Olbermann Aftermath: Should Cable News Opinion Hosts Have Different Ethics Rules?
- Posted on November 8, 2010 at 6:51am by
Scott Baker
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NEW YORK (AP) — Keith Olbermann’s suspension from MSNBC for donating to three Democratic campaigns has made his status a cause for liberals and raised questions about how long-standing rules designed to protect the integrity of news organizations fit in a new era of opinionated programming.
Olbermann was suspended indefinitely without pay Friday for violating NBC News rules about donations. MSNBC wasn‘t commenting on Olbermann’s future Sunday after an online petition calling for his immediate reinstatement, run by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, exceeded 250,000 signatures.
The left-leaning cable network’s most popular personality acknowledged donating $2,400 apiece to the campaigns of Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. NBC News prohibits its employees from making political donations unless an exception is granted in advance by the network news president. In this case, Olbermann‘s bosses didn’t know about them until being informed by a reporter.
The rules are designed to preserve the appearance of objectivity for news organizations. Cable news networks, most prominently Fox News Channel and MSNBC, have increased their popularity in recent years through prime-time programs that dispense with any notion of impartiality.
“What we’ve seen in the last five years is the rise of these personalities that eclipse the journalism that these organizations do,” said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute journalism think tank.
Many mainstream news organizations take these rules dead seriously. National Public Radio subjected itself to some teasing this fall when it issued a memo forbidding its personnel from attending comic Jon Stewart’s rally in Washington last month, but NPR didn’t want reporters seen at an event that some people could interpret as political, unless the reporters were covering it.
Olbermann‘s fans note that he’s made no secret of his support for Democrats on his prime-time “Countdown” show. So why should he be suspended for putting his money where his mouth is?
His prime-time MSNBC colleague, Rachel Maddow, said on her show Friday night that Olbermann should be reinstated. Her bosses were told she’d be saying that before going on the air, however.
McBride said she wouldn’t be surprised if some news organizations drop these rules in the next few years, or at least carve out exceptions for certain personalities. Fox News seems to have effectively done this. Prime-time host Sean Hannity made a $5,000 donation to Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann’s PAC this summer; Fox says he’s a conservative talk show host, not a journalist. Part-time commentators the network has hired like Karl Rove and Sarah Palin continue their political work while drawing pay from Fox.
“It’s getting harder and harder to draw the lines in general,” McBride said. “The public doesn’t spend a lot of time differentiating between commentators and journalists.”
Yet the principle of journalistic independence is more important now than ever, said Bob Steele, director of the Prindell Institute for Ethics at DePauw University in Indiana.
Prime-time opinion hosts are journalists as well as commentators, Steele said. They host news programs, make decisions on what stories to emphasize, what guests to bring on, and what questions are asked, he said.
“There’s a huge difference between having a belief and becoming an activist,” he said, “and when you contribute to a campaign with your money or your energy, you’re an activist.”
Donations to some Democratic candidates by a commentator who clearly supports Democrats may seem simple. But why these candidates in these states and not others? What if these candidates get involved in primaries?
In other words, it can get messy.
For NBC News, there’s also the risk of having its journalists associated with activist hosts. Olbermann and Maddow are clear in their opinions on MSNBC, but veteran NBC journalist Andrea Mitchell hosts a daytime hour on the network. So do White House reporters Chuck Todd and Savannah Guthrie.
The question of whether MSNBC is an opinion network or news network seemed particularly hard to answer on election night. In the 2008 political season, MSNBC went back and forth between having Olbermann serve as a news anchor or commentator on nights of big political news; on election night this year, Olbermann was one of the hosts. Chris Matthews was an anchor, too, and he put some tough questions to GOP guests like Bachmann. But beyond asking tough questions, he wondered aloud whether Bachmann was under “hypnosis,” and some of MSNBC‘s personalities were heard laughing at their guests’ responses.
Some journalists may also get mixed signals when they see corporate overseers active in political campaigns. Fox’s parent News Corp. donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association this summer. Steele noted there’s a long tradition of political activism among owners of news organizations in this country.
Beyond the decision on Olbermann’s future, some broader thinking on these issues appears in the offing.
“I would really struggle if I were running one of these organizations to figure out where the journalism fits in,” McBride said. “It’s obvious that journalism still has some role in these organizations, but it’s not sure where it figures in anymore.”
(This version CORRECTS spelling of name to Grijalva))
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Comments (46)
Ruler4You
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 1:28pmSure, ain’t it just like the left to want to change the rules as soon as they are caught breaking them?
