Maybe Shuster can get a job reference from Andrew Breitbart.

He could go to work for Fox, they love those kind of people.

“Sorry, but this is a business and I need team players. He was not moral, ethical or professional and that is not fair to the 500 people who work at msnbc.”

..or the 50 people that watch it

Yes, Mr. Griffin because MSNBC needs moral, ethical and professional people like Eliot Spitzer.

Does Griffin’s business card actually read “Carny Barker”?

Griffin must of been drunk or the e-mail he sent isn’t really from him. An angry Shuster fan getting revenge?

It’s kinda unethical for Phil to front David off like that in an email. He didn’t have to be so harsh. A simple “He made his bed…” would have done.

Anyway, the emailer lost me when he/she said “I will miss Countdown”. It’s the second worst show on cable. (Beck being the first, of course). Agree about Morning Joe. Joe has become especially insufferable lately. Joe is the worst part of Morning Jo.

Good riddance to Shuster.

Happy Slavery Month!!!!

“He was not moral, ethical or professional …”

Why, he makes a perfect fit for MSNBC.

What a coward Phil Griffin is. He let Schuster get away with all his crap and now suddenly he is immoral, unethical and unprofessional.

Griffin is just another hypocritical liberal.

Wait a second, this may be a hoax; to send an email like this could result in a law suit.

Let’s see if Mediaite walks this one back.

Wait a second, this may be a hoax

Yeah, I have my doubts too. That’s awfully rough language for Griffin to send to a viewer. There are lots of ways of saying the same things but with more circumspection.

Talk about getting both barrels.

Tyler, Steve-

I’ve added an update – we have confirmed the email’s authenticity.

The email definitely came from Griffin.

Tyler, Steve-

I’ve added an update – we have confirmed the email’s authenticity.

The email definitely came from Griffin.

Thanks Steve, but I must say that is the dumbest thing said by a CEO since the time when a CEO of a large retailer fired his long term store managers and hired replacements and boasted in a TV commercial the “average age of our new managers.”

Steve writes: “but it is interesting to see the President of a network so freely respond to someone”

The reason we don’t get honest responses from people in companies when we email them is because of idiots like the guy who shared this email with you. Private correspondence should be kept that, and people who pretend to really care just to try and get the scoop to make news should be ashamed.

The email definitely came from Griffin.

Ouch.

Griffin didn’t even try the “We had irreconciliable differences” or “David wants to take his career in a different direction.”

He’s effectively telling other potential employers that Shuster cannot be trusted.

CNN can’t hire him now. And Fox is a definite no-no.

Shuster may wind up reading the news on a Topeka, Kansas radio station. Morning drive.

So this reader is a “political junkie” who believes that MSNBC getting rid of Shuster (who is not only journalistically incompetent, but ever 5 minutes would do something so embarrassing that he’d have to be disciplined) makes them like Fox?

Seriously, you can like Fox or hate it, but to say that MSNBC is anything like them in any way immediately shows that your IQ is too low to even comment on politics. Geez, why didn’t the guy just email Shuster directly to ask for a date?

The reason we don’t get honest responses from people in companies when we email them is because of idiots like the guy who shared this email with you

Perhaps, but don’t you think the head of a company/news division knows that an e-mail to a viewer wouldn’t be kept secret? Particularly one this “hot”? Surely he knows the viewer would distribute it elsewhere?

And what good is a “honest response” if the company wants it kept secret?

Too bad, I kind of liked him. But this is all like a sports business, and not much different than a coach who scopes out moving to another team and then the owner gets angry and fires him.

@steveMG

I agree. The president wanted this email leaked, and to be able to blame it on a “viewer”.

“He was not moral, ethical or professional …”

Then why are maddow and olbermann still on the payroll? Double standards?

Obviously, this wasn’t an accident. He wanted this to be made public.

But do we have the full story? It sounds like there’s more to this then just the filming of a pilot with CNN. We’ll probably never know.

Hmmm…I can see your points. Saying Shuster “was not moral, ethical or professional” is not good for his future job prospects. Of course, it was meant to be a private correspondence but I don’t know what all this would mean legally. Unprofessional behavior is easy enough to prove but immoral seems a tad harsh. But it was the “viewer” that released this e-mail publicly, and it’s b/c everyone is seeing it that it is damaging.

I’m not a lawyer and shouldn’t attempt to play one.

Big_F-ing_Deal: Happy Slavery Month!!!! < kinda funny :)

Update: Upon re-reading his email where he said Shuster was was not moral, ethical or professional , Griffin said, “What! Hire him back! That’s just what MSNBC needs!”

