Keith Olbermann’s Guide to Surviving the Media Coverage of Donald Trump

[cal04]

One hundred-and-twelve days into my career as a sportscaster-turned-newsman, Monica Lewinsky and Bill Clinton were dropped on top of me with no advance notice. One morning I’m in Los Angeles headed to the set of “Third Rock From The Sun” to interview John Lithgow and prepare for the following weekend’s Super Bowl; that afternoon I’m doing a talk-back with Tim Russert about how the president might have to resign.

The next 228 shows are all about Clinton and Lewinsky. Except for those that are about Lewinsky and Clinton. We do an hour each night, whether there’s news or not. Then we debut another live hour. Sometimes a third. Each time I tell the audience that the coverage of the saga is overwrought or unjustifiable the ratings go up. Each time I publicly beg to leave or change the subject the ratings go up further. My hair begins to turn gray and I begin to look even more like a news anchor and the ratings go up again.

If I could survive all that, you can survive the coverage of Donald Trump, on television, radio, the Internet, the blogs, the sites, and what I’m sure you’ll swear by now is a little receiver drilled directly into your skull while you were sleeping.

1. STOP ASKING “WHY ARE THEY COVERING TRUMP ALL THE EFFING TIME?”
They’re doing it for the money.

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/03/keith-olbermanns-guide-to-surviving-media-coverage-of-donald-trump-213751#ixzz43aPrTPdF

[elleng]

1. Thanks, Keith.

We miss you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. I still think he is underestimating the chances of Trump getting elected

and he is correct to a point.

As far as the MSM is concerned, they want Trump elected, Not the reporters, the board rooms. It's good for ratings.

[PatrynXX]

9. Fairly sure of that

as many are. there has to be major differences between 2 candidates and you need the independents with you. Right now they love Bernie, can't wait to vote for him Hillary probably not at the moment. Got 2 people , both have high disapproval numbers and have won the same states. Right now give Trump a 60 % chance of winning Hillary 40 % Bernie? 50/50 and it all has to do with Independents

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Independents are hot taken into account by many partisans

we are just the king makers.

[PatrynXX]

12. I used to be one so I sorta think like one

2004 brought me in though I usually voted Democrat I'm not Left or Right and I'm both Left and Right. Mostly lean left though

[phleshdef]

3. LOL, I read the whole thing with Keith's voice in my head. He needs to get back in the game.

[JonLeibowitz]

4. I miss Keith. He would have instant credibility if he returned to the air.

[Nyan]

7. He has credibility. He even tried to tell the truth every now and then,

which is why he's not coming back. Brian Williams, on the other hand, had no problem coming back.

[JonLeibowitz]

8. I wanted Brian Williams to replace JS on the Daily Show. He'd be better than the hack we have now.

[longship]

5. Wow! KO, we miss you so badly!

What a great opinion piece.

The quoted text, above, is just the warm-up, the on bat circle (as Keith might term it), of the rest of the article. The rest is a grand slam home run (to stretch the analogy into the seventh inning, so to speak -- pun intended). After this election, hopefully we'll all be singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and not the insidious "God Bless America". Keith would undoubtedly agree.

R&

Welcome back to the monkey house, Keith! (Okay, okay!! That was a Kurt Vonnegut allusion. My bad.)

[bbgrunt]

6. Oh how I miss Keith!

"From networks to the net, the mantra “If it bleeds, it leads” has been replaced by “If it’s Trump, the numbers jump.”

[Dr. Xavier]

10. Hate to say it because he's one of the best,

but he should have stuck with sports.

[jwirr]

13. Keith is really good on this one. As usual. I wish he was

back permanently.