Apparently MSNBC didn't like Olbermann critisizing the "Tribute to 9-11" during the Republican convention last week:
On the final night of the Republican convention, after MSNBC televised the party’s video "tribute to the victims of 9/11," including graphic footage of the World Trade Center attacks, Mr. Olbermann abruptly took off his journalistic hat.
"I’m sorry, it’s necessary to say this," he began. After saying that the video had exploited the memories of the dead, he directly apologized to viewers who were offended. Then, sounding like a network executive, he said it was "probably not appropriate to be shown."
In an interview on Sunday, Mr. Olbermann said that moment — and the perception that he is "not utterly neutral" — restarted months-old conversations about his role on political nights.
Thus, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews will not be anchoring MSNBC's coverage of the debates or the November 4 election night coverage.
Countdown will still be shown before the debates, as well as a special edition after the debates, but it will be Gregory who will actually anchor MSNBC's coverage, not Olbermann and Matthews.
Not surprisingly, the McCain campaign has some problems with Olbermann's coverage of Goody Sarah:
The McCain campaign has filed letters of complaint to the news division about its coverage and openly tied MSNBC to it. Tension between the network and the campaign hit an apex the day Mr. McCain announced Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate. MSNBC had reported Friday morning that Ms. Palin’s plane was enroute to the announcement and she was likely the pick. But McCain campaign officials warned the network off, with one official going so far as to say that all of the candidates on the short list were on their way — which MSNBC then reported.
Turns out, of course, Olbermann got Goody Sarah as the pick correctly, upsetting the "old guard":
Tom Brokaw and Brian Williams, the past and present anchors of "NBC Nightly News," have told friends and colleagues that they are finding it tougher and tougher to defend the cable arm of the news division, even while they anchored daytime hours of convention coverage on MSNBC and contributed commentary each evening.
Thanks, Tom. Thanks, Brian. Tireless defenders of all things Republican.
Mark another one down against truth.