Richard Wolffe "Will Not Be Appearing With Us" Until Conflict Sorted Out: Olbermann

MSNBC has responded to the claims that Richard Wolffe, who works as a strategist for Washington public affairs firm Public Strategies Inc. and who guest-hosted "Countdown" while Keith Olbermann was away, has a conflict of interest and shouldn't appear on air as a host or an analyst.

Salon blogger Glenn Greenwald wrote of Wolffe's dual role:

This is a conflict so severe that it's incurable by disclosure: who wouldn't realize that you can't present paid corporate hacks as objective political commentators? But the fact that they don't even bother to disclose that just serves to illustrate how non-existent is the line between corporate interests and "news reporting" in the United States.

Keith Olbermann returned from vacation Monday and responded promptly to Greenwald's claim. In a diary on the Daily Kos, Olbermann wrote:

I honor Mr. Greenwald's insight into the coverage of GE/NewsCorp talks, and his reporting on Richard's other jobs. I must confess I was caught flat-footed. I do not know what the truth is; my executive producer and I have spent the last two months dealing with other things (see above) but what appears to be the truth here is certainly not what Richard told us about his non-news job.

I am confident his commentary to this point has not been compromised - he has been an insightful analyst and a great friend to this show - but until we can clarify what else he is doing, he will not be appearing with us. I apologize for not being able to prevent this unhappy set of circumstances from developing.

NBC News has admitted an error in failing to disclose Wolffe's ties, telling Politico, "We should have disclosed Richard's connection to Public Strategies. We will do so in the future." The spokesman added, "Richard has assured us that he does not offer commentary about any of his clients or their interests."

Comments

[judeone]

I want Richard Wolfe back on Keith's show asap,he is one of the smartest people I have ever seen,bring him back NOW!!!!!

[lukebenward]

Note: Dana Millbank never came back.

[mailmaamsongbird]

I always look forward to the part of the show that includes Richard's insight. I didn't think he did a great job as a guest host as he basically read the script without injecting his awesome personality. Having said that, though, I do hope they bring him back soon as he always adds a great deal to the show and his knowledge and insight are always right on target.

[herrick]

Interesting to me that when a commentator at a liberal current events show is called out for conflict of interest, the network and management pulls him off the air and makes statements about changing disclosures in the future. Seems a pity that conservative media outlets have no such ethics. If so, an MSNBC competitor's ranks would be winnowed to the bone.

[BOin08]

Richard Wolfe can't be back for one reason-he lied. He purposely misled MSNB and Keith Olbermann about his loyalties. Blinded by Richard's 'yes-man' persona MSNBC failed to do a proper background check and handed over Keith's nightly audience to a corporate shill. Investigative journalist they are not.

[watchTVgetSTUPID]

Replace him with Arianna

Problem solved

[Sioen]

I'm confused as to why a "corporate hack" can't be on the TV news.

ALL of TV news is owned, managed, programmed and run by the largest corporate hacks in the world.

I'd call that a giant conflict of interest.

[herrick]

Exactly. These are current events entertainment shows. Not news shows.

[TheAbidingDude]

Richard is a very good analyst and I wonder if MSNBC realizes they are not a news provider with Olberman, Maddow, Matthews and Morning Joe but rather a commentary center. That's no different than the Fox lineup Lou Dobbs and others.

Increasingly the public discourse is best served through the Newspapers, Personal research, the web (with great care) , NPR/PRI and the Daily Show.

The days of Cronkite , Murrow are gone and news business is more like the movie "Network" with the emphasis on "Entertainment" rather than enlightenment.

So make the disclosure and let's also hold all guests to the same standard identifying them as "Conservative" or "Liberal" or "Corporate" or "Wingnut" mouthpieces.

[ck21114]

ahhh. I'm confused - does MSNBC think it's fooling us with journalism ethics?

Countdown is a liberal and biased news commentary show that highlights "the worst person in the world", smears people who disagree with the host's/ MSNBC political view and puts a left spin on the daily news events of the day. So what - Wolfe is taking money for someone else. Everyone who appears on the show has an agenda -- why shouldn't they profit a bit. This is the media we deserve.

I watch Olbermann regularly for just reasons because it's great entertainment. What he does is not journalism - it's commentary and entertainment. He may ascribe to higher ideals and his post above shows he thinks he's doing something more. Too bad.

[sales67]

I regularly watch Keith Olberman's show and I never felt/heard Richard Wolffe present anything other than insightful comments about the news of the day.

[ibsteve2u]

And here I thought the giant multinational corporations bought media outlets so that they can improve American culture.

[SlappHappy]

The Wolffe is at the door -- bye bye Dickie.

[mad1nola]

Richard's great! Love seeing and hearing him on KO. Hopefully, they'll get this sorted out and he'll be back soon.

[pmag88]

I listened to an audio recording of a tv spot on the Thom Hartman radio show today. It was an add that CNN refused to air. Thom played it twice and I didn't find anything in the spot that would seem at all objectionable by any fair or rational standard. Thom did say something about Lou Dobbs being mentioned in the spot, but the spot he played - (twice) - made no mention of Lou Dobbs whatsoever. I'd like to see more coverage about exactly what type of political adds CNN will or won't air. That would be very illuminating in this current debate on health care reform.

[Sioen]

What would you expect such coverage to illuminate? I can tell you without doing any additional research: CNN won't run ads that significantly threaten the profitability of its advertisers or corporate siblings.

That was easy. But it wasn't anything we didn't know before.

[cycodad]

Richard Wolffe is a good person,a very good analyst and very insightful in his views. Hurry back...my man we miss you.