Can’t do the time? Don’t do the crime. Too hot in the kitchen? Get out. Replacing panes in your glass house getting too expensive? Stop throwing stones. Too stupid to learn from your own mistakes? Maybe you should become a teacher. Don’t want to play by the rules? Take your ball and go home.
Want to be a journalist? I don’t believe you. You want to be a propagandist. Journalists have certain rules of ethical behavior. Propagandists don’t. You don’t want to play by the rules of journalism, but you do want people to listen to your lies.
Report Post »Ronko
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 12:53pmWho cares Obermann should stay suspended if they have specific rules then he has to follow them.
Report Post »Tracking
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 12:46pmLike everyone else, I pay for cable. They should not be held to the same standards as public broadcasting and television. We are able to determine if we choose to watch what WE pay for. If others do not like it, don’t pay for it or change the channel.
Report Post »EP46
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 12:40pmNo, lets stick with msnbc‘s ’No ethics’ rule. We need to see them without any mask or any control. Let the good times roll.
Report Post »MissKiff
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 12:30pm“The public doesn’t spend a lot of time differentiating between commentators and journalists.” said Kelly McBride, ethics group leader at the Poynter Institute journalism think tank.
Maybe not MSNBC viewers, but FOX News viewers sure know the difference!
Report Post »scootydoo
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 12:23pmThe only reason a network would make a policy that you have to clear it with them first is because they don‘t want an employee to contribute to somebody they don’t like. Either say employees can’t contribute or say they can. For a network to say that an employee has to clear it with management first is just stupid.
Report Post »WTSpike
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 10:54amWhen one is as clearly biased to one side or the other as Olberman obviously is, it came to me as no surprise that he supported Democratic candidates and made contributions to them. He did not make them in the name of MSNBC, so I see no problem with what he did. His employers put him on TV as an obvious voice for the left, so it seems hypocritical, and indeed, anti-American, to disallow him from using his own money to support the candidates he prefers. I disagree with almost everything he says, but I fully support his right to voice his opinions and stump for whichever candidates he wants.
Report Post »Pyx
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 10:33amIf Keith Olbermann and cable news networks like MSNBC or CNN ever actually become relevant or actually do what journalists are supposed to do, then ethical rules will not differ.
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 10:26amSo THIS is what it’s ALL about, folks? More Federal REGULATIONS? This is just a STUNT to make some kind of point or start a dialogue about Cable News “gag rules” again. They just want to control EVERYTHING, don’t they? This is a CON.
Report Post »Rickfromillinois
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 10:05amIt would surprise me if they said that he didn’t donate to Democrats. I agree with an earlier poster who opined that this is more about MSNBC trying to convince people that they really aren‘t supporters of the left wing in a desperate attempt to convince people that they don’t because of their disastrous ratings. I think that within the next year we are going to see some sweeping changes in MSNBC and see it become something much closer to FOX. MSNBC is a failure as is and I believe that someone is going to step up and pull the plug on it current format.
Report Post »Spokavriel
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 9:16amAnyone else seeing this entire thing as a puppet show so they can throw their ethics even further out the window than the main stream media had been doing already?
Report Post »Bob PA
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 9:11amWhat a joke! With the exception of Fox News it is the only major cable outlet that provides an alternative to the remaining far left mainstream media. Since the country is 42 % conservative, FNC leads all its competition. Most everyone knows the majority of cable news is left liberal media pundits and in the case of Lawrence O’Donald, a avowed Socialist. Our colleges are staffed with 85% of self proclaimed leftist democrats and the Hollywood crowd are primarily left leaning Democrats as well. One bastion of hope for at least an equal opportunity is the FNC. Why do the citizens of America allow the liberals who make up 20% of the population to rule the country? Baffles the mind!
Report Post »powhatan
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:48amNBC trying to look like they are not bought and paid for by the enemy. Joke
Report Post »rfycom
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:31amThis whole $200M per day fiasco should tell us all that opinion host are considered to be NEWs worthy. You cannot have it both way. It seems like the talking heads cannot decide what they want to be. Are they entertainers or are they opinion hosts. Doesn’t a opinion host have to verify the information they are forming opinions on is accurate? There are millions of people who hang on every word coming from the month of these talking hears. Elections are skewed by this talking heads. Hold them to a higher standard PEOPLE. These people are not helping our country. They are nothing more than a talking tabloid.
Report Post »Johnnyp1958
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:03amPut the “Putz” back on TV , not that he has any value as a fellow human being , because the Republicans are going to investigate Obama’s connection to the communist party and all the corruption. Olberman may just blow his brains out (or lack of) on TV and that would be worth watching.
