By Caitlin Walsh, Columnist
So it turns out that "suspended indefinitely without pay," only means two days. On Oct. 28, Keith Olbermann donated $2,400 each to three separate democratic candidates, two of whom won their elections. That was in violation of MSNBC News Policy and Olbermann was promptly suspended on November 5th. However, MSNBC announced as early as Nov. 7 that Olbermann will return to "Countdown" on Nov. 9.
When the news broke a few days ago, MSNBC was held in high regard. Another news company, Fox News because they did not punish its anchors, such as Sean Hannity, when they donated to republican campaigns. MSNBC stood out by punishing Olbermann for breaking his objectivity as a broadcast journalist.
The network executives must have thought viewers couldn't see Olbermann as objective if they knew he donated to democratic campaigns. And the viewers have a point, since political donations are public and anyone with an Internet connection can easily find who donated what to each campaign.
But this sudden reversal of their decision, just two days later, destroys any hope that MSNBC has of being viewed as an objective network. By succumbing to public pressure – over 250,000 people signed an online petition – and allowing Olbermann to return to work, MSNBC proves it is as liberal as Fox News is conservative. If the network really wants to be seen as objective then it should have let the suspension remain for a month or two. This would be long enough for the public to see how different MSNBC is compared to Fox News, and for Olbermann to learn his lesson.
They backed down when there was enough public outcry, proving that the network is just like Fox News, and that they watch their rating figures as much as the other news channels.
So much for remaining objective.
Olbermann wrote an open letter to Countdown viewers after it was announced that he would rejoin the show on Tuesday. He thanked viewers for their support and said that he was punished for breaking a rule that he knew nothing about and is inconsistently applied. As a step towards true objectivity, MSNBC should take this letter as a suggestion and educate their anchors and news staff about their donation policies, as well as enforcing them across the board instead of sporadically.
Olbermann also stated that he was willing to explain his political contributions both on air to the viewers and off the air to executives. While it would have been an alternative to allow Olbermann to remain on the air, it wouldn't have been a strong enough message that objectivity was MSNBC's top priority. It could have been seen as a cop-out, as a chance for MSNBC and Olbermann to save face.
If there is one thing to be learned from this media circus, it's that with the rise of cable news channels and the twenty-four hour news cycle, objective journalism is a dying practice. The conservatives have their opinion based news shows on Fox News Channel, and the liberals have their own version of the news on MSNBC.
In order to get an objective view of a news story, viewers need to find alternative channels, or just skip the television entirely and rely on newspapers and the Internet.