It is outrageous that General Electric/MSNBC would suspend Keith Olbermann for exercising his constitutional rights to contribute to a candidate of his choice. This is a real threat to political discourse in America and will have a chilling impact on every commentator for MSNBC.
We live in a time when 90 percent of talk radio is dominated by right-wing extremists, when the Republican Party has its own cable network (Fox) and when progressive voices are few and far between.
At a time when the ownership of Fox news contributed millions of dollars to the Republican Party, when a number of Fox commentators are using the network as a launching pad for their presidential campaigns and are raising money right off the air, it is absolutely unacceptable that MSNBC suspended one of the most popular progressive commentators in the country.
Is Rachel Maddow or Ed Schultz next? Is this simply a 'personality conflict' within MSNBC or is one of America's major corporations cracking down on a viewpoint they may not like? Whatever the answer may be, Keith Olbermann should be reinstated immediately and allowed to present his point of view.
UPDATE VIA TWITTER #1:
@senatorsanders @KeithOlbermann Keep the faith. We'll do everything we can to get you back on the air ASAP. Your strong progressive voice is missed.
UPDATE VIA TWITTER #2:
@senatorsanders Congratulations to the hundreds of thousands of #progressives who took on Big Media demanding that #KeithOlbermann be reinstated. #msnbc
Follow Sen. Bernie Sanders on Twitter: www.twitter.com/senatorsanders
I guess not.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/128175-sanders-wants-halt-to-comcast-nbc-deal-after-olbermann-suspension
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he would look to block a merger between NBC and Comcast, citing the decision last week by MSNBC to suspend liberal anchor Keith Olbermann.
Sanders said Comcast's attempt to acquire NBC from General Electric would result in "another media giant run by a Republican supporter of George W. Bush."
The Vermont senator, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, has loudly criticized MSNBC's suspension of Olbermann last week for violating company policies when he donated to three Democratic candidates. The suspension was imposed Friday, and Olbermann will be back on the air Tuesday night.
Sanders expressed concern that the precedent set by that suspension would result in MSNBC becoming more like Fox News, which is part of the Newscorp empire run by Rupert Murdoch. Liberals complain the coverage by many Newscorp properties tilts to the right, mirroring many of Murdoch's own opinions.
The senator pointed to Comcast's COO Stephen B. Burke's history as a major fundraiser for former President George W. Bush as a reason why the deal, which has drawn criticism from other lawmakers for different reasons, should be blocked.
There is nothing more dangerous to democracy than the near monopoly that a very few corporations have of the media. They are the real media gatekeepers and they determine who and what is heard and seen by the American public and who and what is not.
The biggest threat we have in political discourse are the right wing screamers who are allowed to spew their dogma as fact for 12 hours every day. I don't have a problem with people distorting the truth as long as they are exposed in the end. Talk radio and TV needs to offer the same transparency that food and tobacco companies have now. The corporations who offer the media rants need to be held repsonsible for fact and truth checking. Somewhere in the packaging the public needs to see what is real and what is propaganda. I want my leftie buds to be just a accountable.
"The gentleman is correct in sitting!" Love it.
(Not supposed to be sarcstic, don't know why it looks that way.)