Sunday, January 23, 2011

Re: Keith Olbermann Leaves ‘Countdown’, But His Legacy Remains on MSNBC

Not annoyed, amused. Say Goodnight Faux Noise, Glenn Beck, Gretchen
Van Snide of Mouth, Ann Coulter, Pitbull Palin, and The Rest Of The
Crazy Wing Nut Unfair and Unbalanced Pundits

On 1/22/11, Sage2 <wisdom812@gmail.com> wrote:
> As an old radio talk show host Jerry Williams often would
> ask ! " What's the matter Tommy ? You sound ANNOYED " !
>
>
> ***************************************************************************************************************************************
>
> On Jan 22, 11:56 am, Tommy News <tommysn...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Say Goodnight Faux Noise, Glenn Beck, Gretchen Van Snide of Mouth and
>> The Rest Of The Crazy Wing Nut Unfair and Unbalanced Pundits
>>
>> On 1/22/11, Keith In Köln <keithinta...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> >  Once Comcast completes the buy-out from G.E.,  rest assured that NBC,
>> > and
>> > MSNBC will return to profitability, and hopefully, a sense of
>> > rationality.
>> > I tend to believe this is the reason that Moonbat extradordiniare
>> > Olbermann
>> > flew the coop now, versus being termianted.  The writing was on the
>> > wall.
>> > Say G'Night Maddow, Schultz, and the rest of the crazy
>> > Anti-American's.....Your fifteen minutes of fame are over!
>>
>> >> Olbermann Leaves 'Countdown' on MSNBC
>> >> By BILL CARTER
>>
>> >> Virginia Sherwood/MSNBC
>>
>> >> Keith Olbermann in November.
>> >> 12:05 a.m. | Updated Keith Olbermann, the highest-rated host on MSNBC,
>> >> announced abruptly on the air Friday night that he was leaving his
>> >> show, "Countdown," immediately.
>>
>> >> The host, who has had a stormy relationship with the management of the
>> >> network for some time, especially since he was suspended for two days
>> >> last November, came to an agreement with NBC's corporate management
>> >> late this week to settle his contract and step down.
>>
>> >> In a closing statement on his show, Mr. Olbermann said simply that it
>> >> would be the last edition of the program. He offered no explanation
>> >> other than on occasion "all that surrounded the show – but never the
>> >> show itself – was just too much for me."
>>
>> >> Mr. Olbermann thanked his viewers for their enthusiastic support of a
>> >> show that had "gradually established its position as
>> >> antiestablishment."
>>
>> >> In a statement, MSNBC said: "MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended
>> >> their contract. The last broadcast of 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann'
>> >> will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in
>> >> MSNBC's success and we wish him well in his future endeavors."
>>
>> >> NBC executives said the move had nothing to do with the impending
>> >> takeover of NBC Universal by Comcast. With viewers and fans of Mr.
>> >> Olbermann suggesting that Comcast was responsible for forcing Mr.
>> >> Olbermann out, Comcast also released an official statement late Friday
>> >> night:
>>
>> >> "Comcast has not closed the transaction for NBC Universal and has no
>> >> operational control at any of its properties including MSNBC. We
>> >> pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not
>> >> interfere with NBC Universal's news operations. We have not and we
>> >> will not."
>>
>> >> MSNBC announced that "The Last Word" with Lawrence O'Donnell would
>> >> replace "Countdown" at 8 p.m., with "The Ed Show" with Ed Schultz
>> >> taking Mr. O'Donnell's slot at 10 p.m. Mr. Olbermann did not discuss
>> >> any future plans, but NBC executives said one term of his settlement
>> >> would keep him from moving to another network for an extended period
>> >> of time.
>>
>> >> Mr. Olbermann signed a four-year contract extension in 2008 for an
>> >> estimated $30 million. He had hosted "Countdown" at 8 p.m. since 2003
>> >> and it became the foundation of the channel's surge to its status as
>> >> the second-ranked news channel on cable television, after Fox News,
>> >> surpassing the one-time leader CNN.
>>
>> >> Mr. Olbermann's outspoken, and sometimes controversial, support of
>> >> liberal positions and Democratic candidates redefined MSNBC from a
>> >> neutral news channel to one that openly offered a voice to viewers on
>> >> the left, much as Fox News has done for conservatives.
>>
>> >> Mr. Olbermann challenged Fox News publicly on numerous occasions,
>> >> especially the top-rated cable host Bill O'Reilly.
>>
>> >> Ratings for Mr. Olbermann's show grew, though he never approached Mr.
>> >> O'Reilly's level of popularity. But he helped expand the MSNBC brand
>> >> by his frequent invitations to Rachel Maddow, who was eventually
>> >> offered her own show on MSNBC.
>>
>> >> Ms. Maddow became the 9 p.m. host following Mr. Olbermann and has
>> >> built such a successful show that some NBC executives felt less
>> >> concerned about losing Mr. Olbermann as the signature star of the
>> >> network.
>>
>> >> According to several senior network executives, NBC's management had
>> >> been close to firing Mr. Olbermann on previous occasions, most
>> >> recently in November after he revealed that he had made donations to
>> >> several Democratic candidates in 2010 — one of them, coincidentally,
>> >> was Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who has been the subject of
>> >> many of his recent shows after being shot in an assassination attempt.
>>