Does mediaite have a spot for schuster?

I’m sure Daily Kos, or HP does.

Loved the update, but still doubt its authenticity…. A Shuster fan?!

Christine:

Griffin “published” the email to a third party, so it was probably reasonably foreseeable that it would be re-published to a broader audience. Griffin could, therefore most likely be held liable for anything defamatory in the email.

However, it’s very unlikely to be actionable under the First Amendment. Whether someone is “moral,” “ethical,” or “unprofessional” would probably be deemed opinions that do not imply any objective, verifiable fact. There’s a Supreme Court case called Milkovich v. Lorain Journal that discusses that sorta of scenario.

Also, if Shuster sued, he’d surely face a counterclaim for breach of contract or bad faith. That’s not a fight he wants to pick.

He could work at that Mother Jones mag w/ David Corn.

AnonymousFinch~

Thanks!

Also, if Shuster sued, he’d surely face a counterclaim for breach of contract or bad faith. ”

As far as I know , he still works for MSNBC and he could sue MSNBC for defamation . Whether he would win is another matter, but so far , there is nothing to show that he broke his contract.

Filming the pilot is where he screwed himself, legally speaking.

Well the emailer got one thing right, MSNBC is an embarrassment.

TylerDurdin:

We don’t know what his contract says, so any breach of contract claim is pure speculation. But every contract contains an “implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.” In other words, regardless of what a contract says, you can’t act in a way that impairs the other party’s ability to benefit from the contract. That is a very, very fuzzy and ill-defined standard, but I’m MSNBC could turn his filming the pilot into a breach of good faith claim. Who knows whether they could ultimately win, but I’m sure they could plead it and drag it out a long time.

If Phil Griffin really sent this e-mail out intentionally to embarrass Shuster, he is the lowest of the low.

Finch, I find it appalling that a company can make such statements about an employee to someone who has no standing to receive such info or who is not in a position where the withholding of such info would cause him harm.

Ed Schultz is a twice fired sportscaster who, according to Wiki “Schultz told the Los Angeles Times that he “lined up with the Republicans because they were anti-tax, and I wanted to make a lot of money….”
Keith Olberman, fired sportscaster, Mike Barnacle; left Boston Globe as a columnist due to plagiarism charges and the list goes on. We all know how pitiful the likes of Beck, O’Reilly and Limbaugh. The left and the right are pathetic. David Schuster and his annoying hyper accentuating will not be missed by those who try to get the real facts by reading and listening to both sides to find any truth amidst the spin-it’s not easy. Joe Scarborough annoys the far left because he attempts to find a middle, objective view. Perhaps Mikka seems neutralized because it’s hard to defend an administration which continues many of the same immoral and illegal policies of the Bush years. Bagram, wiretapping, surging in Afghanistan, propping up failing and broken systems (healthcare, financial) merely by giving them support and money rather then really changing them.
It’s a sad, sad time in America. Good riddance to Schuster -I only wish he’d take nearly the entire MSNBC and FOX staff with him. I say repeal and replace both stations!

If Phil Griffin has a problem with people being unprofessional then why do Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, and Ed Shultz still have jobs at MSNBC?

I find it appalling that a company can make such statements about an employee to someone who has no standing

The explicit language is stunning.

And sent, as you point out, to an anonymous/unknown e-mailer. Someone that Griffin must have known would disseminate it.

Unless Shuster did more than just audition for a CNN show, these are really over-the-top allegations.

TylerDundin:

None of us know the full story, so who knows? But let’s assume you’re right and what Griffin did was appalling. The simple answer is that the law doesn’t remedy every “appalling” thing. And thank God it doesn’t. Would you want someone to be able to drag you into court every time you do something that someone else considers “appalling”?

Griffin has a First Amendment right to express his opinions about Shuster. So long as he does so without misrepresenting any verifiable facts, he’s most likely on safe ground for First Amendment purposes.

Appalling? Yeah, you’re probably right. It certainly shows an utter lack of class. But from what I see here, I doubt it’s worthy of a lawsuit.

While I understand printing Phil Griffins unseemly response, I do not see the point of printing the fan’s original email. How does that add any real context to the story, other than provide raw meat for right wing zealots?

Perhaps someone should email Phil and ask for him to leaked Shuster’s contract as well..

The head of MSNBC bashing an employee and then having it leaked to the press only shows malice intentions of Phil. Proving a libel case is pretty much impossible in the States; however, it does potentially have ramifications dependent upon the wording of Shuster’s contract.

This should be fun to watch play out.

