Olbermann acknowledged to NBC that he donated $2,400 apiece to the campaigns of Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway and Arizona Reps. Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords.
NBC News prohibits its employees from working on, or donating to, political campaigns unless a special exception is granted by the news division president - effectively a ban. The website Politico first reported the donations.
"I became aware of Keith's political contributions late last night," Phil Griffin, MSNBC's chief executive, said Friday. "Mindful of NBC News policy and standards, I have suspended him indefinitely without pay."
In a statement, Olbermann said he had made the Arizona contributions on Oct. 28 after a discussion with a friend about that state's politics. "I did not privately or publicly encourage anyone 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," the host of "Countdown" said.
Olbermann's on-the-air transformation from the host of a straight news program to a liberal commentator led MSNBC itself to go in the same direction, filling its prime-time lineup with left-leaning hosts and doing better in the ratings than any other time since its 1996 launch.
The rise in opinionated cable news programming has called into question whether the traditional rules of news organizations to preserve the appearance of impartiality should apply to people who have their jobs in part because of a clear point of view.
Sean Hannity, a conservative radio talk show host with a popular hour on Fox News Channel each weeknight, donated $2,400 to the congressional campaign of New York Republican John Gomez in May. In August, he donated $5,000 to MichelePAC, according to the Federal Election Commission. The political action committee is associated with Minnesota Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann.
Fox's parent company, News Corp., gave $1 million this summer to the Republican Governor' Association, which helps elect GOP gubernatorial candidates nationally.
Comedy Central's Jon Stewart, interviewing Fox's Chris Wallace the day after election day, said MSNBC was like "double-A ball" in comparison to Fox.
"You can't defeat Fox by becoming what they say you are," Stewart said. "The only way you can defeat them is by an earned credibility, not an earned partisanship. They're making a mistake by becoming an equivalent to Fox rather than a brand new journalistic organization."
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
For more election-related news and information, visit our California Elections 2010 page.
This article appeared on page A - 8 of the San Francisco Chronicle
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