiving.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118026940

[surfer]

I am shocked they didn’t give him a raise. This must be some sort of ruse...

[fml]

Wouldn’t it be nice if MSNBC went back to being a news station? They should toss them all and begin again. There must be a market for an honest objective news outlet

[HollyB]

I understand your point, really. But, it has the appearance that he ‘paid him’ to be on the show by donating the same day as the interview. Maybe Comcast wants to clean up their investment.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

The average I.Q. at MSNBC just went up by 3 points, although that of the unemployed went down by 6.