KO weighs in on kerfuffle re: Hannity via the blogs

[crispini]

Did Hannity, or did he not, tell some of his guests what to say on his show? New blog InsideCable has the backstory, with link to NYDaily news, where it was broken.

http://idahoradionews.com/insidecable/2005/04/i-can-do-that-coach.html

InsideCable comments on TVNewser's coverage of the story,

http://idahoradionews.com/insidecable/2005/04/opinion-coach-in-trouble-players-back.html

which carried KO's rebutttal: (links also via InsideCable)

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/olbermann_hannitys_telling_them_how_to_avoid_questions_by_his_own_cohost_20581.asp

Hee! Quite an interesting little kerfuffle in the cable world. InsideCable, btw, is quite a good read. They have an indepth analysis of the MSNBC-NBC that's well worth a glance.

[WhirlyGirl]

1. crispini, I stumbled onto this thing on the 'newser last night but hadn't-

. . . had a chance to investigate yet. Thanks for consolidating everything here. Have to get back to this in depth later.

"Would TVNewser have published a rebuttal to the stuff that FNC was feeding his way if only a lowly insider at another news organization had written it? Or was the only well written rebuttal (by that I mean publishing quality) from Keith Olbermann?" - Inside Cable News

Hard to imagine this being more entertaining than Kahuna vs The Big Giant Head -- but perhaps if he was already onto the story and getting his ammunition ready to fire, it explains some of KO's exuberance a few days ago!

[gkhouston]

2. I doubt it.

This didn't have the same flavor as a snark on one of O'Reilly's moments of puffery. I think he probably revels in executing an exceptionally fine snark but there wasn't anything snarky here -- merely a factual contradiction of previously asserted spin with no sly humor peeking around the edges. I attribute his exuberance to his anticipation of baseball-related hooky-playing. To him, this whole episode may have been a quick salvo in the daily bullshit wars against Faux News and something he's given little thought to since it occurred.

[WhirlyGirl]

3. Guess we'll find out on Monday. It's sort of out of his hands now, anyway.

. . . If it turns out the story has legs (if every time someone thinks of Hannity they think of this guest-coaching scandal, and every time someone thinks of the scandal they remember that Keith commented on it), then it may just sweep him along.

I asked my husband whether he thought Keith considered not being able to control where the story went, and my husband said he doesn't think KO cares whether he can control it or not!

He thinks Keith is a big-name anchor with lots of clout. I keep recalling Bugs Bunny's rueful line, after he's done something particularly audacious or reckless:
"Could it be I've finally GONE TOO FAR?-- Mmmmmm... could be!" :scared:

Keith has been acting a lot like Bugs lately!

[WhirlyGirl]

4. But then again, it could just be baseball excitement!

. . . :bounce:

[Berry Cool]

5. When all else fails, blame baseball!

I have to LOL because I think you guys are probably right...KO probably bounced around the MSNBC studio all day during the small amount of time he actually worked last week singing "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" to himself...the first line of it anyway. Kind of like the dad in the old Staples commercial who is singing it while he fills up the cart with back-to-school supplies and his kids look on in dour annoyance!

I think there are times when what one of the far-right loons does is so completely off base (er, did I say "off base"??? Ahhhhhh!) that all Keith has to do is sit there and snark about it gleefully (note the loofah/falafel jokes and the whole "Save the Tapes" campaign). But there are other issues where the difference between journalistic or political "right and wrong" really needs to be carefully pointed out, because the line has become so blurred that many people would just like us to forget there *is* a line at all. Whenever that happens, we can count on Keith to come along with his big black indelible-ink marker and clearly redraw the line of demarcation as he sees it. I think he takes that responsibility *very* seriously. No snark about it.

I too would chalk up the jolly mood of last week to pending baseball-motivated hooky-playing glee. (Of course, we have Alison to thank for telling us all the truth!)

[RevCheesehead]

6. I gotta tell you...

I LOVE that commercial!
Don't even have kids, but I love it!! Makes me giggle every time I see it. :)

[WhirlyGirl]

8. It IS a funny commercial, Rev - and they run it every year in late Aug!

. . . And Keith DOES love to sing!

:loveya:

[WhirlyGirl]

7. I think you're right, Berry - abt the two dif types of situations, I mean-

. . . The first type, where folks he disdains get themselves into an embarrassingly tight spot and he just can't help crowing about it, is one.

The current Hannity situation, resembling Gannon-gate more than Falafelpalooza, represents the second type.

As you say, this kind of event is more serious, since it "blurrs the line" and has the potential to further undermine the public's confidence in TV news.

I'm glad Keith DOES take such things seriously.

[Berry Cool]

9. That's not to say he didn't have loads of fun with the whole Gannon story.

I mean, Jeff, ahem, James, ahem, whatever he calls himself just walked into that one by being a star of "hotmilitarystuds.com"...that was something Keith couldn't help but be amused by. OK, so "Jeff" wants to be taken seriously as a journalist despite the fact that a) he works for a blog and nothing but a blog and b) he's ridiculously biased. But holding himself out as a gay male escort on top of all that was just too funny. I mean, here he is, fawning at the foot of the neocons, and he's a gay male escort? Yeah, that will go over real well with "Mr. and Mrs. Family Values."

You know, I don't think it's such a big deal if bloggers want to be press credentialed. Obviously, some standards for the blogs people represent should then be set, so that not every Tom, Dick or Jeff who claims to be a blog writer is let into a press conference. But I think letting someone in who asks such blatantly biased softball questions is an insult to the whole process and to every other legitimately credentialed media person in the room. And I'm sorry, but if you want to be taken seriously as a journalist, you just don't advertise your services as an "escort"...male, female, gay, straight, whatever.

[WhirlyGirl]

10. Keith has fun with a lot of people in stories he also takes seriously ...

. . . For a long time after the Ohio election, he was taking little shots at our secy of state, J. "Katherine" Blackwell, whenever he could. (Now I think he just looks for funny or rediculous stories about Ohio to report -- it was an Ohio car chase a night for a while there!)

The Gannon scandal, like the Hannity scandal, is funny in the sense that the people at the center think they're important, when actually they're just tools. But the organizations who are using them aren't a bit funny since they're eroding people's confidence in news reporting. It's obvious Keith has no trouble distinguishing the comic elements of these two stories from the serious.

As to bloggers being credentialed: They write opinion, not news, and most have a slant -- so their only reason for being at a press conference would be to hear something they could SPIN. Not sure of the value of that...

[Berry Cool]

11. I think the funny Ohio stories are sheer coincidence.

I think Keith is above taking potshots at the entire state of Ohio merely because of the people who run its elections. If anything, the population is to be pitied rather than ridiculed for having to be disenfranchised by such a system.

Yes, I think Keith does easily distinguish between the comic and serious elements of Gannon as well.

I don't think, though, that the motives of all bloggers are by definition opinionated/biased. It depends on the blog. Many are, but that's not necessarily the point. I would judge on an individual basis. And well, if they want to be at a press conference to hear something they can spin, well, so what? The real issue is how do you prevent press conferences from becoming wild free-for-alls to which so many people are eligible for admission that you can't even fit them all in the room or hear what questions get asked if you don't have some sort of standards for what constitutes a legitimate form of "media" they can represent.