Top US broadcaster suspended over party donation

Nov 7, 2010, 17:05 GMT

Washington - MSNBC's premier liberal commentator Keith Olbermann was suspended without pay for contributing 7,200 dollars to three Democratic candidates in the recent mid-term elections.

The contributions violated network policies that frown on journalists getting involved in partisan activities that could colour their coverage of an issue, MSNBC said in a statement Saturday.

The 51-year-old's primetime programme, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, was part of the duelling partisan politics of US cable television. MSNBC's liberal voice is seen as a counterbalance to the far right polemics of conservative Fox News.

Olbermann contributed 2,400 dollars to Kentucky's Democratic Senate candidate Jack Conway, who lost against Republican Tea Party favorite Rand Paul. He donated similar amounts to two Arizona congressional candidates. One of them, Raul Grijalva, appeared on his programme on the same day he made the donation, Politico newspaper reported.

On election night, Olbermann was the lead anchor of MSNBC's election coverage, meaning he was covering races in which he had a personal interest.

Political contributions are public information in the US. The newspaper Politico first reported Olbermann's contributions.