i don't really like tv news. i've watched the local broadcasts a few times and they're pretty pathetic. the national stuff's even worse most of the time. at least the local news is still relevant to the people who watch it--the cable news channels are completely ridiculous. cnn's preaching the coming armageddon, fox news is winning the market share for old white people (news viewers) and polemicizing as if most of its audience didn't just get kicked out of washington. but out of nowhere comes msnbc. despite having chris matthews and tucker carlson on their own shows, the peacock became the first network to have the balls to call iraq a civil war on the air. i don't even mind joe scarborough some of the time, since he actually uses his brain and not just his mouth.
but man oh man, do i love me some keith olbermann.
i liked him on espn (i think that was the last time i watched espn on purpose, actually) and i really, really like countdown. olbermann is everything you could want of a media personality cum journalist: avowedly nonpartisan, viciously protective of social, civil, and human rights, striking without being strident, clever without being smug, pointed without being shrill, and possessing the kind of gravitas (and eyebrows) that peter jennings would be proud of. he has real experts from both sides come on every night and even provides political, historical, and philosophical context for the issues he's covering. context! issues! not empty blather and shouted character assassinations. can they even do that on television? i swear, it's like an incredible one-hour dream every weeknight.
i've been studying political media personalities all semester, and if they were all a little more like olbermann, maybe tv news wouldn't be the spite-filled, useless wasteland it's become. on the show tonight, in one of his 'special comment' segments, olbermann tore into newt gingrich's proposed dismantling of the first amendment. it's a good read, but it was absolutely stunning television. i don't even mind that he borrowed edward murrow's closing line. i've never seen politics on tv that impressed me as much (not counting the west wing. and 24).
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Olbermann nonpartisan? My ass. He's the liberal response to Bill O'Reilly, and that's not exaggerating at all. The man's a leftist wet dream.
'avowedly nonpartisan' means he self-identifies that way. i'm sure if the democrats ever did anything wrong, he'd call them on it.
Come on. The guy shouts insults and engages in plenty of character assasinations. He singles out conservatives and republicans especially, attacks them for their policies and then attacks them for attacking the Democrats. He's the Dem's unabashed attack dog on cable news.
I've never once heard him say anything negative about liberals or democrats, which just goes to show he's another mouthpiece for the hysterical left, fiercly condemming whatever the Republicans say or do, yet curiously ignoring the policies (or lack thereof) issued by his Democrat masters.
"another mouthpiece", good one. who's the first, alan fucking colmes? give me a break, everyone knows that conservatives control cable news with an iron fist. the only other remotely progressive pundit on the three 24 hour networks is anderson cooper. so that's two against o'reilly, hume, hannity, cavuto, carlson, scarborough, van susteren, dobbs, beck, and matthews. maybe i'll give you larry king on the progressive side, but that's a stretch.
all of which is still beside the point: newt gingrich wants to rule america like a tyrant, and you're tacitly supporting him. good job.
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