MSNBC president Phil Griffin said in a statement, according to the Huffington Post, “I became aware of Keith’s political contributions late last night. Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay.”
Earlier today, Politico reported the news anchor contributed to three Democratic campaigns before Tuesday’s election. He donated the maximum legal donations of $2,400 each to Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and to Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords.
Olbermann stepped on his employer’s toes, Politico found: “NBC has a rule against employees contributing to political campaigns, and a wide range of news organizations prohibit political contributions — considering it a breach of journalistic independence to contribute to the candidates they cover.”
Olbermann defended his donation, HuffPost says: “I did not privately or publicly encourage anyone else to donate to these campaigns nor to any others in this election or any previous ones, nor have I previously donated to any political campaign at any level.”
Apparently, it was the journalist’s failure to alert his superiors about the donations that earned him the suspension, not the donations themselves.
MSNBC is branding Olbermann as a key face in its new “Lean Forward” marketing campaign,