Veritas, everything you said comes from the mind of a conspiracy theorist. You’re a sad man.

The only reason why Obama is continuing Bush policies is because they work! That’s the only reason. The campaign season is over, dude. Get over it. We live in a Gotham world, not some Polly Anna society you would have.

Finch: “Would you want someone to be able to drag you into court every time you do something that someone else considers “appalling”?
———————————–

If that was the case Durdin would be in court his whole life.

@Gary Stewart

I don’t see how this is any raw meat moreso than what is out there. Filming a pilot for CNN should not be what defines a persons moral character. The purpose of showing the fan email is to show that Phil going out of his way to criticize Shuster. If the original email was soley about Shuster, Phil’s response would have been a little more appropriate imo.

Look, if MSNBC wants to continue paying Shuster, but not put him on the air, like a basketball team that benches a player, they can do that without breaching his contract, unless he has a specific clause that says he must be on the air, etc. This is just business. It is not the first time that an employee has upset a boss over a job search.

@marcus.lewis

Maybe that’s true, but Griffins email seems pretty much directed at Shuster. If it’s a defense of the other 500 employees, it’s pretty ass-backward for a guy at Phil’s pay grade.

“Not moral, ethical or professional”?
What about Olbermann, Mathews, Schultz, Maddow, Mitchell and the O’Donnell dingbats?
I’m not going to get into morals, but the above aforementioned are all unethical and unprofessional.

Big Josh- Sounds like I hit a nerve? Serious bummer I know but reality sucks. The healthcare system is still broken dude- Wall Street is still in charge – we have more troops and more contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan now then under Bush- transparency is a joke- Axelrod’s office is even closer to Obama’s then Rove’s office to Bush (they are political operatives not policy folks- you do know that?) If you’re not worried about the big problems facing our country then you must be taking some serious meds.

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Griffin needs to go on “indefinite suspension” for his inappropriate e-mail. Will he put himself there, or do those standards only hold for the lackies?

veritas,
The health care system is improved, but yes, still not working the way it should. With a little help from the Repubs, certainly a better bill could have been passed. Wall Street is still hughly influencial, but more than ever, people are seeking to hold it accountable and regulate it. That is a long and complicated process, but at least we are hip to their game now. We have less troops in Iran and more in Afganistan. As for Axelrod, whether he is closer to Obama than Rove, etc., is really beyond your knowledge, but yes, politics and policy are two sides of the same coin. You can not make policy without politics. Should we be concerned about the big problems facing our country? Sure. But if you go back to the sixties, when school children regularly participated in bomb shelter drills, with Mao killing 50 or 100 million of his own people and threatening to bomb the U.S., not to mention the Soviet menace, with Kruchev pounding his shoe and saying “we will bury you”, I do not think the current post cold war world problems compare. Although, to be sure, it is a very dangerous world.

I find it ironic that the only reason Schuster is under suspension is because he made a tape for a rival network. For that, he’s accused of being “not moral, ethical or professional”. I’ve watched MSNBC and find that the majority of your hosts, even though they haven’t made tapes (that we know of at least) for a rival network fill that same explaination to a tee.

So, apparently, you can insult a Republican President, demean the tea party movement (without proof), and hold puff-ball interviews with politicians and be moral, ethical and professional, just as long as you don’t make a tape for a rival network.

If, and when, MSNBC decides they want to be a news organization, will be the day they get any of my respect. Until that time, the only people they’ll attract will be the immoral, unethical and unprofessional.

Jim,
Look, Shuster is an employee who, in a manner of speaking, sent out a job application to another company. The boss found out about it, got mad, and has taken him off the air. It’s just business. This is very similar to what happened to Beck after he signed up with FOX. He was taken off the air by CNN-HLN, essentially, in retaliation. But you can bet that they continued to pay him through the end of his contract, like MSNBC with Shuster.

@valkyrie101

I don’t see much similarity between Beck and Shuster. Beck signed, Shuster basically auditioned. And Jon Klein didn’t send out emails accusing Beck of being “not moral, ethical or professional.”

Whoa, let’s be clear. The difference between Beck and Shuster is that Beck never violated his contract. He signed with Fox, and once he did Headline News bought out his contract.

The allegation here (being made by MSNBC) is that Shuster violated his contract. I don’t know whether that’s true or not, but let’s not confuse someone who did something that was perfectly lawful (Beck) with someone who is being accused of breaching his contract (Shuster). Again, I don’t know whether the allegation is true, but that’s what Griffin seems to be saying.

