A Hit Job on Keith Olbermann

[NYCGirl]

from Salon's editor, Joan Walsh:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/walsh/2007/05/07/olbermann/index.html

EXCERPT (more at above link):

The Associated Press ran an outrageous story over the weekend, reporting that the Rudy Giuliani campaign complained to MSNBC about Keith Olbermann's anchoring the network's Republican debate coverage May 3. That wasn't the worst outrage, to me. I wasn't surprised that the thin-skinned Giuliani complained about Olbermann's debate-anchor role preemptively (after an Olbermann commentary blasted the former New York mayor for saying Democrats wouldn't fight terror if they won the White House). All candidates can be expected to play the refs to try to improve their media coverage, and the article revealed that other unnamed GOP candidates, not just the whiny Giuliani, also complained about Olbermann.

What bothered me most was the entire premise of the AP article, which depicted Olbermann as a polarizing partisan television hack equivalent to Fox's Bill O'Reilly. Near the end of the piece came a mind-blowing summary by writer David Bauder:

-snipped-

I looked at several versions of the story that ran on other sites, to see if that was a quote from an Olbermann critic or a Fox flack for which the attribution somehow got dropped. But no, it came from Bauder himself, an ironic outburst in an article decrying the way Olbermann has blended commentary with news reporting. In fact, the only source quoted in the piece criticizing MSNBC and Olbermann is Brent Bozell's ultra-right-wing Media Research Center. This story belonged on MRC's NewsBusters site, not in the AP. (Oh, and predictably, they loved it over there.) Setting up Olbermann as O'Reilly's counterpart is deeply unfair and dishonest.

The ways that Olbermann differs from O'Reilly are too many to count here. First and foremost, he doesn't run jihads against his enemies (well, except maybe Bill O'Reilly); he doesn't invite people he disagrees with onto his show only to shout at and humiliate them; he rarely rants, and when he does, he labels it "commentary." His "Countdown" is an opinionated take on the day's top five stories that owes more to "The Daily Show" and "Best Week Ever" than the Nation. He is indeed a Bush critic, but I haven't found him to be a Democratic partisan. (I edited Olbermann briefly when he wrote for Salon, and knew him to be passionate and hardworking but not ideologically driven; his time here is best remembered for his remarkable "ESPN: Mea Culpa," apologizing for the perfectionism and insecurity that led to clashes with co-workers and ultimately to his departure from the station.) Certainly as an anchor, he's far less partisan than Fox's dark Brit Hume, known for regular slurs against Democrats. To compare Olbermann to Hume would be unfair; to compare him to O'Reilly is disgraceful.

[aquart]

1. Bauder wishes he had Olbermann's contract and ratings?

Jealousy is such an ugly thing.

[pacalo]

2. Republics don't like having a mirror held up in front of them.

Keith's only crime is refusing to be a corporate cheerleader for this corrupt administration. The fact that his broadcasts are the exception in today's news industry is what makes him a target. He simply points out their outrageousness & the Rethugs can't handle the truth getting out to the public.

Go, Keith!

[AuntPatsy]

3. It was a matter of time, Olberman's ratings are higher which means

he is reaching too vast of an audience and is now seen as a threat to the powers that be..

[NYCGirl]

5. The downside of reaching more people, I guess. NT

[OneBlueSky]

4. standard operating procedure . . . the neo-cons do a hit job on ANYONE . . .

bold enough to tell the American people the truth . . . I mean, that's just not DONE in their circles, don'tcha know . . . telling the truth, I mean . . .

[spooky3]

6. here's the biggest difference, DB: KEITH DOESN'T LIE!

k&r

[Kurovski]

7. K&R. (nt)