Keith Olbermann, the leading liberal voice in American television, was suspended Friday after their employer, MSNBC, he discovers that three of campaign contributions to Democrats last month.
indefinite suspension is a clear example of the conflict between objective journalism and public opinion in television journalism.
Many prominent liberals and conservatives immediately called on MSNBC, Mr. Olbermann return that is normally expressed, but did not comment on his suspension on Friday.
Contributions have come from an article in the political light in the morning Friday. Mr. Olbermann acknowledged in a statement that he won $ 2,400 last month in the countryside of the House of Representatives Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona and Attorney General Jack Conway for Kentucky, who lost his Senate race by Paul Rand.
Mr. Olbermann also said: "I do not have public or private, ask someone to donate to these campaigns, or other in this election, or before, or who have already donated to a political campaign at any level."
A few hours later, the president of MSNBC, Phil Griffin, said in a statement: "Recognizing the political contribution last night Keith was aware of the rules and NBC News, which has suspended him indefinitely without pay .."
No one at NBC News, MSNBC parents to speculate on what this means for Mr. Olbermann in the future, but two NBC executives had privately suggested that this is not a step to fire him.
A manager said the network decided that it was essential for strong action as a form of MSNBC, in prime-time shows that with the open support of democratic governance is a channel that respects the core values of journalism. take
A manager will be identified by a television news organizations that there is no supply and demand analysis of competitors, NBC said that the discipline of Mr. Olbermann as an opportunity to depart from Fox News, which has always identified with distinct positions republican. Media Matters, a liberal media monitoring group, which is a critique of Fox, presented on Friday, two of Fox News, Neil Cavuto and Sean Hannity had the money for Republican politicians in the past.
Earlier this year, Mr. Hannity made a contribution of $ 2,400 to a Republican candidate for Congress, John Gomez, a longtime friend, and a contribution of $ 5,000 per political action committee of representatives of Michele Bachmann The Republicans in Minnesota.
Fox parent News Corporation would donate to the test this year for $ 1 million for Republican Governors Association - a donation that Mr. Olbermann has been sharply criticized.
An MSNBC spokesman had said that the absence of Mr. Olbermann, Chris Hayes, Washington director of the magazine The Nation and MSNBC's contribution to bridge the "Countdown" on Friday, but later said that MSNBC is not the case and appoint a replacement for Mr. Olbermann. Bloggers quickly noticed that Mr. Hayes had contributions to Democrats like Mr. Olbermann had made, but the spokeswoman said that contributions were made before Mr Hayes on MSNBC's payroll is established. quote from mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com