Olbermann "More Like His Fox Counterpart Than He Would Care To Admit": Variety

Variety:

Whichever side you're on, there's surely plenty of narcissism to go around here -- and it raises a few troubling issues for both.

Critics have long muttered about Murdoch -- more than any other mogul -- openly using his corporate assets to buttress each other and lash out at his foes. Even if it's not an orchestrated campaign -- as opposed to like-minded foot soldiers simply knowing what the boss wants -- the collaboration by Fox News and the Post in this particular endeavor has a bilious odor and doesn't provide much comfort to nervous journalists seeking reassurance that Murdoch won't lead his newest toy, the Wall Street Journal, stumbling down a similar credibility-sapping path.

NBC News, meanwhile, risks allowing its talk-driven personalities -- the mother's milk of cable, where loud and inexpensive is the formula -- to eclipse what little solid journalism the news division still generates. And while it was initially amusing watching Olbermann playfully try to nudge O'Reilly off the deep end, there's a significant difference between that and self-indulgently using his forum as a pulpit to bash enemies, which actually makes him more like his Fox counterpart than he would care to admit.

To borrow a phrase from his sports days, there really is such a thing as too "inside baseball."

Read the whole story: Variety

Comments

[whatsthatsound]

They have completely different styles. KO gets angry at the person he is talking to/about (usually our beloved POTUS) even though the target of his wrath is not actually there. Bill-O, on the other hand, gets angry at a person who IS, in fact, there, but he usually gets angry about something that has nothing to do with what they just said.

KO: You, Mr. Bush, CAN NOT say that, NOT after what you've done blah blah blah

BO: You don't even know what you're TALKING about! You want Osama Bin Laden for president, and illegal aliens in the House of Representatives! You're sick!
other person: Uh, Bill, I'm talking about the new Indiana Jones movie...
BO: (volume up to eleven this time) You don't know what you're TALKING about!!!

How can Variety miss these subtle differences?

[eugenegerard]

The difference is like light and dark, truth and lies, and sanity and psychosis.

[PrinceHal]

Well, sure. Sooner or later, some wiseacre was bound to say Keith is getting to be "like O'Reilly." And gee, what a downright awful thing to say, if it were anything like the truth. But the rub is that Keith is 92.5 percent right and Billo is 92.5 percent full of it 100 percent of the time.

It occurs to me that politics may not be Variety's long suit.

[bmora]

He sure is shaking up the industry when you have the full court press of the CorporateRight Wing Media beating on his door. KO rocks the Casba.

[RedWolverine]

If Olbermann ever invited ONE guest who disagreed with him, he would get destroyed.

[Christober]

As opposed to what? Bringing on guests with whom you talk over and tell to shut up? BTW there have been plenty of O'Reilly guests who have destroyed him. Like it or not it's true. You can find the transcripts at BillO'Reillysucks .com. Furthermore, Olbermann's show isn't like O'Reilly's anyway you know... the format and all? Go away troll.

[Raymondf]

Please don't say that in the same breath. Oreilly has more intellegence in his little finger, than Olbermann has in his whole body including brain.

[fiduciaryatlarge]

First time i've seen Oreilly and intelligence in the same sentence.

[WarrenChristmas]

You wonder how this country placed a useless wastrel like Bush in office for 8 years, then you read something like this.

Suddenly it makes sense.

[luckyoldson]

"Oreilly has more intellegence in his little finger, than Olbermann has in his whole body including brain."

Now that's what I call an intelligent. well executed critique.

[econdr]

I like olbermann but not as much as i used to.

he's getting a bit preachy and self-righteous, like billo

[sed68]

If the goal is to create a counterpoint to FOX, drawing the same kind of audience with the countering political view (i.e. partisan) then Olberman is hitting the mark along with Hardball and "Race to the White House." KO is probably the most partisan and tedious, while Rachel Maddow tries to be the most objective but even she asks leading straw-man style questions and presents events in a skewed, partisan light.

The most annoying aspect of these shows is the format. It is *not* the presentation of objective facts and analyses, but rather people yelling opinions over one another, ranting and interrupting. It's more like spending happy hour at Plough and Stars (bar on Capitol Hill) listening to people yell their opinions over the din than watching a news program.

The only example approaching clear, honest in-depth journalism on t.v. these days is the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and it's gone down hill in recent years. I understand the strategy of left- and right-wing counterposed cable stations but it sure is hard to watch, too annoying.

[tippy6]

I concur. I've decided to avoid both of these shows because I found watching them very tiring and irritating. There was no intellectual debate, just a bunch of whining and arguing. Watching people with differing viewpoints debate can be engaging and thought provoking, but watching them just scream at each other is boring and tiresome. KO and BO are nothing better than a couple of circus ringleaders.

