A Moment of Truth Missed

Keith Olbermann did not mention the James Cramer-Jon Stewart smack down on tonight’s Countdown, although supposedly Rachel Maddow made a brief reference to it on her show.

In comments to a Daily KOS diary (see below) Keith discounted on the rumor that MSNBC news producers were told not to touch the story as Cramer is a CNBC personality. Keith also mentioned other things related to the decision not to mention this story. In response, I wrote the following comment which I reprint below: 

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Keith, I have the greatest respect for you 

Because I do, I devote at least 2-3 hours each weekday writing a blog OlberBlogging about your show and other topics of interest to your loyal Countdown audience (www.olberblogging.com)

To me you are a paragon of journalism integrity and class.

But, my friend, on the Cramer-Stewart story, you blew it.

I wrote in OlberBlogging today just how important the Cramer-Stewart smack down is. You pointed to John McCain’s lying to David Letterman as a moment when the 2008 general election turned. In the same vein, the Cramer-Stewart broadcast served as a turning point for broadcast news. Many times, you criticized other journalists for failing to investigate the Bush Administration’s deceit that led us into the Iraqi war, the Plume outing, domestic covet spying, among other issues. The lack of coverage of our nation’s economic crisis serves as another reminder of journalism’s failure today.

Jon Stewart’s fury mirrored the American public’s  and your viewers’ outrage toward the traditional Fourth Estate’s coverage of not only this financial mess but the entire Bush Administration.  We saw Jon Stewart not as a “Keith Olbermann parody” as much as a “Keith Olbermann surrogate,” who fought the good fight for us all, spoke truth not only to Cramer but to the news media itself. That Stewart is not a journalism professional nor, as you write that there is “no interaction between his show and mine.” makes Stewart’s remarks even more impressive.

Your devoted viewers and this stalwart blogger expected you and/or Rachel to carry the mantle, to give Stewart a shout out for his hard-hitting questions and comments. Because he aimed them at a member of the NBC Universal family, contributed to our belief that you of anyone on MSNBC would at least mention the brouhaha.

And, we are extremely disappointed that you chose not to do so. Here’s what I wrote about you in my blog entry:

The Cramer-Stewart exchange contains a message for our adored Keith Olbermann. Keith’s background mixes sports and straight news coverage. Sports reporting may be as difficult, dangerous and as journalistic as hard news, but not all people recognize it as such.

Countdown, but not to the extent of Mad Money, also melds news with entertainment, although some would question the journalistic integrity of WPITW or “Puppet Theater” or his Bill-O feud or “Pirate Rupert” impersonations. Some, perhaps even Jon Stewart who never invited KO on The Daily Show, may view Keith solely as the left’s answer to Sean Hannity or Bill-O. Keith, with the Countdown format and his parallel sports-news universe, walks a journalist tight rope at times….

Keith truly became the first TV commentator with the guts to speak truth to the Bush Administration on a regular basis. His Special Comments not only raise questions about the actions and intentions of those in power particularly Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush, but the Special Comments read as literary essays in themselves. No other TV commentator writes with such passion, precision and panache. While Keith’s comments are often parody fodder, he is listened to by those who count and they’ve made him a respected and valuable MSNBC news person as well as a convenient target for critics.

Fortunately, Keith vows never to use his Special Comments as a regular ratings generator, despite calls for just that by his Daily KOS fans. That pledge and his sagacious use of his  bully pulpit give him both credence and gravitas that other Cramer-O’Reilly-philes lack. 

 

That’s why I’m surprised that all you’ve said about that telecast either on the air or in your DK comments was “So, did Stewart do a good job? Obviously.” That’s what disappoints me and I’m sure others on this forum.

I’m glad to hear that MNBC, NBC nor GE told any NBC-Universal news person or producer not to cover yesterday’s The Daily Show debate. I can understand that a pro-Fox person at TVNewser could want to find another reason to stick it to you.