@AnonymousFinch
You know for sure that Beck didn’t have a non-compete clause? Cause actually signing with a competitor while still under contract sounds even more egregious than merely auditioning to my admittedly untrained ear.

Gary:

I haven’t seen Beck’s contract. Nor have I seen Shuster’s. But I know that when Beck left Headline News, CNN never made any allegation that he breached his contract. CNN’s official statement was: “Glenn has been a terrific employee and colleague to many of us at CNN. We wish him well.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/business/media/17fox.html?fta=y

If CNN thought Beck did something “immoral, unethical, or unprofessional” they kept it to themselves. I therefore assume that he complied with his contract. For anyone to suggest otherwise is completely unfounded.

Perhaps CNN didn’t see Beck as much of a loss, considering their different demo from FOX’s, but MSNBC was threatened by Mr. Shuster’s wandering eye.

Right, Gary. So the head of MSNBC sends out an email saying that David Shuster is “immoral, unethical, and unprofessional,” and that leads you to the conclusion that Glenn Beck must have done something wrong.

Who could possibly argue with logic like that?

Q.E.D.

Well if Shuster wants a senior advisor in the Obama Administration then he is perfectly qualified for the job.Ne ways i will keep visiting for more information.
forex expert advisor

No, my brilliant Addius,
My observation was that CNN must not have seen much downside to letting Beck out of his contract early, whereas MSNBC was somehow threatened or found Shusters casting about for prospects galling.

I doubt if they were “threatened.” Seen his ratings?

CNN didn’t let Beck our of his contract early. It was set to expire. Once he announced that he was going to Fox once his contract expired, CNN bought out the remainder of his contract.

Look, I’m no fan of David Shuster, but I’m not going to pass judgment on him or MSNBC because I have absolutely no facts with which to make such a judgment. But dragging Glenn Beck into this and arguing that Beck did something wrong is . . . well . . . just bizarre to me. Bizarre verging on pathological.

Finch: “I haven’t seen Beck’s contract.”
—————-

Then how do you know this Finch:

“CNN didn’t let Beck our of his contract early. It was set to expire.”

Finch, I don’t know where you get the idea I think Beck did anything wrong. Seems like he did something pretty smart for himself, just as Shuster would have been doing something smart for himself if he’d been hired by CNN and word had not leaked out. I’m just speculating about the reason for the stark difference in the networks reaction. Shuster’s contract at MSNBC was coming up, too.

I guessed that MSNBCs average viewer was dumb as a brick and tribal to the core – this twits email proves my guess to be quite accurate, no?

hack, Just a guess, but considering the studies that have been done indicating the low-info nature of the FOX demographic, that’s a bizarre assertion.

the real john t says:
April 8, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Finch: “I haven’t seen Beck’s contract.”
—————-

Then how do you know this Finch:

“CNN didn’t let Beck our of his contract early. It was set to expire.”

Maybe because it was widely reported in various news outlets John Brown.

That’s his personal opinion. I do agree with him.
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/force-factor-review-amp-free-trial-2113761.html

CNN/HLN got angry at Beck because he signed a FOX contract and they took him off the air early, before his contract expired.

“He was not moral, ethical or professional ”

Wait..

What??

Isn’t the lack of these traits…in addition to not having honor nor integrtity…the main criterion for landing a job at MSNBC??

the real john t , how many ties must I flush to get rid of you?

LOL

Funny how all the right-wingers here pretending that Maddow, KO, and Ed Schulz have moral, ethical or professional issues are just comfy as heck with the proudly anti-semitic bigot Pat Robertson, or the sleazy Joe Scarborough, who left Congress just in time to avoid suffering too much scrutiny into the death of his staffer Lori Klasuitis (http://www.americanpolitics.com/20010808Klausutis.html).

JoeScar’s case is especially interesting, in that he managed to sneak out of Capitol without much press coverage, much less probings, even as Democratic congresscritter Gary Condit’s political career was being destroyed by people who wanted to blame him for the death of a young woman who had lots of boyfriends besides Condit — despite the fact that the DC police repeatedly exonerated him. It took 9/11 to finally get the press to lay off Condit, but by then the damage was done — and no MSNBC morning show as a consolation prize for him, either.

Phoenix Woman , next time you post a link, make sure it’s to a legitimate source, not a lib mouthpiece of hate.

OK, tyler, fair enough, just refrain from any newsmax postings to keep it square.

I seem to remember that Olbermann got into a bit of trouble when he got into an angry email exchange with a viewer some time back. It would be extremely bad form if Phil Griffin just went and did the same thing.

