In actuality (something quite beyond you) you’ve written several times that you have appreciated that Olbermann has been the absence voice of the left within the U.S. media, oblivious to the logic that the new tenor, tone, and content of THAT voice is one facet of critical interest in Olbermann.

You do the “he doesn’t matter” routine in order to invalidate political opponent’s interest in him, while giving him “atta boys” at an Olbermann fan site.

By “swooning” he means Greta was as aghast over what she saw as the same sexist treatment of Palin as by received by HRC.

She interviewed Palin, traveled with Palin, just as she did with HRC and plethora of other personages.

I’m pretty sure Greta is a Democrat. She was a Bill Clinton supporter, and her husband and sister are both Dems. And she was a Hillary Clinton supporter.

—

Sara N. Italy: Van Susteren has admitted she voted, but not for President Obama, supposedly over his “unfairness” to Hillary. And, while Coale has worked for and supported Democrats, notably Hillary, we ought to remember that as Van Susteren began swooning over Palin, he donated time and resources to her.

As I said….the very definition of hell…

I expect to see him on the daily show in the near future.

According to Gawker… don’t expect to see it anytime soon.

m says:
January 24, 2010 at 2:55 pm

(The obvious response…) Name someone KO has interviewed who doesn’t agree with him.

It’s not the host’s opinion that’s the issue… rather it’s the information they present. FNC hosts talk to people from across the aisle… MSNBC, not as such.

They’re not holding a gun to his head to force him to endure this dilemma.

Besides, I think he enjoys the limelight of being the “good conservative” who bashes the “bad conservatives.” He’s got a nice schtick going. E.g., his latest Newsweek piece.

Kowtowing to Olbermann is the price he’ll have to pay for being Upper Manhattan’s favorite Republican.

Imagine being in the position of having to trade off notoriety, elbow-rubbing with elites, gothamite living, and high earning potential, with paying obeisance to Keith Olbermann.

That just might be the very definition of hell.

You are probably more than aware of this, but one of the things I have noticed about leftists is that any criticism of a fellow leftist (for anything other than a lapse in ideological purity) or any praise for a non-leftist, is tantamount to registering Republican.

That’s why they can argue that a media who self-identifies as Democratic and as being far more liberal than the public at large, are little more than corporate shills touting the conservative line.

Name one liberal show on Fox News. You can’t. Every single opinionated show is conservative.

So I’ve read. And the result was not good for those places.

Which is another good reason (or two) for Scarborough not to emulate him. And for Griffin to try and stop things from escalating.

Olbermann has fought with Co-workers every place he has worked.

I’ll take that one! Scarborough’s ass would have been gone. While MSNBC doesn’t have the ratings that fox does, Countdown is their number one rated show. Morning Joe is dead last in cable morning news show ratings. Jethro should be very careful. I loved Jon’s take on Keith. And I love that Keith’s reaction. I expect to see him on the daily show in the near future.

I see the comments on Twitter and I see the clip from on-air, so I don’t know how much is about one thing and how much is about another..

News outlets have been encouraging their personalities to incorporate Twitter, Facebook and other social media into their efforts and though I don’t have a link on-hand, but there have been cases of employers seeking to retain the Twitter accounts of their former employees. It seems to me that in this current environment, especially with the handle of “joenbc”, Mr. Scarborough’s twitter should qualify as an extension of his show.

Earlier, I invoked Glenn Beck and implied that if the former Morning Zoo dude was to get too close to theedge, we’d expect Bill O’Reilly or Shepard Smith to pull him back. If Glynnis, Jon Stewart or Keith Olbermann were to do say something, it might be dismissed as partisan, but if his colleagues were to say something, there’d be no escaping the message.

Another example might also be the whole Don Imus thing.

Sure, the licensing of the show might have distanced him from being a full-fledged member of the MSNBC “family”, but under the censorship rules that Mr Griffin seems to have laid down, it appears that no one who worked for NBC-Universal or any of its subsidiaries would have been allowed to speak on the issue.

One last one from me because I’m starting to be boringly repetitive: Scarborough didn’t respond to Olbermann on his (Scarborough’s) show. Nor did he make substantive respectful criticism of KO. He made a couple of semi-nasty remarks on Twitter directed at KO and not KO’s comments.

You seem to be motivated solely by politics on this and are missing the larger issue of preventing a company’s workforce from disrupting the business. MSNBC includes a lot more people than Keith Olbermann and Joe Scarborough. Phil Griffin has to worry about them at least as much as KO and JS.

YIKES! “Olbermann didn’t think it merited punishment”? Who is he to decide who gets punished, and who doesn’t?! This is, frankly, a stunning admission of Olbermann’s “influence” (control, etc.) over that network.