But, Keith, my friend, you have so much time to zap Bill O’Reilly or talk about Rush Limbaugh billboards or allot another whole segment to your Worst Person in the World schtick — a weekly recap to boot — yet [not]even 30 seconds to give a back pat to Jon Stewart for saying what needed to be said, especially when no one else on MSNBC (save a few seconds blip from Rachel) mentioned the story. This concerns us as your actions (1) creates some doubt in our minds about a possible NBC blackout on this story, and (2) causes us to wonder if Countdown just jumped the shark.

Again I write this with great admiration, caring and disappointment.

“Some creatures are made to see in the dark.” — Henry David Thoreau “A nation never fails but by suicide” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Enumerative, Etc.

Instead of posting about Monday’s Countdown (due to time constraints), enjoy some other Keith news from “The Internets”:

#5: The Enumerative: Most Famous Yankee Injuries

The Sporting News: The Sporting Blog lists the top five most famous Yankee game injuries. Included with such legends as Derek Jeter, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris (who used to shop at my family’s grocery store when he visited his grandmother  in my hometown) is Marie Olbermann, Keith’s mother:

4. Keith Olbermann’s Mom’s Face — 2000
Yes, this was not an injury to a Yankee, but it was caused by a Yankee, and it was a very famous and ridiculous injury indeed. Mired in possibly the worst case of the yips ever suffered by a baseball player (with all apologies to Rink Ankiel and Mark Wohlers), Chuck Knoblauch’s throws to first while fielding second base for the Yanks in the 2000 season increasingly progressed from errant to homie-couldn’t-hit-the-wide-side-of-a-Dead-Show. In a game against the White Sox in June of 2000, he sailed one about 20 feet over Tino Martinez’s head at first and well into the stands behind the first-base dugout, hitting an old lady right in the face. That lady turned out to be Marie Olbermann, mother of Keith Olbermann. The sportscaster was later summarily terse about his mother’s condition. “Her face is a little puffy and she expects a shiner,” he said. “Her eyeglasses were broken, as was her confidence in Knoblauch.”

#4:  Cornell Bipolar Disorder

You don't need to prove a thing, KO!

The Cornell Sun, the student newspaper of both that Ivy League and Old MacDonald college(s) on New York’s Cayuga Lake, carried a column about the Olbermann-Coulter Cornell feud. Student  Eric Finkelstein writes about the issue:

In the course of trying to take down Olbermann, however, she [Coulter] inexplicably set out to destroy the reputation of six of the seven undergraduate schools and colleges at Cornell. Thankfully, the ridiculousness of her claims seems to have made this attempt unsuccessful.

…

…it’s one thing to attempt to make a reasoned (but clearly wrong) argument that the land-grant schools (and maybe the hotel school) aren’t part of the “Ivy” portion of Cornell University, but is she really trying to make the case that the engineering and architecture schools are “non-Ivy”? On top of this, the “Ivy League” Coulter speaks of is nothing more than an athletic conference. And, as far as I know, students from all of the undergraduate colleges at Cornell are allowed to participate on the varsity athletic teams.

…

I would have thought that someone who graduated from the proclaimed “only Ivy League school at Cornell” would know how do to do better research. But, then again, I graduated from the land-grant School of Industrial and Labor Relations. So, I’m clearly an imbecile.

…

As far as I’m concerned, if this is how Ms. Coulter feels about her time on The Hill and about her fellow Cornellians, and if this is what a Cornell degree — any Cornell degree — means to her, well, the maybe she should just give it back.

And, assuming she returns it, I wonder if, this May, maybe Cornell could give out just one honorary degree:

A communication degree for Ann Coulter — from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

#2: Late Night Shout Outs

Just when we thought Ben Affleck aced the Keith parody, Craig Ferguson, CBS’s Late, Late Show host zaps Countdown:

He’s also the first host since Johnny Carson to engage in a peculiar form of self-abasement, whereby one dons funny costumes and plays characters, badly, in fact the worse the better. His recent parody of MSNBC’s “Countdown” – Ferguson played Keith Olbermann’s drunken “guest host,” Sean Connery – was a lot sillier, and funnier, than Ben Affleck’s “Countdown” parody on “Saturday Night Live.”

