KO! Cable rantings boost ratings

[babylonsister]

http://www.usatoday.com/life/columnist/mediamix/2006-09-24-media-mix_x.htm

snip//

Sketches on O'Lielly, Dobbs, Grace, and Olbermann



Keith Olbermann, MSNBC

•Background: Former NBC and ESPN sports anchor, Olbermann, 47, has hosted Countdown with Keith Olbermann (8 ET/5 PT) since 2003.

•Why rants work on cable: "By 8 p.m., 90 out of 100 people already know nearly everything I'm going to tell them, thus an analysis or even a forecast on upcoming events seems to work. You can't really put on a 'traditional newscast' anymore, certainly not on cable. And to some degree a fervently expressed opinion is going to be good TV one way or another."

•Recent tirade: On Aug. 30, Olbermann responded to a speech in which Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld warned that the USA is fighting "a new type of fascism" akin to the Nazis, and that any "moral or intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong" in the battle with terrorists could weaken society. Says Olbermann: "I reject the idea that dissent or disagreement or questioning of the official interpretation of events (is) comparable to appeasing the Nazis. If somebody tells me that's who I am by asking questions, my automatic response is to ask more questions."

•Why he won't rant nightly: "Howard Beale (the "I'm not going to take this anymore!" anchor in Network) would come to me and say, 'Back off a little, pal.' " Olbermann's four "special comments" since Aug. 30 have driven ratings up 33% to 495,000. "You can't do it every night. It becomes insincere; people who do it become caricatures of themselves."

[Berry Cool]

1. Thanks for running this.

The photos run..."from the ridiculous to the sublime."

[varkam]

2. I think it's more of a...

pick which one doesn't belong type of thing.