Report Post »DBCrader
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:00amHey, the last time I looked, this is STILL America… and even a douchebag like Olbermann should have the right to donate to whomever he chooses… it’s his money! And I hardly believe that he could be the first NBC employee whose crossed that line…
Report Post »Hugh Williams
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:33amThere is no law or FCC regulation that prevented him from donating money to candidates. This is a NBC rule. NBC and all other news networks can make rules their employees must follow to work there. If NBC wants to let their employees donate to political campaigns they are free to do so. It is ridiculous for NBC to pretend MSNBC is not completely supportive of Obama and the Democrats.
Report Post »Smoovious
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:38amhe has the right sure, but he chose to enter into a contract that forbade political contributions without disclosing the intent, first, with the management, and getting their green light.
he wasn’t required to sign the contract, but he chose to, cuz he wanted to be on their air, so, as a result, he had to follow their rules.
he broke that contract.
had he informed the management he wanted to do that, since they were democrats, I have no doubt he would have had a green light on it in seconds, and all would have been good…
but you know how management is…
they really hate it when their minions start acting as if they don’t need management, and they need to bring out the whip from time to time.
that’s all this was… nothing at all to do with bias. they’re just using this to make some hay against fox.
Report Post »seeker9
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:48amTo call Fox a conservative propaganda arm, and msnbc legitmate news is laughable. Surf through msnbc prime time, and you see a 4 hour DNC info-mercial. The hosts may as well be on the DNC’s payroll.
Report Post »seeker9
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:28amSurprise, surprise. Just saw on another polital site the questioning of Fox being a “propraganda arm”, msnbc gets a free pass. The whole incident Oberman incident was fabricated, i believe.
Report Post »flashlight
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 9:42amThis topic may come back to haunt Fox News. How many of their news commentators are going to run for president in 2012? Right now I figure about five. How the heck are they going to deal with that?
Report Post »Rick in Iowa
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:44amSo let me get some clarity… this guy can support a particular candidate on his opinion program that he does for an employer, but he can’t support the same candidate with a financial contribution???
How the HECK does that make sense?
Report Post »Hobo Boondocks
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:59amWell, not exactly. NBC, was secretly very ticked off about how much they pay him and how little he donated (legal limits or not) to the candidates they all support blindly. Surely, he could have come up with more money to donate toward the cause since he knew the democrats were going to get an old fashion tail kicking. This chump change donation wouldn’t be tolerated in the future.
Report Post »Hondaman
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:43amThe liberal left certainly “want” a different set of rules, don’t they?
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 3:18pmI work in a job where I have to be politically neutral. One day, I walked into City Hall and I saw someone who I know slightly in the foyer. I greeted that person asked how the family member we know in common was doing. As we were talking, we both walked over to the elevator and got in. The person I was speaking with got out on the second floor. I got out on the third floor. The next morning, slightly over 12 hours later, I got a call from my boss. She said she’d gotten a call that I had been “seen with” so-and-so and had been talking about a political issue. The caller is known for making mountains out of mole hills, and this time managed to make one out of whole cloth. Since my boss knew where I was at that particular time, she verified it with others at the meeting I was at, but we both were amused at how a casual question about whether or not a person had a good time on a recent vacation morphed into a political alignment. Amazing, simply amazing. However, four years later, I am still baffled as to why someone would take the time and trouble to call my boss about it. Why would they even care who I spoke to?
Report Post »Daniel4
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:43amI suspect that KO’s suspension had less to do with his actions than with NBC trying to appear to the public that it somehow is an upstanding, ethical news organization. If NBC is going to make the transition from liberal shill to upstanding News organization, it will take many many more acts of guidance and discipline to remove all appearances of bias before they are trusted. Also, inspite of Rachel Maddow’s proclamation that MSNBC is “a News Organization”, their bias clearly gives lie to that. If NBC want to keep MSNBC then they should advertise them for what they are and make sure that MSNBC staff knows and advertises themselves appropriately. There is a market for commentary (small in MSNBC’s case) but a market none the less. If anything, MSNBC should be encouraged to keep their doors open in order to shine a light on the Progressive agenda in the USA for all to see.
Report Post »john seven eighteen
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:34amI think cable “news” shows would do well to look at what is happening to the newspaper industry. It’s not just the internet that is forcing the extinction of newspapers, it’s the fact that they have become one-side outlets for political partisanship. The cable shows are even more at risk since you can actually watch and hear the bias and the hatred instead of allowing the journalists to hide behind the newsprint. A lesson that should not be taken lightly.
Report Post »Highland
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:44am“News” is only about 10 percent of what we see on any of the so-called cable news networks (including Fox, the only one – to its credit – that bothers to offer more than one “side” of an issue). They ought to call them cable opinion networks. Truth in advertising, and all that.
