Peace Talks With Fox Sparked Fierce Battle Within MSNBC

washingtonpost.com:

t was never intended to be a cease-fire.

The best that the men who run two of the nation's media giants were hoping to achieve was a ratcheting down of the rhetoric between their warring commentators.

Read the whole story: washingtonpost.com

Comments

[LemonMeringue]

01:27 AM on 08/10/2009

Fox News - JUST SAY NO

I am writing my favorite hotel - a great value in a congested area - to say I will not be staying with them again because they blast Fox News in the breakfast room.

If they want to present partisan propaganda to their guests, they should be prepared to lose the business of everyone who doesn't agree.

[JakeMontero]

10:53 AM on 08/09/2009

All the love for KO makes me moist ... but face it hufbots, you need ratings to have a real war.

[Paul Peete]

01:07 PM on 08/09/2009

We progressives know that the looney right, brainwashed by the talk radio conservatives who command the airwaves in "middle America" have more robots who tune in to FAUX to find out what to think.

[FHTB]

12:27 AM on 08/10/2009

Ratings are what matter on TV and radio...if you don't have it, doesn't matter what your airing, you are toast.

Truth be told, as I mentioned previously, both Fox and MSNBC end up distorting the news for the audience they seem to seek at both ends of the political spectrum...it's sometimes amusing to watch how both twist and distort the news to their liking.

[LemonMeringue]

01:28 AM on 08/10/2009

America is so dumbed down that high ratings are almost a guarantee that you are being stupid.

[fignozzle]

04:59 AM on 08/09/2009

i will follow KO, no matter what.

[LemonMeringue]

01:29 AM on 08/10/2009

As will I

[Lark817]

01:22 PM on 08/10/2009

I agree with you both. How I wish I could put it into words as clearly and honestly as Keith.

[americanalien]

04:50 PM on 08/08/2009

Keith is not a quitter like Sarah Palin. This country can not afford not having him around. Not with Republicans and right wingers getting so out of hand nowadays. We need someone to put these people in their places. Keith serves a very important purpose in our national media.

[rmct]

05:01 PM on 08/08/2009

Keith does not quit, He usually gets fired

[Jeff1958]

05:29 PM on 08/08/2009

Go away little boy.

[LiberalBuzz]

11:56 PM on 08/08/2009

Yeah sure he does T/R O ll.

[tvlandman]

10:10 PM on 08/09/2009

Republicans and "right-wingers" are not getting "out of hand"- that's just hate spewed from left-wing media sources to demonize everyone right of the left.

[Bongborg]

10:24 PM on 08/09/2009

Everyone on the right seems to be busy "demonizing" themselves just fine with no help from us. If Jesus walked up amongst them, He'd need all the pigs in New Jersey to exorcise them into.

[Tracy Hale]

03:24 PM on 08/08/2009

the 1st amendment is alive and well, and no matter how many corporations try to stifle it, it'll never end!

Way to go, Keith...give 'em he //!

[InofTouch]

09:59 PM on 08/08/2009

and apprently bill too...whoo..hoo(sarcastic)

[bayman]

02:34 PM on 08/08/2009

One correction in the Kurtz piece...Olbermann didn't go after O'Reilly, specifically, to boost ratings. No, he likes to call out liars and hypocrites, and it just so happens there's no bigger liar/hypocrite than O'Reilly.

Also, methinks Olberman DID walk out in protest. His recent 'vacation' lasted two weeks and two days. A bit odd, no? At least the first two days, and perhaps a week and two days, could reasonably be assumed to be part of a protest against the so-called 'truce'.

