Monday 5 December 2011

Popular Keith Olbermann Leaves MSNBC Abruptly


Keith Olbermann ended his run on MSNBC on Friday night fairly unceremoniously, and with hints that it wasn’t his idea to leave.
That Keith Olbermann is by far the most popular anchor on MSNBC was not enough to save him from being let go. Olbermann and the network that served as a platform for his sometimes interesting, sometime infuriating, but always highly partisan rants and reports parted ways on Friday, just three months after Olbermann was suspended for improper campaign donations to members of the Democratic Party. Olbermann had two years left on his contract, but nonetheless signed off from his "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" show for the last time on Friday night.

Noted Olbermann, "This is the last edition of ‘Countdown.’" He did not say much else, but MSNBC officials did comment, noting, "MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors." To be clear, what Olbermann did was wrong according to the journalists’ ethic, but if everyone on Wall Street and in Washington, DC were held to an equal standard and complied…well, let’s just say that Keith wouldn’t have had too much to talk about in the first place. Of course, those politicians and financiers don’t get fired for their misdeeds, instead simply being re-elected or getting paid enormous salaries and bonuses for their egregious transgressions.

Olbmermann did comment further on his last show, indicating obliquely that the idea to leave may not have been his. Noted Olbermann, "I think the same fantasy popped into the head of everybody in my business who has ever been told what I have been told, this will be the last edition of your show."

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