Report Post »john seven eighteen
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:51am@Highland
I totally agree. They can still have their opinion programs and have actual news programs where they just report the news, but I don’t see that happening because their egos are too big, for one thing. They want you to believe the news really is what they tell you it is.
Report Post »Taquoshi
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 3:08pmWhile waiting for my car to be serviced, I was working on my laptop in the customer lounge and they had the “news” programs on. The actual news was in a crawl at the bottom of the screen, while the talking heads opined up, down, right and left. In the hour and a half I was there, I heard the same thing over and over, and over, and over again. Same view points, same information, little or no discussion. It was basically, Okay folks, here‘s the event or incident and now here’s what you are supposed to think. No thanks.
Report Post »HouseNegro
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:34amOlbermann Aftermath: Should Cable News Opinion Hosts Have Different Ethics Rules?
First off this fool and his MS(DKS)NBC cohorts had no ethics to start with, so this story was a waste of electrons. But, rumor has it Keith was seen soiled, and playing with his poop in a dark corner.
Report Post »drbage
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 10:17amLove to ask people at messnbc to define the word “ethics.” So glad to see that messnbc has adopted professional sports definition of suspension and banned for life. To paraphrase Shakepeare, “Ah, what fools these lefties be!”
Report Post »michelepfaff
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:31amIt doesn’t matter anyway – No one watches MSNBC.
Report Post »mamawalker
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:04amThis was all a ploy for ratings. I predict it will be another failure by MSNBC against FOX news.
Report Post »Conservative Grinch
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:35amYou are right. But no cheap ploy for ratings can ever entice me to watch MSNBC. Olbermann really is the worst.
Report Post »clockwatcher
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:03amKeith Olbermann( the republicans will eat your children) is a cheerleader for the left as is Mathews(tingle boy) and that man/women. They should be allowed to stay on tv as long as MSNBC runs a disclaimner on the bottom of the screen that the show hosts are just a mouth piece for the socialist left that wants to distroy this country. That disclaimner should run 24 hrs. per day.
Report Post »mara123
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:42amEveryone knows they are biased so who cares.
Report Post »HKS
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 7:57amWhat a publicity stunt, and the penalty is take the weekend off????????? Joke of a network.
Report Post »Freelancer
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:24amDid anyone ever doubt that this was a stunt to try and tear down Fox News? It was a very well crafted and coordinated attack between several left news organizations, MSNBC and Media Matters. Soros must still be pissed and his hard working minions sitting in mommy’s basement in their underpants are not doing very well at their assignment.
Report Post »TheSlugbuddies Dotcom
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:28am“Olberman” would maybe be a better name for Coot…what do you guys think? This human is bizarre, but Shurmus said he’d really miss him.
Report Post »Peters
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 8:35amRick in Iowa:
You’re on the right path. The inconsistency and contradiction here is significant. And what that points to is an underlying issue: This was a staged event not to boost ratings necessarily, although it hopes, as a byproduct, that will emerge; but pay attention to Maddow’s rant on Friday night, how it didn’t concentrate on the logic of the discipline; it was all about pointing fingers at one of their greatest enemies in Hannity. Maddow went on and on about how their competition is doing the same things but even worse.
Consider that the monetary contributions we are talking about here are absolutely tiny in comparison to what these commentators give by way of their voices . . . It’s absolutely tiny. This issue has been staged, exploited as an opportunity to not bring liberals up the ladder of morals and ethics in journalism but to rather drag their competition through the mud of public opinion by first demonstrating that they, MSNBC are responsible, journalistic and most of all superior in purity of thought and reasoning.
Simply put, this issue liberals believe, in appearing to discipline Olbermann, legitimizes liberal journalism and repositions them to point even more fingers and demand outrage from the public and law makers that their arch enemies FOX News, Limbaugh, Levin, Savage, Coulter and any other individual dominating air waves with conservative pro Tea Party messages needs to be reeled in, controlled, balanced . . . silenced.
From a modern and historical viewpoint of journalism, liberal journalism took a beating November 2, 2010. Understand the Fairness Doctrine is looming over head . . . It’s the only chance they have for 2012, and beyond. Liberalism, liberal journalism, cannot exist under capitalism’s free market principles; people have simply decided to look elsewhere; liberalism has been rejected. They understand this . . . they have for years
And in that, it’s time to turn up the heat.
Report Post »Kisha
Posted on November 8, 2010 at 2:28pmAnd here is the SPIN!
EFF OFF MSNBC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Report Post »AntiCommie
Posted on November 9, 2010 at 1:21pmThis was just a stunt to get someone to look at the failed MSNBC to see who this idiot is. Wish TheBlaze would stop giving him blog time…
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