I begin with this: except for CNN, which makes an honest effort to report real news, cable news in America has let the nation down. If Joe McCarthy had a reality television show on NBC, I wonder if NBC would have promoted McCarthy then the same way it promotes Donald Trump and his campaign for birthers and bigots now?
Cable news in general has turned American democracy into a freak show, where bigots and nuts receive a free megaphone, where shills and hacks parade to the cameras to treat the audience like idiots, dishing out spin that many of them don't even believe, where serious issues are not treated in serious ways while celebrity fluff is force-fed to small audiences who often turn elsewhere for news and information.
Now, here come Al Gore, one of the preeminent statesmen of our times, recipient of both the Nobel Peace Prize and the Academy Award, among many other well deserved honors.
And, here comes Keith Olbermann, the highly rated former host of MSNBC, who unveils his new show on Current TV in June, a moment I for one eagerly await.
Olbermann at his best carries the standard of Edward R. Murrow, speaking truth to power with a fearless integrity. Olbermann not at his best is just another cable leftie endlessly reminding viewers which righties he despises.
Here is what is interesting and important about the new Gore-Olbermann venture in cable news:
Olbermann has expressed concern, as I and many others have, about the influence of corporate ownership of news media. Until Gore entered the picture it was impossible to fully quantify the impact of corporate ownership of news.
Now, Olbermann's corporate owner will effectively be Al Gore and Gore's company. This is the first time in the history of news when corporate ownership of news will reside in the hands of a statesmen and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and Academy Award.
For Keith Olbermann, this is beyond the opportunity of a lifetime. Keith will be unchained from even the slightest hint of corporate interference in news. As the U.S. Army says, Keith will have the opportunity to be all that he can be, and news will have the opportunity to be all that it can be, at a moment when more than 70% of the nation does not trust television news, according to Gallup.
If Keith raises the standards of cable news, the sky is the limit in terms of quality, and ratings, and credibility, and influence.
If Keith essentially repeats his MSNBC show on Current TV, with minor changes, it will simply mean that Current TV and MSNBC will divide MSNBC's current ratings in half, and suggest that the problem never was corporate interference, but is rooted in the culture of what is called cable news today.
For Al Gore, the moment will also have lasting meaning because it will visibly define the "Gore brand". I am not sure whether Gore thinks about this, or cares about this, but we will soon learn what happens to cable news when the ownership is not interested in promoting the reality show of a bigot, or becoming an appendage of the Republican party, but rests in the hands of a Nobel Laureate and Academy Award recipient.
The possibilities are endless if the Current TV mission succeeds at a time when cable news is either distrusted or ignored by a most of the nation, when there is a global yearning for serious news and information about the United States and the world, when the new technologies of social networking and interactive media create enormous opportunity to expand and bring together the universe of news consumers who are not the idiots that many in cable television believe they are.
Will Keith Olbermann unchained from corporate influence lift the standards of cable news and bring new viewers to the table? Will ownership by a Nobel Laureate raise both the quality and commercial clout of cable news? Or will the cable news freak show just continue with one new entrant into a playing field that most Americans do not trust, or watch?
Oh, and Academy Awards are a criteria for 'integrity' now? Umm, I always thought one of the criticisms of news reporting was the marriage of the entertainment and news divisions? How else can one explain the attention and reporting of (what should be) trivial 'news' items like who will occupy a regular network's news anchor position? Give me a break to all this!
Olbermann is what he is. He was given a free reign to do what he wanted on his show, and he went off the deep end. He's STILL spewing out his obsession for all things Fox News on the 'Web and Twitter sites he controls. Him and Gore appear to be a match made in Hollywood. As well know, they don't have an audience of any note! Olbermann will long for the days he had the (pitiful) audience share he had at MSNBC!
Here's a relevant question i didn't see offered in this column: will Gore allow any perspectives or views he doesn't personally endorse? MSNBC USED to offer a compelling lineup. They offered host who truly spanned the political spectrum. many of those now on Fox News were contributors and frequent guests on MSNBC shows. Will Gore's network offer such diversity? If he is the owner of it, he is free to do as he wishes. But he is not going to hold up as a 'statesmen' of the TV airwaves if he's just going to see to it that what is presented are the usual one way and one sided offering we can already access on MSNBC.
Give me a break!
You seem to care enough about Bo Diddley. Dig this!
A 5-year, $14 mil study of U.S. adult literacy involving interviews of U.S. adults, the most comprehensive study of literacy ever commissioned by the U.S. government was released in April 2002. It involved lengthy interviews of over 90,700 adults statistically balanced for age, gender, ethnicity, education level, and location (urban, suburban, or rural) in 12 states across the U.S. and was designed to represent the U.S. populace as a whole. The gov't study showed that 21% to 23% of adult Americans were not "able to locate information in text", could not "make low-level inferences using printed materials", and were unable to "integrate easily identifiable pieces of information." It is unfortunate that you find it shameful that Bo Diddley was illiterate. All of us close to him knew it and also knew he was smart and highly creative. Bo’s success and influence is a testament to the fact that creative genius can overcome many obstacles. The shame that is attached to illiteracy is one of the obstacles to confront when trying to identify those who cannot read and write, and people like you perpetuate that belief. Unfortunately, there are people who use the fact that someone cannot read and write as a way to take advantage of that person as the case with Bo Diddley clearly illustrates.
By: Marian Nesbitt and Scott Smith aka Bo Digitally
I missed 8 pm , hope they replay it later tonight.
Good luck to COUNTDOWN