@Dr_Venkman
That would require actual moral, ethical and professional standards on Griffins part..
This was to send a chill through the MSNBC newsroom and all newsrooms with employees that want call-ups to sit in on Morning Joke.

valkyrie101 , I have never used a Newsmax citation.

Tyler,
OK. Nor should you.

That’s great that Mediaite says it verified the authenticity of the e-mail, but there’s not a word about the source that supplied the e-mail to Mediaite. Was it the fan or the supposed third party to whom Griffin copied the e-mail? If the source’s identity is being withheld, for what reason? Transparency is one journalistic principle that’s been lost over time, and that has nothing to do with MSNBC or Shuster.

Huge loss for MSNBC. I really liked David.

LOL!
If Griffin’s saying that about Shuster, one can only imagine what he’s saying about Olbermann!!!!!

Phoenix Woman, isn’t it also odd that the left is so comfy with Obama, whose pastor for twenty years is best friends with Louis Farrakhan, who is at least, if not more, anti-semitic than Pat Robertson?

And, Mr. Krakauer, the name of the “political junkie” who graciously supplied you with this email and response from Griffin is….?

Or to put it another way, why would he wish to remain anonymous if everything here is on the up-and-up? (By any chance, were you the subject of a movie called “Shattered Glass”?)

Finally, how clever of you to come up with these little tidbits no else seems to be getting! And if Griffin truly feels this way, why doesn’t he fire David for breaking the terms of the contract? Wouldn’t you in Griffin’s position? Ah, it’s all such a mystery.

@Bob Amsel, Why should the e-mailer give mediaite permission to put her name out there so the haters can abuse her, if, in fact, she hasn’t? You have no way of knowing that, either way.
And yes, I wrote “her” because I have first hand knowledge and can attest to the providence of the email.

As for mediaite getting it first, they were not the first to publish it, as I saw the text of Griffin’s comments on another blog, and had a cc of it from the original, hours before mediaite went with it.

She is not anonymous, but SHE is not the story here. Griffin’s unprofessional conduct and his appraisal of Shuster is.

To Gary Stewart:

First of all, I’m not sure who you are in reference to Steve Krakauer since you did not write the article (unless Krakauer is an alias) but are attesting to the email’s providence. Please explain.

Secondly, you write: “As for mediaite getting it [this story] first, they were not the first to publish it, as I saw the text of Griffin’s comments on another blog, and had a cc of it from the original, hours before mediaite went with it.”

Interesting. Then you’ll have no problem naming this other blog site that preceded mediaite (and sent you a cc of Griffin’s original comments), since I can ONLY find sites that picked up the story FROM mediaite, such as Huffington Report and Daily Kos. Why didn’t they give credit where credit was actually due? Why didn’t mediaite give credit where credit was due?

I’m not defending Griffin. I think the man is a jerk to suspend David Shuster at all. (I love how management expects loyalty but does nothing to earn it.) I don’t recall reading anywhere that Michel Martin of National Public Radio was suspended for her part in the CNN pilot but apparently she doesn’t have an arrogant buffoon for a boss. However, the internet is filled with gossip and people ready to believe gossip as long as it’s in print. From my viewpoint, this story has yet to be substantiated.

However, on a related topic, I do share your opinions on CNN’s attempt to be “balanced” which to me consists of a bland interviewer gathering talking points from right-wing and left-wing pundits with no serious follow-up questioning. It’s mainly boring. But since Fareed Zakaria is an oasis in CNN’s desert, I don’t see why Shuster couldn’t be as well.

@Bob Amsel: The original response was posted by the fan who sent the email to Griffin in the comments section of a HuffPo article about Shuster’s suspension dated 4/6/10. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/06/david-shuster-suspended-f_n_526699.html
I think HuffPo either didn’t see the post, or for reasons the fan speculated on, didn’t want to run with it themselves.
As for how mediaite got it first, I would assume their solicitation of news tips on their front page had something to do with it.

A Person who is humble enough to reply a fan … Out of 500 people working in MSNBC, there is no need to Griffin to suspend without any valid reason.
beat maker
http://ezinearticles.com/?Beat-Maker—Best-Beatmaker-Software-Online&id=3974878

A Person who is humble enough to reply a fan … Out of 500 people working in MSNBC, there is no need to Griffin to suspend without any valid reason.
beat maker

the real john t says:
April 8, 2010 at 7:21 pm

He could go to work for Fox, they love those kind of people.
—————————————————————————————————————————————
Wrong, sparky. He worked for Fox years ago and was FIRED!! He is a total LOSER and really fit in quite well at PMSNBC. Talk about an Animal Farm!!