Keith Olbermann: Jump!

Victim energy is tedious. Hillary played the Clinton victim-blame card one too many times and, predictably, her presidential house of cards collapsed.

Now, The Little Boy Who Cried Wolffe over at MSNBC is having the same effect on his flock. Olbermann set himself up for ridicule by me and others after blaming his dead mommy for somehow missing the memo on Newsweek reporter and Olbermann talking head Richard Wolffe's new PR gig with a former Bush operative.

Freelance writer and Olbermann fan Jonathan Berr, stung after Olbermann lashed out at him for a critical column, is back:

Although it brought me no pleasure to criticize one of my favorite on-air personalities, I felt that -- as Olbermann so often demonstrates -- a moral structure must be maintained, particularly when it is most difficult to do so... Olbermann has analysts and a management team on staff. While it is certainly possible that they missed Wolffe's decision to work with a PR firm, this doesn't seem very likely. After all, as I previously mentioned, Wolffe and Public Strategies were both very open about the hiring. Wolffe even wrote about the job in his Daily Beast posts.

This issue goes beyond a petty squabble about cable TV news. Many reporters, like Wolffe, have parlayed their media expertise into lucrative consulting careers. Moreover, as more and more media outlets close their doors, this problem will only grow. A few years ago, the Public Relations Society of America addressed it by issuing a Professional Standards Advisory. It states, in part, that "The Code requires honesty and accuracy in all communications, and requires members to reveal the sponsors for causes and interests they represent and any financial interest they or their clients may have in the outcome of events or individual decisions."

These strictures are far from accidental: the code was a direct response to a scandal in which the Bush administration paid commentators to shill for the No Child Left Behind law. At that time, Olbermann -- among others -- was justifiably incensed about Bush's transgression. Unfortunately, however, the Olbermann/Wolffe affair fails to live up to standards of the code, not to mention the ethical standards that Olbermann so aggressively defends.... Olbermann's viewers -- including me -- are used to a certain level of integrity and a certain level of honor. If he intends to maintain his position as a proud spokesperson for truth and morality, then he needs to focus on maintaining those standards in his own house. Mistakes happen; however, shifting blame to producers and "Jonathan Berr, whoever he is" is not the way to rectify them.