[FHTB]

12:33 AM on 08/10/2009

What a baby Olbermann is...it's hard to take him seriously..it's bad enough having to deal with Fox blowhards.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

02:07 PM on 08/08/2009

While others sit on their hands and do nothinng you have some impressive people out there doing their home work and pusing back against the lies:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/8/8/762288/-MSNBC-Minus-Morning-Joe-Have-Really-Been-On-Top-of-This

[blueknight41]

02:05 PM on 08/08/2009

as long as bill oh keeps running his mouth about things which is mostly crap Kieth will keep hammering back

[Servility]

05:45 PM on 08/08/2009

as long as keith oh keeps running his mouth about things which is mostly crap Bill will keep hammering back

[victor the crab]

02:38 AM on 08/09/2009

Wow, an original rebuttal! You must be really proud of yourself to come up with such a clever response! :sarcasm:

[timbonotes]

01:50 PM on 08/08/2009

If you think about it the lying, media propaganda-spewing machines such as Fox News are the utimate "white collar" criminals. They are permitted by our compromised, at times fascist, legal system to lie and profit at the same; picking the pockets of the ignorant and gullible. Such a deal, I mean steal.

Raw capitalism at its' worst.

[Acidic]

02:45 AM on 08/09/2009

Your absolutely right and we have this too big to fail attitude about it so we do nothing to change it.

[StillAmused]

12:59 PM on 08/08/2009

The purported "truce" was doomed from the start.

Ailes asked Bill-O to stop lying, and Immelt asked Olbermann to stop telling the truth.

[Phoebe917]

01:05 PM on 08/08/2009

about sums it up. :)

[ErnestineBass]

02:38 PM on 08/09/2009

GUFFAW! Well put!

[rflctammt]

12:52 PM on 08/08/2009

Again:
FOX LIES - and they went to court and won the legal right to do it:

http://www.ceasespin.org/ceasespin_blog/ceasespin_blogger_files/fox_news_gets_okay_to_misinform_public.html

"The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdock, successfully argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves."

That's right, folks. On Feb. 14, 2003 an Appeals Court in Florida ruled that "there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization." Original artical by Mike Gaddy. Published Feb. 28, 2003 (see link)

[Tracy Hale]

03:26 PM on 08/08/2009

you can thank Judge Alito for that one....it's going to take YEARS to undo all the c r a p Georgie and his ilk did.

[jellinda]

12:30 PM on 08/08/2009

KO is so obviously more intelligent, perceptive and courageous than any news "journalist" with the exception of Rachel Maddow. We so desperately need clear-eyed commentary to drag ourselves out of the dumbdowned society Bush left us with. MSNBC needs to grow some. Countdown and Rachel Maddow are all my family watches for the news. Everything else is Corporate driven propaganda.

[Max01]

01:43 PM on 08/08/2009

Agreed on all points, but what about Ed Schultz? He calls a spade, a spade.

[Tracy Hale]

03:27 PM on 08/08/2009

don't forget Randi Rhodes....now there's a gal who needs her own tv show!

[timbonotes]

05:11 PM on 08/08/2009

Unfortunately, there is no media personality who is going to solve the dumbed down problem. That is an educational problem and believe me, America has an educational problem and it's not just teachers or public schools. It has more to do with the amount of time today's youth spend watching the idiot box and a lack of parenting, i.e. both parents working mutliple jobs, one parent families, etc.

America is FUBAR!

[moana]

11:33 AM on 08/08/2009

Drama Queens! And all for ratings. BOOOOO!

[Indie2008]

11:25 AM on 08/08/2009

Olberman is one of the few corageous voices on any of the networks.

[MorningJoeMikaIsMarried]

02:19 PM on 08/08/2009

Exactly

[rflctammt]

11:21 AM on 08/08/2009

Wonder why we have so many people going sideways these days?

FOX LIES - and they went to court and won the legal right to do it:

http://www.ceasespin.org/ceasespin_blog/ceasespin_blogger_files/fox_news_gets_okay_to_misinform_public.html

"The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdock, successfully argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves."

That's right, folks. On Feb. 14, 2003 an Appeals Court in Florida ruled that "there is absolutely nothing illegal about lying, concealing or distorting information by a major press organization."
Original artical by Mike Gaddy. Published Feb. 28, 2003 (see link)

(BTW - I believe Olbermann sees his job as purveyor of the truth. Taking on Bill O is much more about that than it is about ratings - he just gets a bit of enjoyment out of it.)

[solarian]

10:38 PM on 08/08/2009

that is why our court system does not exist or fixed for the rich and connected