 

#1: The Enumerative 2:

The Bill-O the Clown – Sideshow Bernie Worsts

Seems Bill-O the Clown and his sidekick Sideshow Bernie Goldberg knock Keith then steal his material. Sideshow Bernie came up with his “Top 5 Worst Liberal Offenders” list on Monday’s “Faux Factor.”  According to Julie of the blog “News Hounds: We watch FOX so you won’t have to”:

On tonight’s O’Reilly Factor (3/9), O’Reilly’s guest was his old stand-by, Bernard Goldberg (author of A Slobbering Love Affair), on to discuss the 5 worst liberal groups in, I guess, the wooooorld. Bill, quit copy-catting Keith Olbermann’s “Worst Person in the World” award.

Guffawing that this must be Bernard Goldberg’s greatest assignment, with “payback unlimited,” O’Reilly rolled out the red carpet for Goldberg’s Top 5 of the worst liberal offenders, or, as I like to call them, the “thorns in the right-wing sides” (in order, least offensive to the wooooooorst).

Bill-O

 

 

Sideshow Bernie

 

Sideshow’s Worsts list:

#5: “The Hollywood Glitzocracy” led by Janeane Garofalo, based on her recent appearance on Countdown, no doubt.

#4: Bill Moyers who Sideshow calls an elitist “posing as a journalist.” Ah, Sideshow, takes one to know one, although Mr. Moyers definitely isn’t posing.

#3; The Daily KOS, because it’s The Daily KOS

#2:  New York Times who both The Clown and Sideshow hope goes out of business.

#1: MSNBC, of course. Sideshow cited the worst “villains” weren’t even on the air — take that Jeff Zucker, whom they condemn for allowing “defamation of conservatives with whom they have a beef.”  Like I said, takes one to know one, Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Ailes. At least, MSNBC doesn’t flash around incriminations in a Page Six rag.

Okay, I’ll work on Monday’s Countdown update and post later in lieu of which ever broadcast KO will miss this week for the Yankee’s game. Watch out for wild ball, KO!

Good Night and… Good Day

Edward R. Murrow not only served as Keith Olbermann’s broadcast news icon, the Paul Harvey who died this past weekend also mentored KO.

According to an article by Aaron Barnhart of the McClatchy Newspapers, Keith served as Harvey’s official substitute host from 2001 to 2003. Barnhart reports that Keith felt “overwhelmed with the amount of news he had to cram into Harvey’s broadcast. 

Each segment began with hard news, moved on to commentary, ended with celebrity and then something light or silly, then a commercial,” he said. Olbermann adapted, though, and soon he realized that the formula could work in places other than the Paul Harvey studios.

When he got a chance to return to MSNBC, Olbermann pitched his bosses a new format for a fast-paced program that combined news and comment, with a few oddball items to lighten the load. He had no doubt that it would work, and with good reason. It was Paul Harvey’s format.

“I stole it almost entirely for ‘Countdown,’ [Olbermann confessed.]

OlberBlogging Note:

Don’t forget our Inquiring OlberBlogging poll. Who would you like to see feel the MSNBC prime time slot at 10 p.m. ET?  Right now, Dan Patrick leads.

I Will Not Twitter!

New York Magazine reports that Keith Olbermann goes Luddite when it comes to Tweeting:

 

 ”Enough of my life has been consumed by electronics that have been invented during my life that I may have actually reached my absolute far end of my ability to handle new electronics, new ways of communication,” he told us at the Empire State Pride Agenda’s “Defying Inequality” event at the Gershwin last night. “I may have hit a wall with an iPhone.” The Countdown host said he looked into it, but wasn’t sure he wanted everyone to follow his life so closely. “I have a good, healthy broadcaster sense of paranoia as it is without it being literally true that the thing buzzing in my pocket is a bunch of people knowing I’m at 51st Street or wherever,” he explained. “And a lot of the stuff, frankly, was not very interesting. I mean, it’s ‘Ni-ho! David Gregory’s in there having a Bran muffin!’”

