Matt Taibbi On Keith Olbermann’s Suspension–’Completely and Utterly Retarded’
Rolling Stone journalist and FBLA favorite Matt Taibbi isn’t one to hold back on his media criticism. He once threw a pie filled with horse sperm into the face of a New York Times journalist whose work he didn’t like. He’s calmed down a bit since then, but he’s definitely not happy with MSNBC’s suspension of Keith Olbermann.
We had a whole generation of journalists who sat by and did nothing while, for instance, George Bush led us into an idiotic war on a lie, plus thousands more who spent day after day collecting checks by covering Britney’s hair and Tiger’s text messages and other stupidities while the economy blew up and two bloody wars went on mostly unexamined… and it’s Keith Olbermann who should “pay the price” for being unethical? Because, and let me get this straight, he donated money, privately, to politicians?
This is absurd even by GE’s standards. There is no reason, not even a theoretical one, why any journalist should be prevented from having political opinions and participating in election campaigns in his spare time. The policy would be ridiculous even if we were talking about an evening news anchor — because the only “ethical” question here is the issue of NBC wanting to preserve the appearance of impartiality and being unable to do so, because political contributions happen to be public record and impossible to hide from viewers.
Again, that would be true even if we were talking about Brian Williams or Tom Brokaw, someone from whom viewers expect a certain level of impartiality. But what Olbermann does is advocacy journalism and it’s not exactly a secret. NBC punishing Olbermann for donating to Democratic candidates is like Hugh Hefner fining the Playmate of the Year for showing ankle. It’s completely and utterly retarded.
Previously on FBLA: Keith Olbermann Back On ‘Countdown’ Tuesday
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