Keith Olbermann Skewers Howard Kurtz For Roger Ailes Article (VIDEO)

Keith Olbermann lashed out at Newsweek's Howard Kurtz for what he called a dishonest, enabling interview with Fox News CEO Roger Ailes.

Kurtz drew wide attention Monday for his piece on Ailes, which suggested that the cable news honcho had begun shifting Fox News away from some of its more hard-right leanings:

While Fox reporters ply their trade under Ailes's much-mocked "fair and balanced" banner, the opinion arm of the operation has been told to lower the temperature. After the Gabrielle Giffords shooting triggered a debate about feverish rhetoric, Ailes ordered his troops to tone things down. It was, in his view, a chance to boost profits by grabbing a more moderate audience.

Olbermann called this a "fanciful" notion, and pointed out that several Fox News anchors had recently devoted coverage to a paper clip that President Obama had used to hold a speech together. He also mocked the idea that Glenn Beck had, in Ailes' words, become a "branding issue" for Fox News.

"If you're endangering the Fox brand, you must be carrying the bubonic plague," OIbermann said. He wondered how Kurtz could have "mistaken" Ailes' real efforts, which he said were to help choose the next GOP candidate for president and to get huge ratings in the process.

Olbermann also talked to Daily Kos editor Markos Moulitsas about the article. He called the Kurtz piece "the essence of journalistic dishonesty," and said that it reflected the same "enabling process that allowed Fox News to get where it is."

WATCH:

Comments

[somearelost]

10:23 AM on 09/29/2011

Once again Olberfool barely misses out on the top 30 cable news shows for the month of September. Ok....so he missed it by 250,000 but who's counting.

[frameofmind2]

12:09 PM on 09/29/2011

Go get em tiger!

[americanalien]

05:04 AM on 09/29/2011

Articles about Keith always garner thousands of comments despite conservative claims that nobody cares what he has to say. There is something about Keith that just gets under the skin of conservatives. They can't stand him. But that's a plus... that's precisely why normal people love him.

[wro2996725]

03:12 AM on 09/29/2011

How does someone who no one watches "skewer" people at a network. Keith you are embarrasing yourself wherever you are but bless you for trying to be a part of things that you have been booted from

[CynAnne]

03:00 AM on 09/29/2011

For a very long time, Keith was a literal 'voice in the wilderness­­­­­', tirelessly reporting the criminal shenanigan­­­­­s being perpetrate­­­­­d by Bu$hCo and their cronies, while the rest of the American MSM quivered and shivered in silent acquiescen­­­­­ce to the 'Dissent = Turrurist Sympathize­­­­­r' proclamati­­­­­on issued by the former Administra­­­­­tion (and cheered on ad nauseam by the Cluster-Fox minions). Their cowed, shameful silence should be skewered mercilessl­­­­­y for eons, not Keiths "Tell the truth, and shame the devil(s)" honesty (loud at times, yes, perhaps...­­­­­but ALWAYS truthful).

[RonoldisMagnus]

07:35 PM on 09/28/2011

If Olberman "Skewers" somebody and there is nobody watching, did it really happen?

[Rolex Rider]

06:29 PM on 09/28/2011

........and yet again, no one noticed.

Keith who?

[bhaines213]

02:11 PM on 09/29/2011

Obviously you noticed enough to click on the article and post a comment.

[iknowscottyknows]

05:41 PM on 09/28/2011

Keith, where art thou?

We hardly cared to know ye.

[zoiebear]

11:32 PM on 09/28/2011

wow your ignorance staggers the mind!

[Highly Opinionated]

03:05 PM on 09/28/2011

Does Keith still broadcast out of Mommy's basement?

[Ron in NYC]

03:04 PM on 09/28/2011

Wow! We now know how to piss off a Republican. Mention Keith Olbermann's name.

[bhaines213]

02:14 PM on 09/29/2011

Yes. The wing-nuts are drawn to articles about Keith Olbermann like moths to a flame. It seems like they just can’t help themselves. It’s like and obsession.

[Ron in NYC]

02:43 PM on 09/28/2011

Judging from some of the comments here, Olbermann really gets under the skin of those WingNuts. Hee hee. Truth hurts, huh?

[dgosha]

05:38 PM on 09/28/2011

It's not that really.

Sane people just don't like to listen to a raving lunatic day after day.

[1highstepper]

11:13 PM on 09/28/2011

I knew what you mean. That's why I don't watch Faux news.

[iknowscottyknows]

05:42 PM on 09/28/2011

He used to be annoying. Now he's invisible.

[Waveskiboy]

06:10 AM on 09/29/2011

TAGGED: Idiot Pst!

[somearelost]

10:16 AM on 09/29/2011

correct

[Eagleman]

02:34 PM on 09/28/2011

Feel sorry for this guy..
Needs to trash people around to keep himself afloat so we don't forget him.

Hope he gained one or two viewer for such occasional pukes...

[RonoldisMagnus]

07:37 PM on 09/28/2011

Keep himself afloat? Hes on Al Gores' irrelevant network for heavens sake.

[nlkennedy]

06:40 AM on 09/29/2011

Atleast he's on the telly, and not hosting a web show. Like that puffy Glenn Buck, or whatever his name is. Spongey Crybaby with glasses is what I know him as. You tell me.

[dgosha]

01:47 PM on 09/28/2011

After careful analysis, I have determined that Olberman is AT LEAST the intellectual equal of Joy Behar.

And just as honest.

[flkewlkid00]

01:33 PM on 09/28/2011

when i hear the words fox news integrity is not a word that comes to mind it is more murdoch newscorp hacking scandal kind of words

[Jackal 99]

11:47 AM on 09/28/2011

Molderman knows all about "the essence of journalistic dishonesty" he's been practicing it ever since he lost his gig as a second rate sportscaster. Where is he these days anyway? Oh that's right- Algore.TV.

[Stavo]

01:06 PM on 09/28/2011

Poor silly rightwingers.....so glad that Mr. Olberman knows how to push your buttons. lol

[dgosha]

01:52 PM on 09/28/2011

See, a liberal like you can't even interpret the tone of a paragraph correctly. Where is the "buttons pushed" attitude in Jackal 99's post?

[frankerin]

10:53 AM on 09/28/2011

I used to think Hertz was a reliable media critic, not that anything said pro or con against the media has an iota of effect or power other than fill a time slot. But for him to pay any attention to the unterstandentenfeurerr for anything useful is another step down, even lower than becoming a cnn minion. The otherman is nuts.