 

That’s okay, KO. Lots of people on Twitter think Olberblogger is you. I get the strangest Tweets!

Silver Fox #24

Keith Olbermann makes the #24 spot on the Best Week Ever “100 Hottest Silver Foxes” list.

I protest — KO is further down the list than Larry David, Teen Wolf’s Dad, Tom Brokaw, Bea Arthur (#2) and the #1 choice Anderson Cooper!

Sorry — KO is #1 in our book with Howard Fineman running #2.

OlberBlogging's Silver Foxes

 

MSNBC Viewers Lobby for Liberal Host

Excerpts from the Los Angeles Times story below. Read the entire article here.

From the Los Angeles Times

TELEVISION

By Matea Gold

February 19, 2009

Reporting from New York — Television network executives looking for new talent are accustomed to getting pleas from agents urging them to check out their clients.

But in the last few weeks, MSNBC has experienced a different kind of onslaught: a flood of unsolicited endorsements from fans of liberal radio hosts touting them as the network’s next potential big star.

The grass-roots campaigns were triggered by the news that the cable channel is contemplating creating a new show for its 7 p.m. [PST]  time slot, currently occupied by a repeat of “Countdown With Keith Olbermann.” That prompted the launch of independent Facebook groups extolling the merits of two radio hosts: Cenk Uygur of the Internet show “The Young Turks” and Sam Seder of Air America.

The lobbying efforts have drawn thousands of supporters and led fans to pepper MSNBC with e-mails in support of their favorite personality. Hundreds of people have posted messages of support online, some even creating their own video spots. (Give the time slot to “The Young Turks,” warns one, “or I’ll switch back to CNN.”) Liberal bloggers on sites like MyDD.com have also weighed in.

They all hope that MSNBC will choose a host cast from the same left-leaning mold as Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, who have helped power the cable channel’s ratings.

“You have a block with two unabashedly progressive voices that doesn’t exist anywhere else on cable news,” said Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, founder of Daily Kos, who urged his readers to back Seder for the spot. “We want to take advantage of locking up that third hour, if we can.”

MSNBC President Phil Griffin said he’s not necessarily looking for someone who shares the political leanings of Olbermann and Maddow, but is delighted by the response.

“If people identify with us, I’m thrilled,” he said.

“Obviously, we’re going to have flow between our shows,” Griffin added. “But it isn’t going to be ideology that drives it. I want that hour to be edgy, to be smart, to be a little snarky.”

At this point, the search for a new host is just an “aspiration,” said Griffin, noting that the network may not even select someone by the year’s end. But he said he had been floored by the reaction, which has included “dozens and dozens of phone calls from people I never thought about or considered.”

“It’s just incredible and just shows you where MSNBC is,” he said. “We’ve had times when hours have been open and nobody noticed.”

That’s changed in recent years as the network got traction with Olbermann, who drew a following for his full-throated denunciations of the Bush administration, and then Maddow, whose brainy take on politics was an immediate hit.

In the process, MSNBC has been criticized for melding opinion with news, even as it excited the political left.

“For years, while everyone has always talked about this liberal media bias, we haven’t seen it on cable television,” said Peter Slutsky, a Democratic consultant who started the Facebook campaign for Seder with his brother, Matthew. “I believe strongly that MSNBC has been so successful because it has decided to drive a firm position to the left.”

There are signs that approach is seeping into the network’s daytime programming: This week, anchor David Shuster announced that he would feature an issue from the “progressive blogosphere” each day on his show “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” (Griffin said the segment would spotlight “new voices” from across the political spectrum.)

