Keith Olbermann suspended for putting money where his mouth is

Did MSNBC, overly sensitive about its alleged leanings, overreact to deflect criticism?

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MSNBC suspended Keith Olbermann for contributing money to Democrats.

(PR NewsChannel) / November 06, 2010 / NEW YORK / Just days after MSNBC received stinging criticism from right-wing commentators for using its left-wing show hosts--instead of impartial journalists--to anchor midterm election coverage, today announced that the cable news network has suspended indefinitely one of its biggest stars, Keith Olbermann, host of 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann,' for donating campaign money to several Democrats.

MSNBC says it suspended Keith Olbermann without pay for contributing a total of $7,500 to three candidates.  Contributing campaign money is against MSNBC policy. 

'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' is MSNBC's top-rated show.  Upon announcing that Keith Olbermann was suspended, MSNBC said Christopher Hayes, Washington editor of the 'Nation,' would fill in for Olbermann Friday night.  Then Thomas Roberts from its daytime lineup was selected after it was discovered that Hayes, too, had contributed to political campaigns.

Glenn Selig, a crisis management public relations expert, says MSNBC may be trying to diffuse stinging critism from its allegedly biased election coverage by suspending one of its biggest names.  But, Selig says, the cable news network may have created a new, even more damaging problem.

"It seems as though MSNBC is trying to deflect damage by going after one of its own as if to say 'some of its hosts may be from the left but as a network we go right down the middle," says Glenn Selig, founder of the crisis management public relations firm The Publicity Agency (www.thepublicityagency.com).  "They clearly used a clause that is in all NBC contracts against a man when I believe most of their audience will say that it should not apply to him." 

Selig says that clearly some in the public will believe that the clause was intended only for their objective news readers, producers and other personnel.  Olbermann, he says, made no secret of his ideology.

"This move may very well alienate MSNBC'S core audience," says Selig.

Media ethicists told the 'LA Times' that all journalists, even those that give opinions, should not contribute money to candidates and bolstered MSNBC's position.

"There's a presumption that an opinion journalist is still his or her own agent, that they are not really on a team, that they speak for themselves and are not actually writing speeches or functioning as activists," Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism told the newspaper. "I don't see a lot of good that comes from giving the money, and I do see some potential downsides, even if you think opinion journalists are different."

But Selig says most people would not describe Keith Olbermann as a journalist at all.

Keith Olbermann suspended: Is he a journalist?

"The public will say Keith Olbermann is an entertainer or a host and no more a journalist than Glenn Beck or Jon Stewart," says Selig. "Every day these three emphatically state their opinions and do what they can to sway public opinion.  They are never objective.  You could argue that if Keith Olbermann did not give money he would be disingenuous.

"Keith Olbermann was suspended for putting his money where his mouth is.  That is usually something that is lauded but in this case NBC is using it against him and MSNBC's viewers will not be pleased or supportive," says Selig. 

Olbermann's audience at 8 p.m. averages about 1.1 million viewers each night.

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SOURCE: TheTopStoriesOnline.com

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