I am very saddened to learn that Keith Olbermann will be leaving MSNBC. I couldn't sum up his importance an better than MMFA founder David Brock did, saying that "led the charge" against "conservative misinformation in prime time," and "showed there was a market for progressive views on cable news." Of all the opinion shown on Cable, and in the media in General, Countdown was arguably the one that most resembled actual journalism, the way it is supposed to be practiced, and his practice of criticising democrats and President Obama inarguably sets him apart from the "Left-Wing version of Fox" stereotype that lesser people in the media and the blogosphere would have you believe he represents.
I am curious to see if he DOES end up on CNN. That would be pretty cool; though I laugh at the statement that it would "mean a dramatic shift in the network's determined nonpartisan stance. I think it would be more accurate to say that it would "represent a return to balance, and an end to their leaning to the right." Hey, CNN: "Balance" isn't worth anything if it means you've got to let a Conservative Lie, because you've featured a Liberal telling the truth!" In any case, it would be nice to have another major Cable network featuring a strong, popular, and professional Liberal voice. (It would kind of poke a hole or two in the Right's perpetual argument about ratings and the market for Liberal opinion, huh?) And I'm sure Rachael Maddow will do fine taking over his spot at MSNBC. She's a great talent and actually, even a bit funnier than Keith. I will miss the "Worst Person in the World" segments though. That has been my favorite two-minutes of television every week for the past few years now! (Even if I missed the show, I'd tune in at the end, just to see that. And if I missed it, I'd faithfully check the transcipts online the next day.)
Another thing I gleaned from this article was about Keith being "hard to work with." The example they give is his leaving MSNBC in the late 1990's because his bosses wanted him to do more about the absurd, non-story that was the Clinton "scandal." I guess "hard to work with" is a euphemism for "principled and independent." Like I said: More than any other opiner, what Keith does most closely resembles ACTUAL JOURNALISM. I've NEVER seen him do PROPAGANDA, I challenge ANYONE on the Right to prove me wrong.
Anyway, Keith? You will be missed, but I'll be sure to tune in wherever you end up. Keep speaking truth to power, and never lose that principled, independent streak you've got. It's your single greatest asset. I'd watch a "hard to work with" truth-telling over an easy-going liar ANY day. So keep fighting the good fight. There's a generation of truth-tellers waiting to follow in your footsteps.
Good night and good luck, my friend.
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A great loss for us - and for MSNBC even if they don't realize it yet. Thank goodness we still have Rachel. I'm sure Keith will resurface somewhere and all his fans will follow him there. Let's hope it's soon.
ReplyDeleteI really hate to see him go. He is the one who changed the face of MSNBC. The line-up of liberal hosts, there, which his success engineered, has literally no precedent in the history of the medium. Throughout most of the history of television, liberals have been lucky to have even a single show of that kind on the air at any given time. I liked all of the funny bits he did, I liked the way he was openly contemptuous of the celebrity crap his bosses made him cover, his "special comments" were some of the best journalistic commentary we've ever gotten out of tv. And I like him. He has always seemed like a genuinely good fellow who managed to do some good in the world while he was on the air (as in when he took to stumping for those free health-care clinics). I wish I wasn't in as bad a shape as I am; I can't really muster words to do justice to him now, damn it.
ReplyDeleteRachel can take over his slot--her show is frequently as good as and even better than Keith's--but I'm assuming that leaves Lawrence O'Donnell to take over her slot, and I really don't like his show at all (or him). I'd rather see him stay where he is, maybe give Ed Schultz the 9 p.m. slot, and hire at least two new hosts--one to take over Ed's old slot, and one to replace the repeat of Hardball at 7. Chris Matthews just sucks, and even if he didn't, would it make ANY fucking sense to air his show at 5 p.m., then repeat it only an hour later? (They also re-air it in the night--three doses of Matthews is enough to put the sternest constitution in a coma)
@Maui - Agreed, 100%
ReplyDelete@Classic - It's just MHO, but while I think Maddow is a national treasure, I find O'Donnell to be a huge bore and Shultz to alternate between boring and grating. Neither of them have 1/10 of Olbermann's or Maddow's natural wit, charisma and sense of humor. They'll need to get a new host, for sure, but I wonder if this isn't realted to the Comcast buyout.
I really hate these media monopolies.
Nine companies own the enitre media. Nine.
Thats's 90% of what's wrong with the media, rigth there! And Keith KNEW IT!
Thank you both for your comments.
Maybe Olbermann could create his own media empire (I have read the speculative press on such a thing).
ReplyDeleteI think an Olbermann station would be great. MSNBC and CNN seem to unwilling to offend in the name of actual journalism, so instead they seem to echo the everyday talking points. (Maddow and Olbermann seem to be exceptions to the rule)
The GOP and Fox News seem to have a monopoly on the narrative, and it would be pretty cool to see an Olbermann News Network (ONN). He could take the gloves off! Their slogan could be "It's ONN."
@Kevin - I love it! Here's hoping!
ReplyDeleteKeith will be missed on MSNBC and there is no doubt about that.
ReplyDeleteI think what made me mad was how little he was used in "Lean Forward" promos while that dinosaur Chris Matthews' promos seemed to shown during ever commercial block (IMHO Mathew's promos were shown the most, followed Rachel Maddow, with Olbermann and Schultz tied for third place and O'Donnell dead last), I don't know the reasons why he left or was fired. O'Donnell seemed to indicate that Olbermann was burned out (and that would be a logical guess due to all grief he has to deal with in past 2 years or so).
I do think Maddow and O'Donnell's tributes were very touching and showed a lot class. As much as I love Ed I think his message of "chill out" to left blogosphere was justified and needed to basically tell people "look I'm here, Rachel is here, Lawrence is here and we're still fighting the good fight." but wasn't very well delivered.
Anyway I hope Keith Olbermann finds a new gig somewhere real soon.