While the response to Keith Olbermann’s recent DailyKos diary entry focused on the MSNBC-FNC “truce,” Olbermann also stated that political commentator/corporate strategist/”Countdown” guest-host Richard Wolffe “will not be appearing with us” until the “Countdown” staff can fully understand Wolffe’s other job.
A recent Salon.com article by Glenn Greenwald questioned why and how Wolffe continues to appear as a frequent guest commentator on MSNBC after having recently left Newsweek to work for Public Strategies Inc., a corporate strategies firm. The conflict of interest is clear to Greenwald who points out that Wolffe has said: “The idea that journalists are somehow not engaged in corporate activities is not really in touch with what’s going on. Every conversation with journalists is about business models and advertisers.”
In response to the article, Olbermann blogged:
I must confess I was caught flat-footed. I do not know what the truth is; my executive producer and I have spent the last two months dealing with other things (see above) but what appears to be the truth here is certainly not what Richard told us about his non-news job.
I am confident his commentary to this point has not been compromised – he has been an insightful analyst and a great friend to this show – but until we can clarify what else he is doing, he will not be appearing with us. I apologize for not being able to prevent this unhappy set of circumstances from developing.
(h/t Mediaite)