Olbermann didn't vote

[bascule]

http://gawker.com/5082235/keith-olbermann-enrages-view-ladies-by-not-voting

 

I respected Keith Olbermann to a degree, until now. He didn't vote. What a jackass.

[swansont]

I had come to that conclusion even before this.

[npts2020]

Many media talking heads routinely do not vote. One of the reasons is to supposedly maintain neutrality, like anyone would see their vote anyway. IMO personal emergency or not being eligible are the only good reasons to not vote.

[Riogho]

Maybe he realized his vote wouldn't count?

[bascule]

One of the reasons is to supposedly maintain neutrality

 

I don't think Olbermann likes to pretend he's neutral, unlike, say, Bill O'Reilly...

[Pangloss]

Olbermann was a "JA" when he was a deadpan comedic sports reader for ESPN. How he made the transition to mainstream journalism (such as it is) is still beyond me.

 

The surprising thing is, some journalists really are neutral and consider that an important aspect of their profession. It's not as if they don't have opinions or that they don't vote, it's just that they consider it important to maintain objectivity in order to avoid bias in their reporting.

 

Unfortunately these journalists are difficult to identify (or more accurately, for everyone to agree with such identification), and perhaps even more unfortunately, seem to be a dying breed. The news industry has now fully embraced the concept of reporter-slash-analyst.