Friday, November 5, 2010

Petition and Letters to NBC and MSNBC on behalf of Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann's regrettable suspension could not have been more timely, as far as my earlier post goes. Rather than say anything more on it here, I'll just share with you the letters I wrote to Phil Griffin of MSNBC, and to Steve Capus, President of NBC News, since they make my point succinctly:

Dear Mr. Capus,

I think it is only fair that I share with you this letter that I sent to Phil Griffin earlier today. But I have additional comments now, having read this article below, which seems to reveal a double standard at work here.

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4192

It seems, from this reporting, that even though Keith Olbermann is clearly an opinion journalist and commentator, just like Joe Scarborough, you are applying a different standard to Mr. Olbermann.

Something here STINKS. It is clear that NBC and MSNBC either have a political or a personal agenda at work here.

The first report of Mr. Olbermann's suspension by Mr. Griffin was enough to warrant a boycott of MSNBC. As the day has gone on, and more reports come out after the other, revealing NBC's and MSNBC's blatant hypocrisy, the demand to boycott NBC as a whole seems in order.

I believe that unless steps are made by you and others at MSNBC to handle this matter more professionally, and not with the clear bias that is being projected, it will become necessary to not only boycott your networks, but to also begin a campaign to contact your advertisers and demand they pull advertising form your network, or face boycotts of their products.

Mr. Capus, your network–specifically, Mr. Griffin–has acted irresponsibly in this matter, and actions to remedy this situation are demanded.

Sincerely,
Jake Barlow


Mr. Griffin,

Congratulations on your major step in driving MSNBC into irrelevancy, if not oblivion. Your suspension of Keith Olbermann for not reporting donations to Democrats–something which NBC by law could not prohibit–smacks of utter stupidity, and seems entirely politically motivated.

Regardless of your reasons, you should be fired simply for being so stupid as to willfully disenfranchise an untold number of viewers–viewers like me–who will undoubtedly be boycotting MSNBC because of your actions in this matter.

While Fox celebrates its donation of $1 million dollars to GOP governors, you suspend the one person who almost single-handedly saved MSNBC from Fox's onslaught just a few years ago for a nearly insignificant matter of not reporting donations prior to making them. Stupid does not begin to describe your behavior.

Good luck with keeping your job.

Sincerely,
Jake Barlow

We'll see if anything happens, but in the meanwhile, you can help out by signing this petition.

blog comments powered by Disqus