Media

Yesterday NewsCorp unveiled their new subscription based iPhone app. This was apparently huge news for the people at FOX:

But at 11:00 AM Eastern Time, while MSNBC and CNN ran breaking news alerts and reported live from Cairo, Fox and Fox Business reported live from the Guggenheim Museum in Manhattan to bring viewers the unveiling ceremony for News Corp latest product, an iPad newspaper called “The Daily.” Fox News aired a full half hour of the promotional event, featuring NewsCorp chairman Rupert Murdoch giving a hard sell of his latest media foray.

After all, nothing else was going on at that time yesterday. The people in Egypt were all out singing Kum By Yah, while the people in this country basked in summer like weather and Australia had clear skies and no wind.

In other NewsCorp news, the continued new media failure of Rupert’s company hit a new high as they look to offload MySpace.

A new poll released by Public Policy Polling has found that Fox News is no longer the trusted news source:

Maybe America is waking up? Well not entirely. The poll did find that 67% of Republicans trust Fox, while only 22% of Democrats did. Fox also gets the most trust in the over 65 age group, with 48% trusting them. That number also isn’t shocking, but it is disturbing given the higher voter turn out for the 65+ age group.

Who needs Wikileaks?

At the height of the health care reform debate last fall, Bill Sammon, Fox News' controversial Washington managing editor, sent a memo directing his network's journalists not to use the phrase "public option."

Instead, Sammon wrote, Fox's reporters should use "government option" and similar phrases -- wording that a top Republican pollster had recommended in order to turn public opinion against the Democrats' reform efforts.

Journalists on the network's flagship news program, Special Report with Bret Baier, appear to have followed Sammon's directive in reporting on health care reform that evening.

Sources familiar with the situation in Fox's Washington bureau have told Media Matters that Sammon uses his position as managing editor to "slant" Fox's supposedly neutral news coverage to the right. Sammon's "government option" email is the clearest evidence yet that Sammon is aggressively pushing Fox's reporting to the right -- in this case by issuing written orders to his staff.

This really should come as no shock. Well that is no shock to people with an IQ higher than a gold fish or worm.

From the wake of the Keith Olbermann suspension comes this new bit of news:

MSNBC said Friday that it is suspending “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough for two days after he acknowledged giving eight previously unknown $500 contributions to friends and family members running for state and local offices during his tenure at the network, a violation of parent NBC’s ban on political contributions by employees without specific permission from the network president.

“I recognize that I have a responsibility to honor the guidelines and conditions of my employment, and I regret that I failed to do so in this matter,” Scarborough said in a statement. “I apologize to MSNBC and to anyone who has been negatively affected by my actions,” he said, adding that after he was made aware of some of the contributions, he called MSNBC president Phil Griffin “and agreed with Phil's immediate demand of a two-day suspension without pay.”

I wonder how much longer this rule will last? MSNBC has become more partisan over the years and they can’t expect their hosts to not give to campaigns or remember to seek “permission” for every single donation.

Earlier this week the gossip site Phawker posted an email exchange between Stu Bykofsky of the Philadelphia Daily News and Keith Olbermann. The exchange started with this email from Keith Olbermann:

“Dear Stu,

Since you’re obviously a moron, I won’t waste your time or mine writing more emails you clearly can’t understand. But I do want to correct one of the numerous errors of fact in your email: Phil Griffin did not suspend me. He doesn’t have the power or frankly the courage to do so. Once I had been (very) temporarily relieved of my duties by NBC management, Phil got on the phone to some of your fellow idiot TV columnists and tried to claim credit.

As if.

I could have Phil Griffin fired tomorrow if I felt like it, trust me. And if he keeps yapping about me in public, I may. For the moment, however, keeping Phil around is like having a drunk chimp in the office — more amusing than threatening.

Feel free to correct the record in your ‘column.’

KO”

Last night Keith Olbermann issued the following statement:

A STATEMENT TO THE VIEWERS OF COUNTDOWN

by Keith Olbermann

I want to sincerely thank you for the honor of your extraordinary and ground-rattling support. Your efforts have been integral to the remedying of these recent events, and the results should remind us of the power of individuals spontaneously acting together to correct injustices great or small. I would also like to acknowledge with respect the many commentators and reporters, including those with whom my politics do not overlap, for their support.

I also wish to apologize to you viewers for having precipitated such anxiety and unnecessary drama. You should know that I mistakenly violated an inconsistently applied rule – which I previously knew nothing about – that pertains to the process by which such political contributions are approved by NBC. Certainly this mistake merited a form of public acknowledgment and/or internal warning, and an on-air discussion about the merits of limitations on such campaign contributions by all employees of news organizations. Instead, after my representative was assured that no suspension was contemplated, I was suspended without a hearing, and learned of that suspension through the media.

By now I’m sure everyone has heard that Keith Olbermann has been suspended indefinitely from MSNBC for contributing to political campaigns without disclosing those contributions to his superiors at MSNBC.

There has been a lot of back and forth over this decision in the blogosphere and twitterverse today. I have mixed feelings on the story.

In Defense Of MSNBC

MSNBC does have a policy in place:

NBC and MSNBC TV require permission of the president of NBC News. (MSNBC.com is a joint venture of NBC Universal and Microsoft.)

"Anyone working for NBC News who takes part in civic or other outside activities may find that these activities jeopardize his or her standing as an impartial journalist because they may create the appearance of a conflict of interest.  Such activities may include participation in or contributions to political campaigns or groups that espouse controversial positions.  You should report any such potential conflicts in advance to, and obtain prior approval of, the President of NBC News or his designee."

Good:

Dear Mr. Breitbart,

We have spent the past several days trying to make clear to you your limited role as a participant in our digital town hall to be streamed on ABCNews.com and Facebook. The post on your blog last Friday created a widespread impression that you would be analyzing the election on ABC News. We made it as clear as possible as quickly as possible that you had been invited along with numerous others to participate in our digital town hall. Instead of clarifying your role, you posted a blog on Sunday evening in which you continued to claim a bigger role in our coverage. As we are still unable to agree on your role, we feel it best for you not to participate.

Sincerely,

Andrew Morse

This was a bad decision from the get go, but Breitbart has no one to blame but himself:

But now, in an utterly predictable twist, the brawling has become internal, as it were, with Breitbart battling ABC reps over what exactly his role will be and what he claims it was supposed to be. (He's published private emails to state his case.)