MartiniShark says:
January 23, 2010 at 10:13 pm

Sure does! Not a good sign for NBC/MSNBC.

But that’s not what we’re talking about…

I only know what I’ve seen here and on the mediabistro site. As I understand it, one opinion host said something derogatory about an editorial rant given by another opinion host. Both men were hired for their opinions and though Olbermann’s diatribe has been roundly ridiculed by pretty much everyone, which sort of proves Scarborough right, it really doesn’t matter because both mens job is to express an opinion and no subject should be offlimits.

Again… what does Joe think about wind turbines? Dylan Ratigan is always going off on bankers; Is he allowed to say anything about GE Capital? Olbermann was against the Iraq war; Was he pressured to avoid topics which affected products sold by his defense contracting employer?

I can’t find many free sources which fully encapsulates the (now paid access) essay by John Hockenberry called “You Don’t Understand Our Audience” and this marks the second time that I’ve referenced Arthur Kent’s experiences in as many weeks, but it’s not like (MS)NBC’s hands are clean. And though the fallout from Griffin’s (stupid) phrasing to TVNewser might make him rethink taking their calls, if he says that he censors his opinion hosts or implies that one high-profile, heavily promoted host is somehow better than another, then it’s him who probably should be out of a job.

This isn’t about whistle blowing or corrupt or illegal or unethical behavior. Even then, there’s an internal system for a employee to follow. If that doesn’t work then you go public. And it’s not about “certain subjects”, it’s about the performance of your fellow employees. Again, if you think a co-worker isn’t doing their job, there’s an internal process to use.

Second, if Scarborough wanted to respond to Olbermann, he didn’t need to do so on Twitter. He could have fairly responded to Olbermann’s comment on his own show and calmly expressed where he thought Olbermann was wrong. No need for the “sad” and “reckless” response. Have KO on to have a give-and-take. It’d be both fair and interesting to watch. No?

Surely you don’t think Scarborough should openly state, “Boy, that piece by Andrea Mitchell was awful. What a bad piece of reporting”?

No enterprise – media, business or otherwise – can permit their workers/people to publicly snipe at one another. If they do so, they’ll eventually have a force choosing sides and not working with one another.

Again, if Scarborough can’t put up with Olbermann, he can leave. And believe me, I’m no fan of Olbermann’s.

It seems to me that none of us would like one of our co-workers openly criticizing our work or job. For better or worse, Olbermann is a colleague of Scarborough’s and merits respect. If he can’t give it, he needs to leave MSNBC.

The problem with that solution is that many of us on the left fully expect (or hope) that when Beck gets too far over the edge, the more respectable Bill O’Reilly will call him back.

Opinion or satirical media should be an open flow of ideas with no topics offlimits. If MSNBC policy is that one thinker can’t comment on another or that certain topics should not be broached on air, then how are we to trust that their censorship is limited to just a narrow list. I mean, GE makes nuclear reactors — how do we know that it’s not against policy to speak about nuclear waste? Comcast is a huge cable operator — how are we to know that the news division will report fairly cable rates?

(Not to mention that NBCU is a big umbrella which encompasses many channels, so exactly when do people stop being colleagues? Heck, everyone credits an analyst with CNBC as being the spark of the Tea Party movement, so does that mean that MSNBC shouldn’t say anything critical of those who subscribe to its philosophy because one of their colleagues gave it birth?)

Jon Stewart made cracks about Mind of Mencia; Johnny Carson trashed Supertrain and whenever Shepard Smith says something which could be interpreted as being critical of FNC, the clip is all over the internet.

Why should any hired to express their opinions be punished if they don’t hold their tongues or talk about certain subjects? Aren’t we supposed to believe, they’re telling the truth?

Sure sounds like Olbermann is the one calling the shots over there. The only reason Joe was not raked over the coals is that KO thought better of it?

(See Rachel’s call out for Haiti: Day One)

Im a full on Clinton Dem, so I had issues with Joe back when, but since Joe left Congress Iive found him to be a stand u[ fellow – and olberman has always been a arrogant azz – even when i loved his first MS show in the 90s.

MSNBC execs really are KOs punks and b$tches arent they?

My God, what a statement, it sure tells you who is in charge over there nowadays.

Thank you Jon Stewart for putting this misogynistic egomaniac in his place for all but the truly stupid to see,

Im a full on Clinton Dem, so I had issues with Joe back when, but since Joe left Congress Iive found him to be a stand u[ fellow – and olberman has always been a arrogant azz – even when i loved his first MS show in the 90s.

MSNBC execs really are now KOs punks and b$tches arent they?

My God, what a statement, it sure tells you who is in charge over there now adays.

Thank you Jon Stewart for putting this misogynistic egomaniac in his place for all but the truly stupid to see,

might explain partially why nobody much watches MSNBC anymore.