Political Punch

sorry--I'm coming rather late to this having just found this site, but I think criticizing Keith Olbermann for a quip in Playboy, when weighed against his well-reasoned and eloquent outrage usually seen in his "Special Commentaries" at the end of Countdown, is a bit off-base. while it's true that the mark of a political hack of whatever left/right stripe is the perfunctory equation of "X" = Hitler/Stalin/Mao/Mussolini, this can hardly be said to be the defining feature of Olbermann's oeuvre.

along those lines, to even think about comparing Olbermann (who seems to me not merely the most, but effectively the -only-, political editorialist on television who grasps the essential truth of how our country runs these days) to Ann Coulter is most unfortunate. Coulter, so far as I can tell, has not yet figured out that subjects are generally paired with predicates in order to make coherent sentences--a charge that certainly can't be levelled at Keith Olbermann. the volume and heat of her political flatus notwithstanding, I would not confuse her with any serious commentator of whatever stripe (a righty version of Keith is more likely to be a David Brooks than an Ann Coulter, even if Brooks is a ninny).

I meant to say 2.5 major stations (CBS, NBC, and .5 of ABC)

Sandra Lea - First the Fairness Doctrine was for Radio only and was anything but, But putting aside that and the fact that Fox News is Moderate overall, Lets say it is a Conservative Station, well thats only one compared to the 2.5 (.5 is ABC since it depends on the time of day), CNN, MSNBC, and so forth that are so far left that they make Stalin blush.

Now there is a Fairness it is call the channel changer if you do not like a station change the channel, stop tryiong to push your liberal agenda down peoples throats.

When you have propaganda diguising itself as news there is a BIG problem. Remember good ol' Ronald Reagan neutered the fairness doctrine in the 80's,now Fox News is running rampant with yellow dog press.When you have the dumbing down of America Joe six pack sitting next to jello-mold Martha watching Fox in the hen house news is there any cranial activity going on or a chorus of hellish sheep bleating in the night.I truely belive that if every American student was required to read the Rise and Fall of the Third Reich no one would watch Fox in the hen house news.

Is not this the same Keith Olbermann who gets his orders from Move-on.org and media matters, both orgs affiliated with George Soros and Hilay Clinton in that order.

Oh and last I heard reporters are not suppose to give editorials or opinions. But then again he is not a reporter and not a man supposedly.

Bill is a commentator, he says it at the beginning of the show. a little different then someone who states he is a reporter.

Hey Zane - Do you realize you prove a point with who interviewed with Playboy - A terrorist, a Dictator, and the rest are nobodies when it comes to Politics.
But then again who gets Playboy for the interviews??

Chuck - Funny thing the question is today Who is giving Who talking points is Osama giving the Lib Dems or the Lib Dems giving them to Osama.

If you do not like Fox, change the channel and go and listen to the Lib propaganda.

And Like I have said before, When someone speaks the truth they are Conservative according to Libs. Oh and I am not a big fan of Bill, He does a lot of good, but he is too centered.

Zane, Bill O'Reilly is not a news anchor. He is a host of his own show which is not a newscast. It is clearly an opinion-filled show, maybe slightly toned down compared to his radio show. Did you happen to hear Keith's tirade? This wasn't a simple editorial moment. I have heard Keith give other editorials, many blasting the Bush Administration. This tirade, in my opinion, went over the line. It was more like an on-the-air, verbal blog.

Since the advent of the 24-hour cable news channels (CNN began in 1980) there has been a steady blurring of news and opinion. I am not a student of journalism, so I can't really say whether this blurring eventually carried over to the mainstream news -- TV and newspapers -- or if they occured at about the same time. But certainly now so much of the media is blurred. The problem with this blurring is that opinion frequently comes across as fact. Maybe with the political landscape being as polarized as it is, it is too much to expect all journalists to be able to keep their personal feelings and strong opinions out of their reporting. As I wrote that last sentence, I now wonder if the polarization of the political landscape came first OR if the blurring might have helped to cause the polarization. Now that might make an interesting piece!

Isn't Keith just saying the same that Colin Powell (a man whose expertise on the subject exceeds that of everyone on this page's combined) said recently--that Al-Queda is not our biggest threat? Al-Queda certainly can kill many innocent lives, but they can't kill our democracy--the spin and lies of Fox can kill our democracy. I wish he would not speak so outrageously though, but I do understand his point.

James Danley: Unlike certain persons (Bill-O), Keith Olbermann makes no attempt to obfuscate the leanings of his program and when he comments like that it is noted as a "special comment" (no different from a reporter doing an editorial).

Let's see the names of some folks who have appeared in Playboy interviews:
Miles Davis, Malcolm X, Frank Sinatra, Ayn Rand, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ray Charles, Bill Cosby, Bob Hope, Walter Cronkite, Hank Aaron, Julie Andrews, Clint Eastwood, Jimmy Carter, Luciano Pavarotti, Fidel Castro, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Hanks, Stephen Hawking, Bob Woodard, Michael Jordan, Rush Limbaugh, Mel Gibson, Garth Brooks, Bill Gates, amongst many others.

Keith Olbermann,what a Sage. Huge Hefner,what a Stud. Playboy, what a Literary Journal. Enough said???

Kieth Olbermann has been in a feud with Bill O'Reilly of Fox for more than two years now. They've both said some outrageous things while feuding. At this point, Fox has about four times as many viewers in prime time as MSNBC (latest source I could find was entire year ratings for 2006). MSNBC has introduced SOME more conservative aspects to its opinion shows, and has freed up its commentators to deliver more diatribes, in an effort to attract FOX viewers--essentially trying to 'out-FOX FOX'. It is targeting FOX especially among the 25-54 age group--just the age group that 'reads' PLAYBOY. I have both FOX and MSNBC sites bookmarked on my computer (and, of course, Jake, ABC, too)---the news sections, that is---not the song-and-dance variety shows that both Olbermann and O'Reilly have become. Jake is absolutely right--Olbermann's are not the words of a serious journalist, no matter what his/her politics are. So, read Olbermann's comments as those of just another disgruntled stand-up comic with audience envy.

oh and don't think you have us snowed with your hat tip. And I bet he only reads it for the articles, right?

Bravo! I couldn't agree more. Always the voice of reason, Jake. Keep on keeping on.

Comparing Ann Coulter to Keith Olbermann is comparing apples to oranges. Ann Coulter is not a news anchor. Keith Olbermann is a news anchor. The other night on his own show, "Countdown with...", Keith went on a 7-minute vitriolic tirade blasting Bush. If Keith wants to spout his anger, he should resign as an anchor and appear as a guest on news shows, write books and give speeches like Ann does.

Marshall McLuhan correctly deduced that "the medium is the message." When such extreme bombast takes over the medium, as in the cases of the commentators you cited, any message (presuming, of course, that the commentator really wanted to say something instead of hurling irresponsible invective) is irretreviably lost and raw emotion remains. Does anyone seriously think that Fox News is equal to al Qaeda in the damage it's caused?