 

Still, among many on the left, the network’s partisan credentials are viewed with some skepticism. “All they really have is Olbermann and Maddow, and then they have a three-hour block in the morning that is completely right-wing,” said Uygur, referring to “Morning Joe,” hosted by former Republican Congressman Joe Scarborough. “But at least they’re trying.”

You Have to Take It Personally

Keith Olbermann received the Human Rights Campaign “Ally for Equality” Award this past weekend in recognition of his impassioned Special Comment against California Proposition 8.

View Keith’s equally heart-felt acceptance speech on UTube.

 

As Keith pointed out,

“As long as prejudice exists in this country, this world, we are all its victims.”

Enthusiastic Embrace of Olbermann

The Human Rights Campaign honored Keith Olbermann with its Ally for Equality Award at its gala dinner in Manhattan this past Saturday night. The award, in part, recognized Keith for his passionate Special Comment against California’s Proposition 8, which recinded the rights of gay people to marry.

 

The enthusiasm that greeted Olbermann’s appearance capped an evening when some of the top political leaders in New York and New Jersey pledged to deliver what the crowd was hoping for — even if those promises were leavened by a healthy dose of caution…

In introducing Olbermann, Howard Fineman, Newsweek’s senior Washington correspondent and a frequent guest on “Countdown,” said, “He’s not a liberal. What Keith is is an anti-establishment character who doesn’t want people in power to get away with things.” 

Fineman continued, “He rediscovered the role of journalism and that role is deeply informed judgment about people in power and about the morality of our county.”

Olbermann recounted three experiences in his life where he encountered prejudice — against Jews, against African-Americans, and against gays — and learned “to take it personally.” 

Pointing out that his name combined with various anti-gay slurs yields tens of thousands of Google hits, Olbermann said, “If you are even for the briefest of moments merely mistaken for a member of a victimized group… If you really are just brushed by this plague of hate, you have been given a gift. It’s brief, it’s cheap, it’s everlasting — you have, as the old saw goes, walked the mile in the other person’s shoes. If are a victim of prejudice, you should now hate prejudice.” 

Keith told gala attendees he wished he had broadcast the Special Comment prior to the election because it could have made a difference,

The OlberBlogging community applauds our hero for his stand for personal freedom, human rights and intolerance of the intolerant.

It’s Business — and It’s Personal

Newsweek interviews NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker about the network, MSNBC, Keith, Rachel, Tina Fey, Jay Leno et al.

Here’s an excerpt of interest:

For the eight years of the Bush administration, Fox News was accused of right-wing bias. Now MSNBC has a reputation for leaning left, largely because of Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow. Are you concerned about the bias rap? Might the perception spill over onto and damage the NBC News brand?
First, there is absolutely no evidence, and probably evidence to the contrary, that it’s had any adverse impact on NBC News. “NBC Nightly News,” “Today” show and “Meet the Press” all now enjoy wider margins of victory over their competition than they did 18 months ago before that perception was widely held. Secondly, what do I think about that perception of MSNBC? It’s driven by a couple of programs in primetime that have a very strong point of view, a real voice and a real audience. The rest of MSNBC programming is what it has always been—traditional reporting. I believe that the audience that comes to MSNBC and NBC is fully capable of distinguishing between the two.

The animosity—name-calling and insults—between Olbermann and rival Bill O’Reilly of Fox News sometimes borders on the buffoonish. Are you inclined to halt it on your side?
[Long pause.] It’s become part of the fabric of both of those shows, and it probably would be better if it weren’t personal. And I wish it weren’t so personal.

 

NOTE: We’ll have our Countdown highlights up tomorrow. Be there, Aloha!

Bushed!

Sarah Silverman bushes Keith Olbermann in a parody run on Jimmy Kimmel’s show (Weren’t Sarah and Jimmy a “thing” a while back?).

Here’s a screen shot and a url for the story on TV Newser. Tumbleblogging Olbermann also has the feed.  

Unfortunately, we at OlberBlogging lack the big bucks to pay for the bandwidth to put an embedded video here.  But, heck, we donate to lost puppies!!

Click here to view the video