This cannot be said enough. The news makes for viewership.

[applegrove]

Congrats to Keith Oberlman and Congrats to the News:
Bob Cesca, Huffington Post
March 29, 2006

"Imagine there's no pundits. It's easy if you try.

With a tremendous and well-deserved upswing in his ratings, Keith Olbermann's "Countdown" has surpassed CNN and is inching closer and closer to defeating the self-satirical Bill O'Reilly. Clearly, this is a significant milestone towards television news making a comeback.

But it's egregiously inaccurate to portray Olbermann as a liberal pundit or biased reporter who counters the lobotomized bobbleheads elsewhere on MSNBC, Fox News, and parts of CNN.

Instead of trying to out-pundit his competition and collegues, Olbermann counters by holding accountible the ruling party via reporting on what the government is up to. And he manages to do this without ranting, raving, or spitting.

.... SNIP"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/congratulations-to-olberm_b_18086.html

[blondeatlast]

1. Olbermann's as close to Uncle Walter and Howard and Harry

as we may ever see again.

He simply reports the news--spin-free.

I don't even see him as that left-leaning; he just doesn't spin to the right like most of them.

I remember quality, objective news--I must be getting very old. Sigh.

[Writer]

2. Now that Bush's approval ratings are down, viewers are seeking...

news that comports with their beliefs. I'm sorry, but Olberman does report from a center-left standpoint. His ravings about Bush and O'Reilly are good examples. That's fine and seems "balanced" if you already agree with what he's saying, but otherwise it's as skewed as O'Reilly... albeit Olberman is more funny and doesn't take himself so-damned-seriously.

It's us, not the media, that create bias. We are in more control of our media than we think.

[blondeatlast]

3. He didn't pull his punches covering Clinton and the Lewinsky scandal

I'm not a KO-fan-come-lately, I've been a fan of his since he only did baseball. In fact, he pissed me off on occasion when covering the scandal, but he earned my respect.

I want journalists who challenge power, regardless of who's in power. KO fits the bill as well as any anchor I can think of.

[Writer]

4. KO's show wasn't on the air then.

It did not premiere until April of 2003. He was a sportscaster at NBC until then. Are you saying that he excoriated Clinton while doing color commentary for Major League Baseball?

His show is broadcast from the center-left. You likely think it's balanced and fair because you agree with what he has to say and the angles from which he reports the news. There is nothing unnatural about this way of thinking - EVERYONE does this. We are human and we wish to hear our beliefs confirmed in our media.

[blondeatlast]

5. Agreed on both counts, I suppose. I know he wasn't on Countdown, but he di

anchor another MSNBC program (along with many others).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0294140/

Edit: I'm wrong again (about when he anchored), but I do remember him on something--it's late, I'm sick, I think I'll go beddy-bye early.

[EST]

13. Wrong.

He was doing news (I think for faux) He has bitched often about how he had to do two hundred forty eight Clenis/Lewinsky shows in a row-without a break.
There should be a transcript as well as a film of his hour long interview on c-spin, two weeks ago. I think he also has brought it up several times on his show, although that may be a bit trickier to track down/edit. It's all there-Brian Lamb's Q & A on sunday nite, 8pm, available on c-spin site.
He also mentioned it, recently,on either a Daily show interview or maybe it was Colbert.

[Writer]

14. Wrong all around and this misses my original point.

He had a show on MSNBC called "White House in Crisis" briefly concerning the Lewinsky affair. He hated doing the show so he returned to sports broadcasting.

My original point is that his show is center-left. The counter argument in this thread was that he was hard on Clinton, so therefore, he is more centrist than I claimed. But that is wrong. His show is center left and his earlier experience covering Lewinsky was not in his favor.

He was on Fox, but not the cable news network. He covered sports for Fox Sports Net.

For more information look here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Olbermann

[EST]

15. I agree.

His counter Bush reporting pleases me a lot. Subjectively, then, I would judge it left leaning, but only slightly.

The left baiting, r/w manipulation of the addled views of those lacking a solid ethical footing has so skewed the outlook of a substantial percentage of the populace that straight up fact reporting and truthfulness look irrepressibly liberal.
Moderate progressives appear wild eyed liberals and right wing nutsos resemble centrists.
In such a climate, almost any judiciously applied evaluation is easily suspect.

[EST]

9. Me, too.

I can remember listening to the election returns, in 1952. My mother told me, "You better listen pretty close; you aren't gonna hear this, again, for four more years."
Age doesn't make one cynical, IMHO, it brings increased somberness and tells me I was right all along to be so cynical.

[applegrove]

6. Let's hope he doesn't get attacked and chased away like Rather,

aaron brown and anyone else who doesn't do bullshit.

[snowbear]

7. Rate this puppy up !!!!!!!

Wow! Look at those numbers !!!

That is AWESOME news !!!!!!!!!

~~~ ~~~

[Stinky The Clown]

8. KO is the prototype for a successful **network** evening newz show

Look at his construct:

He tells stories factually

He brings in knowledgeable people who get to speak what's on their minds - no false equivalencies.

He tells the stories no else wants to touch.

He balances off the spin-du-jour from the blastfaxer at RoveWorld.

He's entertaining - not for what he says so much as his style and delivery.

He's self-effacing in a world of pomposity.

No sensationalism, but certainly some mind candy.

He's attractive to women and doesn't threaten men .... and he's non-threatening to women and is attractive to men (I am speaking here as a straight man .... dunno how gay men see him. I see him as a guy I'd like to hang with.)

He makes you **want** to listen.

If a network suit were smart instead of empty, they'd name him to a nightly anchor seat. He'd draw the primo demographics (18-24 and 34-60) and their ratings (and ad revenue) would be in the stratosphere.

And the whole country would be better informed without feeling like they sat through school.

on edit .... K&R

[EST]

10. How do we explain the fact that tweety hairball's

numbers are also up dramatically and as I recall, even outdistancing K O.
If I could get two hours of K.O. and they'd dump the other no talent dorks, I would be enthusiastically pleased.

[snowbear]

12. Good question...

Not sure how Tweety's numbers are slightly above Olbermann's.. but Tweety sure gets a lot of free PR on the Saturday Night skit they do of him.

Speaking of SNL, I think Keith Olbermann would be an awesome guest host!

[blondeatlast]

11. Heh, heh...

He's attractive to women and doesn't threaten men ....

My hubby's just a tad jealous of him, I think!

OTOH, we are celebrating 10 years of marriage in late April so I think he's learned to deal with it.

Regarding each and every point, I couldn't agree more. He's PLEASANT--there's nothing wrong with that!