Yet again, Glenn Greenwald not only anticipates what I was going to say, he does it better: GE's silencing of Olbermann and MSNBC's sleazy use of Richard Wolffe – Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com deconstructs today's NYT article reporting that GE & Murdoch News got together and agreed to clamp down on blowhards O'Reilly and Olbermann.
It's especially amazing that nowhere in Brian Stelter's article reporting that a pair of owner/publishers of news/opinion TV shows agreed secretly to muzzle them is there any hint that there might be an journalism ethics issue. No one from a J-school is quoted.
Who muzzled the New York Times? And is the most depressing answer that it muzzled itself.
(Bonus amazement: Charlie Rose either lied about the events he witnessed or didn't understand their significance any more than did Brian Stelter.)
There is no such thing as journalism “ethics” anymore. Its a business now. If anyone assumes there is such a thing as journalism “ethics”, they are just intellectually lazy and looking for an excuse to live life in ignorance. If you are left leaning you can tune into NPR and MSNBC all day and assume you’ve been fairly informed because the journalists are “ethical”. If you are right leaning you can watch Fox all day and make the same assumptions. You can always find a media outlet to make you *feel* “informed”, and entertained. That’s what the $$$ behind the scenes is paying for. At the end of the day, one ends up nothing but a partisan fool, a useful idiot.
This is a non-story. If OReilly and Olbermann don’t like it, they can quit and start blogging. They’re actors. Paid to put on a show, nothing more.
Ethics? How about laws? The banning of an American talk show host from GB?:
http://www.michaelsavage.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=6513
The Savage story is far more profound than this nonsense where commercial media outlets are merely seeking some editorial control over their employees. Savage was banned by a supposed democracy, then the US State Department sat mute for purely political reasons (I find it inconceivable that had Olbermann or Ed Schultz been banned, that the US government would not have protested).
p.s. I’m sure the progressive commentators will turn this into a bash Savage thread and miss the big picture. But hey, it will up your click-count. You’re welcome.
p.s.s. Perhaps there were a few who believe in journalistic “ethics”, but they just all about died off:
http://www.cnsnews.com/public/Content/Article.aspx?rsrcid=50445
Olbermann, Maher and Stewart are always gong to be at odds with corporate America. Maher, being the first casualty seems to have got the right idea.
I’ve watched Olberman since he was a sportscaster in LA in the 80 and while I loathe all sports he was so funny I’d watch. He’s that good.
I’m sure somewhere else would be happy to both pay him and give him some shred of journalistic integrity.
I’m not sure I believe the story that Olberman is “on vacation.”
He really thinks he’s the center of MSNBC (he got Don Abrams fired), and he’s so arrogant, he probably mouthed off when Immelt told him to cool it, and was given a suspension instead of a vacation.
Even if he does come back Monday, without being able to whine about O’Reilly, what on EARTH will he talk about? Teabagging? Palin’s womb? Hillary’s pantsuits?
He’s no journalist.