Olbermann Going To Current TV Channel

Olbermann heading to Al Gore’s Current TV channel: report

Raw Story- By Sahil Kapur
Tuesday, February 8th, 2011 — 9:26 am

WASHINGTON – Liberal former MSNBC star Keith Olbermann is reportedly taking his talents to Current TV, the channel led by former Vice President Al Gore and businessman Joel Hyatt.

The New York Times scooped in a story published Monday night that people “familiar with his plans pointed to a possible deal with the public affairs channel Current TV.”

Olbermann’s spokespersons and Current TV executives declined to comment to the Times but didn’t deny that a deal was pending. One source told the paper that Olbermann would have equity stake in Current TV.

Olbermann’s public relations firm said in a press release he would make the announcement regarding his next move on Tuesday in a private news conference.

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What Role Did Comcast Play In Keith Olbermann’s Suspension?–UPDATED

What Role Did Comcast Play in Keith Olbermann’s Suspension?–UPDATED

Crooks and Liars- By karoli

November 05, 2010 12:14 PM

There is a double standard at work with regard to Keith Olbermann’s suspension, not only between other personalities appearing on MSNBC as commentators, but also at the very top level of the food chain.

Comcast now owns is about MSNBC after their acquisition was completed earlier this year is approved (and it will be, I’m sure), despite protestations from many of us. A look at campaign finance disclosures for several organizations shows that Phil Anschutz, chairman of Comcast major shareholder and content partner with Comcast, donated large sums of money to the First Amendment Alliance, one of the largest outside groups targeting Democrats in the 2010 midterm elections.

The Anschutz Corporation, wholly owned by Phil Anschutz, gave $50,000 on 9/24/2010 to the First Amendment Alliance. The two candidates targeted by the First Amendment Alliance? Jack Conway and Michael Bennet.

Keith Olbermann gave to Jack Conway’s campaign along with Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords.

In addition, the Anschutz family donated $169,900 to Republican candidates and committees during the 2010 election cycle, according to Open Secrets.

Additionally, Comcast Corporation has contributed $125,000 to the Republican Governors’ Association in the 2010 cycle (as of 9/30/2010).

There’s been a lot of chatter about MSNBC policy, and whether Olbermann should have gotten advance approval for his donations to Jack Conway, Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords on October 28th. The policy I’ve seen reads like this:

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.“

That language clearly says “should” and not “must”. Further, anyone who thinks Keith Olbermann is an impartial journalist should have their head examined. He’s not, never has been, never will be, and is not presented as one.

But it leaves this question lingering for me: How is it that the parent corporation of NBC and chairman of that corporation, Pat Buchanan and Joe Scarborough are accorded First Amendment rights to political speech and Keith Olbermann is not?

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Olbermann: LA Times Reports Extremist Links Uncovered As Suspect Was In Air -(VIDEO)- 01/06/10

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Maddow And Olbermann Slam Fox News…

Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann Slam Fox News Propaganda About Their Meeting with Obama

AlterNet. Posted October 27, 2009.

The commentators point out that liberals could not get an invitation to meet with President Bush to save their lives, while Obama meets with liberals and conservatives.

Recently Fox news commentators pointed to a meeting between President Obama and liberal commentators including Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann as evidence that the President has a special — and unfair — relationship with left-leaning media. In the segment below, Maddow and Olbermann hit back, pointing to out that unlike Bush, who invited only conservative media stars to the White House, Obama has met with both liberals and conservatives. Transcript below:

RACHEL MADDOW: Since Mr. Olbermann and I have been brought into this story by FOX News in this national story of White House versus FOX News, FOX News has decided to bring us into it, let‘s set the record straight here on what‘s being alleged and how the presidential — how various presidential administrations handle the media.

I have been in national talk radio since 2004. And during the Bush administration, I tried many times to get myself invitations to the White House when they held White House availabilities for administration staff or even meetings with the president for talk radio hosts. And although these meetings were billed as talk radio meetings, just talk radio meetings, they were always, in practice, during the Bush administration, exclusively for right-wing talk radio hosts. So, I could never get an invitation, much to my chagrin.

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UPDATE: American Police Force Hardin Montana

APF Reveals Little Information

By Nick Lough & Katie Ussin

Story Published: Sep 28, 2009 at 7:53 PM MDT

Story Updated: Sep 29, 2009 at 10:00 AM MDT
Multimedia

BILLINGS – Confusion and secrecy about American Police Force has grown during the last few weeks.

