Saturday, January 22, 2011

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

As an old radio talk show host Jerry Williams often would
ask ! " What's the matter Tommy ? You sound ANNOYED " !


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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.
> > For options & help seehttp://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
>
> > * Visit our other community athttp://www.PoliticalForum.com/
> > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
> > * 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 -

--
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