Rapid City TV anchor, taken off air after speech to tea party rally, quits

We reported last month that a TV news anchor in Rapid City, S.D., had been suspended from on-air work after making a featured speech at an April 15 tea party rally. Now Shad Olson has resigned, "to pursue hosting a radio talk show and to work as a paid political consultant," reports Kevin Woster of the Rapid City Journal. "He has begun a new Web site, shadolsonshow.com, which he said reflects the philosophy and content of the planned radio show."

KOTA news director John Petersen told the newspaper that some of Olson’s supporters were confused about the extent of the suspension. "Initially both Petersen and Olson indicated that they expected him to return to the anchor spot," Woster writes. "KOTA didn’t require news employees to sign an ethics policy before Olson’s suspension. Now the station will require it and public speaking at political events will clearly be deemed out of bounds, Petersen said." (Read more)