“APF has been here for 10 months but it has never been stealth,” said APF spokesperson Becky Shay at a press conference on Saturday morning. The group announced its plans to fill the $27 million dollar detention facility and build a police training center next to the jail. While they gave details for the site, other questions went unanswered.

Where will the prisoners come from? What experience does APF have in prisoners and training police officers? Why was Two Rivers Authority Executive Director Greg Smith placed on administrative leave?

During the press conference APF also refused to release any information on its funding or organization “The decision is the name of the parent company will not be released,” said Shay.

When questioned about the decision to show up in Hardin last week in vehicles with “Hardin Police” templates, members were brief in their explanation. “They are to show are intentions are good,” said APF leader Captain Michael Hilton. “Why not put an APF logo on it,” said Shay. “You know we’re getting there.” All of the decals were removed from the vehicles two days later.

APF has consistently stated the community has nothing to fear and says its plans will help stimulate the Hardin economy. “This corporation’s intention is to buy local and stay local and do local business as much as we can,” said Shay.

Residents appear split in their feelings over the company. Some want more information, but others believe it will be a tremendous boost to the area. The company plans to hold a job fair in Hardin the third week of October.

Another development this weekend was the naming of Shay as APF’s new public relations director. Shay was a reporter with the Billings Gazette who had covered the detention facility story for last few years. She announced on Friday she was leaving the paper and hosted the APF press conference Saturday morning.

Be sure to check out comments on this…
~More~

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Olbermann: Torture Accountability- 4/16/09 (VIDEO & TRANSCRIPT)

Olbermann: Future Of The U.S. Depends On Torture Accountability (VIDEO)

MSNBC.com |   April 16, 2009 at 09:40 PM

In his special comment tonight, Keith Olbermann takes on the release of the torture memos, praising President Obama for daring to release “the dirty laundry” but criticizing him for not laying blame.

Olbermann stressed the importance of torture accountability, emphasizing that it was Obama’s responsibility to make sure that this “painful chapter” is not repeated.

VIDEO AND TRANSCRIPT HERE

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Whistleblower: NSA Spied On Everyone (VIDEO)

Whistleblower: NSA spied on everyone, targeted journalists

Raw Story- David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Wednesday January 21, 2009

Former National Security Agency analyst Russell Tice, who helped expose the NSA’s warrantless wiretapping in December 2005, has now come forward with even more startling allegations. Tice told MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann on Wednesday that the programs that spied on Americans were not only much broader than previously acknowledged but specifically targeted journalists.

“The National Security Agency had access to all Americans’ communications — faxes, phone calls, and their computer communications,” Tice claimed. “It didn’t matter whether you were in Kansas, in the middle of the country, and you never made foreign communications at all. They monitored all communications.”

Tice further explained that “even for the NSA it’s impossible to literally collect all communications. … What was done was sort of an ability to look at the metadata … and ferret that information to determine what communications would ultimately be collected.”

According to Tice, in addition to this “low-tech, dragnet” approach, the NSA also had the ability to hone in on specific groups, and that was the aspect he himself was involved with. However, even within the NSA there was a cover story meant to prevent people like Tice from realizing what they were doing.

MORE HERE

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Olbermann: “Crazy Vice-President Gate” 1-5-09 (VIDEO)

Olbermann: ‘Fatuous, condescending lunatic’ Cheney failed to prevent 9/11

Raw Story- David Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Tuesday January 6, 2009

The eight years of Dick Cheney’s memorable vice-presidency will be over and done with two weeks from now, but MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann remains determined to get in his parting shots at “Crazy Vice-President Gate.”

On Monday, Olbermann found his opportunity in Cheney’s remarks on Face the Nation when asked whether we are better off than eight years ago.

“I think we’ve done some very good things in the course of the last eight years,” Cheney replied. “Defending the country against further terrorist attacks like 9/11 I think’s a major accomplishment, for example.”

Olbermann was clearly offended by Cheney’s claim that preventing another 9/11 meant the nation was now better off than before 9/11, but it was the remarks which followed that really got him steamed.

“There’s no question about what the new administration … are going to have their hands full with,” Cheney went on to say. “The new set of problems, if you will, centered especially on the economy … just as our task when we came in was ultimately to deal with the aftermath of 9/11.”

“Listen, you fatuous, condescending lunatic,” Olbermann erupted. “Your task was not to deal with the aftermath of 9/11 — it was to prevent 9/11.”

“And if you utterly whiffed,” concluded Olbermann, “on the most important test of all the presidencies in your lifetime, Mr. Cheney, you do not get credit for getting a C on the pop quizzes that followed.”

This video is from MSNBC’s Countdown, broadcast Jan. 5, 2008.

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