Balls and Walnuts
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Olbermann suspended
Today, Countdown host Keith Olbermann was suspended indefinitely, ostensibly due to political donations which were made without permission of the network:
Olbermann acknowledged the donations in a statement to Politico, saying he gave the maximum legal donation of $2,400 to Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords and Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, who waged an unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate against Tea Party standard-bearer Rand Paul.
Said MSNBC President Phil Griffin, “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.â€
Apparently not all that mindful. The relevant rule is that Olbermann was supposed to have asked permission. Joe Scarborough donated to Republicans but he asked permission. However — and here I’ll defer to Jed Lewison at Daily Kos:
It’s implausible that the issue here is that Olbermann didn’t ask permission. First, the policy in question doesn’t appear to apply to MSNBC — it’s for “impartial journalists” on NBC News’ staff, and nobody would claim Olbermann or Scarborough are impartial. They are opinion show hosts.
You can sign the petition to reinstate Keith here.
D.
