Oberman canned from msnbc

[Downtown Lady]

From the New York Times:

By suspending Keith Olbermann for contributing money to Democratic candidates, MSNBC appears to be trying to differentiate itself from the Fox News Channel, which does not discourage employees from making personal donations to candidates or political causes.

On Friday night, the MSNBC host Rachel Maddow asserted that Fox News is a “political operation” while MSNBC is a “news operation,” and the rules against campaign contributions are important because they make that clear.

As The New York Times has reported, Fox’s parent company, the News Corporation, came under fire from Mr. Olbermann and others in recent months for donating $1.25 million to Republicans, and one of the top hosts on Fox News, Sean Hannity, contributed thousands of dollars to two Republican Congressional candidates this year.

Ms. Maddow focused her final segment Friday night on Mr. Hannity’s donations, as well as the fund-raising efforts of Fox contributors like Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee. Then she turned her attention to the news of Mr. Olbermann’s suspension.

...Ms. Maddow said the following point had been missing in much of the coverage:

"...Hosts on Fox raise money on the air for Republican candidates. They endorse them explicitly; they use their Fox News profile to headline fund-raisers. Heck, there are multiple people being paid by Fox News now essentially to run as presidential candidates. If you count not just their hosts but their contributors, you are looking at a significant portion of the whole lineup of Republican presidential contenders for 2012.

They can do that because there’s no rule against that at Fox. They run as a political operation. We’re not.

Yes, Keith’s a liberal, and so am I, and there are other people on this network whose political views are shared openly with you, our beloved viewers. But we are not a political operation. Fox is. We are a news operation. And the rules around here are part of how you know that."

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.co...-and-fox-news/

[Downtown Lady]

Fox beats on a daily basis the viewership of CNN and MSNBC COMBINED


so if their are three cable news channels and the viewership breakdown on regular night is

Fox: 6 million
Msnbc: 1 Million
Cnn: 500 thousand

Being second means absolutely nothing.

Hey, where's your source? Otherwise people will think you just pulled those numbers out of your ass.

My source says that although Fox News may have the highest viewership, they are trending downward with double-digit declines in viewership: -21% in total viewers and -26% in younger viewers [[3Q10 compared to 3Q09). That's an astounding drop in one year.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/...-digits_b32847

[lilpup]

You might be onto something here. A vast majority of American's view themselves as middle/moderate, yet radical right wing shrills like Fox's entertainers allegedly have twice the numbers that moderate/impartial news organizations have.

Is that because American's enjoy watching train wreaks like Beck and spinsters like Hannity more than informative news? There is probably some truth to this, in the same vain as how people love to watch celebrities crash and burn on lame reality shows which seem to regularly crush any news shows ratings.

Have you read Conservatives without Conscience and the theory about authoritarian personalities it presents? Essentially authoritarian personalities are extremely dependent in terms of needing to be told what to think and do and will put their loyalty to their chosen leaders before all else, justifying any untoward behavior within a constructed framework of religious, patriotic, or other basis of righteousness that condemns those opposing them. [[Sounds to me a lot like the same dynamics that create gangs and fascist movements).

[jiminnm]

Hey, where's your source? Otherwise people will think you just pulled those numbers out of your ass.

Fox News typically has 2-4 times the viewers of MSNBC, and almost always more than MSNBC, CNN, CNBC and HLN together.
This site tracks more numbers than you'll want. Here's a recent day.
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2010/11/05...r-4-2010/71003

[East Detroit]

TV is good for people who can't read.

[Papasito]

The only way to justify that is to assert the preposterous claim that General Electric's corporate policy supersedes The Constitution of The United States!

Obama is setting up a GE deal right now! Because, of course, it is the Government's job to give preferred companies that endorse and vote for them as a block, big fat business deals while touring the world on the taxpayer's dime!

Reliance Power Ltd, the flagship company of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, signed a $2.2 billion deal with General Electric for supply of gas turbines for the 2500MW Samalkot power project in Andhra Pradesh.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/110110...y_13148183.jsp

[[From left) Industrialist Anil Ambani, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt and Barack Obama at the business summit in Mumbai. [[PTI)
GE CEO and Obama adviser Jeff Immelt – GE, outsourcing jobs to India
http://deathby1000papercuts.com/2010...o-jeff-immelt/


President Barack Obama will meet in India next month with a group of U.S. chief executive officers, including Connecticut CEOs Louis Chenevert of United Technologies and Jeffrey Immelt of General Electric, as the administration seeks to boost exports, Reuters reports.
Obama will address a conference sponsored by the U.S.-India Business Council Nov. 6 in Mumbai, India's financial capital, while in India at the start of a four-nation trip to Asia.
http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news15340.html


We heard so much about the dark and evil "Halliburton" back during the Bush days, but apparantly not even a squeak from the Obama drones about the corporate sellout of this administration.

[Pam]

Keith is now uncanned:

http://www.democraticunderground.com...ss=102x4605526

[jerrytimes]

Keith is now uncanned:

http://www.democraticunderground.com...ss=102x4605526

That's a bummer. I was glad to see that disgrace of a 'newscaster' fired. Maybe MSNBC will smarten up.

[Pam]

That's a bummer. I was glad to see that disgrace of a 'newscaster' fired. Maybe MSNBC will smarten up.

He's not a newscaster. He's a political commentator.

[gnome]

My hat is off to MSNBC. While not a fan of Obermann, I always am a fan for people to support whomever they think will make the country a better country. Too bad that NPR is not as wise as MSNBC.

[Blarf]

I'm not a fan, but he isn't stupid.

He probably either violated his contract because he wanted to get fired, or there is more to the story.

Either way, don't watch his show, and therefore don't really care.

[Detroitej72]

Glad to see personal free speech hasn't yet taken a backseat to corporate free speech.

[maxx]

According to Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, Olbermann failed to ask permission before making his contributions.
" It was a stupid policy, but at least it was enforced badly." Jon Stewart

[gdogslim]

I heard Olbermann was with Anderson Cooper in his penthouse consoling each other.
As if other people at PMSLSD didn't donate to democrats.

WHY did this come out AFTER the election???????????????????????????????????
THAT is the REAL story to be told.