Keith Olbermann profile…
The Nation’s Daphne Eviatar has a profile of Keith Olbermann. Most of the article is a re-hash of old ground, and the fact that this is The Nation raises a red flag for me and I hesitate to link to it as a result (as would, for example, a profile on John Gibson in a magazine like The Weekly Standard or National Review) but there are some new nuggets in there…
MSNBC seems to be egging him on. “The only issues I’ve had with my employers is to calm them down and say ‘doing this every night won’t work,’ ” says Olbermann, referring to his Special Comments. “I have to do it only when I feel moved to.”
“The rise of Keith’s skeptical or pointed comments are the mood of the country,” says Bill Wolff, MSNBC’s vice president for prime-time programming. “He has given voice to a large part of the country that is frustrated with the Administration’s policies.”
I guess a “large part” of the country is all relative… because a “large part” still only amounts to a “fractional part” of actual viewers.
Perhaps he should do commentaries for a “small part” of the country and see if they get any more viewers.
Comment by ImNotBlue — December 1, 2006 @ 12:24 pm
I’ll believe he’s non-partisan when I hear him start blasting the Democrats. I don’t think he will though, he’s obviously found an audience with the far-left crowd and he won’t do anything to alienate his core audience, and criticism of them surely would. I really used to love his show and never missed it. Now I don’t care if I ever see it again. he used to present news, now he presents opinion. And I find it really curious that every time his ratings hit rock-bottom, there’s another Special Comments waiting in the wings. The timing of those is beginning to seem very suspicious to me. It’s a shame really, he could be great, but I think his partisanship has ruined any chances of that for him unless he swings back to the middle or grows a set to actually be brave enough to call both parties out equally for their nonsense, which is, after all, what real journalism is supposed to be about.
Comment by Alison — December 1, 2006 @ 12:48 pm
His job was in jeopardy due to extremely dismal ratings(they’re still poor), so he did what he had to do to get a paycheck, and become a left-wing bomb thrower for the moonbats and tinfoil hat crowd. He should go back to sports, since he has thrown away the little bit of journalistic credibility he had.
Comment by spiffo — December 1, 2006 @ 1:21 pm
Agreed Spiffo, maybe Olbermann can take Michael Irvin’s spot at ESPN following his genius comments about Tony Romo. I also find it hard to believe that Olbermann is the one showing restraint on the “special comments.”
“Mood of the country” give me a break. You would need a few more zeros on the end of Keith’s ratings to make a statement like that.
Comment by Buck — December 1, 2006 @ 1:41 pm
Has KO ever interviewed any GOPers, Conservatives…people who disagree with him- I’ll tune in every once in a while and he usually has Milbank, Crawford or Wolfe, and they basically exchange negative opinions and statements on Bush and the GOP- How is this entertaining?
It’s like listening to Rush…all propaganda for one side, and no serious debate or exchange of opposing ideas.
Is KO (and Rush) afraid of learning something new/ hearing someone who disagrees?
Comment by apk — December 1, 2006 @ 1:53 pm
I continue to be amazed by the reaction that any piece on Olbermann gets on this site.
I don’t think audience here is particularly conservative. I don’t think Spud is either. But it seems like every time there’s something about Olbermann, it sparks a lot of negative opinions.
Maybe it’s because of his problem with distorting, exaggerating, or flat-out lying about the people he sincerely hates. Maybe it’s because unlike his arch enemy, he’s afraid to invite anyone who might make him look bad by disagreeing with him.
I suspect that a significant portion of Olbermann’s viewers is made up of people, like me, who simply can’t stand him. O’Reilly may have a similar problem, but not to the same extent. If I were an advertiser, I’d take his audience numbers, “good” as they may be, with a grain of salt.
Comment by William — December 1, 2006 @ 2:33 pm
I can get the same thing Olby says on his show 7 hours earlier by reading KOS and Media Matters.
Comment by eddiebear — December 1, 2006 @ 3:04 pm
Generally, the people who have a problem with KO have no problem with Fox and the people with a problem with Fox have no problem with KO.
I personally think Fox calling themselves Fair and Balanced is as big of an offense as is KO’s frequent attacks on the President.
Comment by elmonica — December 1, 2006 @ 3:16 pm
When I logged on I saw that there were 6 comments. When I got to the coments there were 7. Now as I start to write there are 8. We, the readers of ICN, feed on Olbermann I think. He gives us adrenalin. Good comments by all; except the fair and balanced jab by Mónica.
Comment by erljr — December 1, 2006 @ 3:24 pm
When I logged on I saw that there were 6 comments. When I got to the coments there were 7. Now as I start to write there are 8. We, the readers of ICN, feed on Olbermann I think. He gives us adrenalin. Good comments by all; except the fair and balanced jab by Mónica.
Comment by erljr — December 1, 2006 @ 3:24 pm
Olbermann’s ratings apparently suffer from the same problem as his love life — he can’t them up enough for anyone to take notice.
Comment by Caufield — December 1, 2006 @ 3:55 pm
There comes a point in time when you just have to read these profiles about KO and just say “Who cares?”
Comment by jerziegrl — December 1, 2006 @ 5:44 pm
I never watch K.O. ( whom I would like to k.o.)
But I was surfing around during a commercial break Thursday evening and saw this fool and his “toxic stew.”
Geeze Louse, how can this raving ego-maniac still have a show?
Comment by cella — December 1, 2006 @ 6:36 pm
I think the most disturbing thing about this post is the fact that the URL contains “keith-olbermann-profile-9″ in it, implying there have been 8 previous ones. There has to be something more interesting to write about. This guy isn’t worth the bandwidth.
Comment by Jif38 — December 1, 2006 @ 6:51 pm
Here the vice-president of MSNBC is praising Olbermann’s liberal bias, but will the media attack MSNBC for having that liberal bias? Of course not. Because the mainstream media has it too. They don’t care if FOX tilts. They’re upset that FOX tilts to the right.
Comment by bigred — December 1, 2006 @ 7:23 pm
I’m just laughing at the irony of people claiming that Olbermann doesn’t matter - after taking the time to post a comment about him. This is why Spud continues to post profiles on him: he is guaranteed to generate a huge volume of traffic.
Comment by Mr A — December 2, 2006 @ 6:14 am
Mr A:
Yes, KO really is irrelevant given his ratings. But, the reason many get fired up over him comes from his actions, words and deeds both on and off the set. Also, I hope I speak for many people who don’t like Keith when I say that what annoys many of us comes as a result of the buzz he gets from fellow media types, regardless of his ratings.
Comment by eddiebear — December 3, 2006 @ 2:31 am
“His job was in jeopardy due to extremely dismal ratings(they’re still poor)” and “Yes, KO really is irrelevant given his ratings.”
You know, you guys need to stop with the ratings canard. November ratings were posted just last week (TVNewser has the entire sheet by timeslot here http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/original/nov06vs05.pdf ) and how ever much you may hate him, the figures are clear. He is far and AWAY the biggest draw MSNBC has.
That may not be saying much, given their market share, but he’s number two in his timeslot, the only MSNBC show that can come even CLOSE to saying that. For the venue, his ratings are stellar. So I don’t think his job is in any sort of jeopardy - if anything, they’ll be trying to make over Scarborough and Carlson into Mini-Keiths next.
Comment by Arthur — December 3, 2006 @ 3:16 pm