[lvogt]

Clearly they are both strident, articulate partisans. The one point I will give O'Reilly over Olberman is he has people who disagree with him on his show. Olberman just interviews people who will make his point for him. However, the more important point is Olberman is honest and O'Reilly is not.

[bmora]

How does the saying go: You don't show up to a gun fight with a knife. We are blessed to KO on the air.

[mindlessmissy]

I can bet on 1 sure thing ... If McCain wins in November KO will definitely quit broadcasting ... However Obama is going to win so I can also bet on the fact that he is going to take a chill pill after Bush is Gone ...

[lvogt]

No. TV talkers actually do better when they can rail against the system. Limbaugh made his career bashing Clinton.

[researcher]

you miss the whole point a mc cain win will make KO a national hero

he better hope and pray mc war wins his income will double

americans are one unhappy group just ranked 16th in a happy scale

who ranked first? a socialist country

americans hang on to your capitalist war mongering mentality

ie brain washed americans going to stick with capitalism while it takes them down the tubes

even the happy tube

even the liberals talk up capitalism; dumb as the neo cons

at least the neo cons are not spineless like the liberals

[swift goat pet for truth]

The difference is that KO is the ONLY progressive with a regular show.
Its interesting to me to hear ANYONE on TV take that point of view.

That said, lately I have been thinking he needs to be taken down a peg.

That said, he is still way better than anyone else I have seen.

[kelzk]

I completely agree.

[not one of the sheep]

You mean Olbermann is still on the air? Man, if I hadn't seen this blog I wouldn't have known since his ratings are right up there with reruns of Gilligans Island, well maybe not that good.

[Butler71]

Much rather see a rerun of Gilligans I over the Obie's show, all he does is yell and make up the news. Billy yells and carries on but he actually interviews people with substance from both sides of the aisle, Obie doesn't.

[lvogt]

Actually, not true. His ratings are on a consistent upward trajectory and he beats O'Reilly in the most lucrative audience demographic. 18-54 I believe. O'Reilly has legions of the elderly to win the rating for total numbers.

[manndan]

O'Reilly viewers are old cranks listening to the head old crank.

[larry278]

Question for Bile O'Really: if MSNBC is a left wing smear site which is into character assissanitation, is FAUX NOISE the right wing version of MSNBC or is FAUX much worse than MSNBC? VARIETY says that the his Keithship is starting to resemble his Bileship. His Keithship has more hair than his Bileship. His Keathship doesn't grimace & foam at the mouth when he speaks as his Bileship does. His Keithship isn't a master at hectoring & doesn't dispatch crews of a hungry, clumsy producer, camera & sound people to play gotcha with those who don't agree with his Keithship but his Bileship is a past master at hectoring & still sends out a hungry, clumsy producer & crew to record it when they try to play gotcha with Bile's critics. It is fun to watch it when Bile's gotcha crew's fumbling, stumbling, stammering, stuttering & hauling ass from the scene as Bile's intended victims turn the tables on Bile's gotcha crews are put on the feed of FAUX's rivals. His Kiethship chooses to be arch & smarmy; his Bileship is snotty, snide in the manner of the villans of silent flicks.
How does his Keithship resemble his Bileship? VARIETY can do better than publishing a vague, short few paragraphs to establish that his Keithship is starting to resemble his Bileship. The VARIETY of 2008 doesn't have the brio of 1929's VARIETY famed for the "Wall St Lays an Egg" response to Wall St's crash. Hollywood based sites with acerbic

[imajoebob]

KO' rants have become more strident, and time that used to be devoted to fleshing out stories is too often spent with analysts saying, "That's right, Keith!" As more time is spent on chasing the right wing demons, the show becomes less watchable.

They've even cut out one story, substituting "Worst Person" for #2. It used to take 60 seconds, now it takes about 3 minutes. He's taken 3 15 second jabs and turned them into full length diatribes. That's not entertaining, it's tedious.

The saving grace for Olbermann is that his bloviating is based in fact - though he's not above leaving out the occasional contradictory information. BillO is just based in an alternate reality.

Phil Griffin needs to get a new producer for Countdown. One who can tighten the show's stories, do a better job of selecting the topics (Tonight: another story about John McCain being old! and Hillary: Funny, she doesn't look shrewish."­), providing a better variety of analysts, and most importantly, ride herd on KO to keep him from imploding himself and the show.

[cedricryan]

Hear!~ Hear! I completely agree... and must admit, I have stopped watching!

[Oldtimer]

Keith does get tedious but I still watch him because he is based in facts. I want my TV to spew
material based on facts and the only place I can find that it Keith Olbermann and Jon Stewart.
I agree that a new producer could tighten up the diatribes and I don't like the increase in off
camera laughter - it seems contrived. The TV landscape was so barren of reality based
comment for sooo so long that Keith Olbermann became a sensation to those who are aware
of this. And now I suggest we all read David Sorota's piece about the media. It's perfect.