>> >> The top MSNBC executive, Phil Griffin, said the donations had violated
>> >> NBC News standards and ordered Mr. Olbermann suspended. His fans
>> >> responded with a petition to reinstate him that attracted over 250,000
>> >> signatures. Mr. Olbermann returned two days later. In his response he
>> >> said the rules on donations had been "inconsistently applied."
>>
>> >> More:
>>
>> >>http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/olbermann-hosts-last...
>>
>> >> Keith Olbermann out at MSNBC
>> >> By Greg Sargent
>> >> So Keith Olbermann is out. As best as I can tell, none of the news
>> >> accounts about his departure have gotten to the bottom of what
>> >> happened here. But Olbermann himself offered enough clues in his final
>> >> broadcast for us to reasonably speculate that he abruptly got the ax,
>> >> perhaps even as late as last night.
>>
>> >> A "knowledgeable official" at MSNBC told Howard Kurtz that the
>> >> separation was "mutual." But it's hard to see how that squares with
>> >> this, from Olbermann's last words on Countdown last night:
>>
>> >> "I think the same fantasy has popped into the head of everybody in my
>> >> business who has ever been told what I have been told, that this is
>> >> going to be the last edition of your show. You go directly to the
>> >> scene from the movie 'Network,' complete with the pajamas, and the
>> >> raincoat, and you go off on an existential, otherworldly journey of
>> >> profundity and vision...
>>
>> >> "When I resigned from ESPN 13 and a half years ago, I was literally
>> >> given 30 seconds to say goodbye at the very end of my last edition of
>> >> "Sports Center." As God is my witness, in the commercial break just
>> >> before the emotional moment, the producer got into my earpiece and he
>> >> said, `uh, can you cut it down to 15 seconds, so we can get in this
>> >> tennis result from Stuttgart? So I'm grateful that I have a little
>> >> more time to sign off here."
>>
>> >> Between this and the shell-shocked look Olbermann had last night, it
>> >> seems clear that he may have been abruptly informed that he was
>> >> history, perhaps even during last night's show. That would also square
>> >> with the experience of Josh Marshall, who was actually on Olbermann
>> >> last night and had no sense that anything was amiss.
>>
>> >> We already know that MSNBC president Phil Griffin had been gunning for
>> >> Olbermann for some time now. MSNBC was reportedly close to firing
>> >> Olbermann on several occasions. Recall that during the ridiculous flap
>> >> over Olbermann's political donations, in which he responded to his
>> >> suspension with a show of public defiance, Griffin flatly told
>> >> Olbermann's representative: "We are at war."
>>
>> >> Soon enough we'll have a clearer sense of why this happened, and we
>> >> can deal with it then. But for now, let's thank Olbermann for all his
>> >> hard work. He's rich, popular and has a huge following that's likely
>> >> to follow him to his next endeavor. He'll be just fine.
>>
>> >> What of Olbermann's legacy? There's a great deal of crowing on the
>> >> right about Olbermann's apparent ouster. But let's be clear on what he
>> >> accomplished: He helped clear a huge space on the airwaves for
>> >> "unapologetic liberalism," as Steve Benen puts it, when it remained
>> >> anything but certain that such a space could be created with any
>> >> measure of success.
>>
>> >> The unexpected popularity of Olbermann's show early on cleared the way
>> >> for MSNBC to stack its nighttime lineup with pugnacious lefty hosts.
>> >> Indeed, it was Olbermann who invited Rachel Maddow on repeatedly as a
>> >> guest, raising her profile to the point where she got her own show.
>> >> Olbermann, followed by Maddow, proved in the face of enormous
>> >> skepticism that there's a huge audience out there for real liberal
>> >> talk-show hosts to adopt the sort of take-no-prisoners approach once
>> >> monopolized by the right. Only they accomplished this without
>> >> descending into the crackpot conspiracy mongering and all-around
>> >> ugliness of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
>>
>> >> Indeed, there's already talk that CNN might be interested in picking
>> >> up Olbermann. While that seems unlikely, given CNN's more staid air,
>> >> the mere fact that it's being discussed at all shows how much he
>> >> helped change the landscape.
>>
>> >> Olbermann may be gone, but the space he did so much to help create is
>> >> here to stay.
>>
>> >> More:
>>
>> >>http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/21/olbermann-hosts-last...
>> >> --
>> >> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
>> >> Have a great day,
>> >> Tommy
>>
>> >> --
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>>
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>>
>> > --
>> > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
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>>
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>> > * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
>>
>> --
>> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
>> Have a great day,
>> Tommy- Hide quoted text -
>>
>> - Show quoted text -
>
> --
> Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
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>
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--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy

--
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