In Depth: Olbermann/O’Reilly: What’s Next?
The Orlando Sentinel’s Hal Boedeker looks at what what it all could mean for MSNBC and FNC now that the “feud cease fire” genie is out of the bottle…
Are Olbermann and O’Reilly merely well-compensated entertainers and spinmeisters? Or do they perform a valuable function in speaking truth to power? How do they see themselves?
If the corporations are dictating what these hosts can say about the competition, what else have G.E. and News Corp. demanded that these hosts and their colleagues avoid?
Love him or hate him, Olbermann led the way on television in criticizing the George W. Bush and his administration. G.E. evidently never asked Olbermann to pull back on that, but now it wants Olbermann to quit O’Reilly. Ah, the corporate thin skins! These nitwits would put a price tag on the First Amendment.
Do Olbermann and O’Reilly see any danger in what’s happening? Something sacred it at stake. People have died for the right to say what they think. Is delivering an opinion on cable news these days just theater or what you truly believe?
Will Olbermann go along with the pact? A friend said this week it’s about time for Olbermann, who has history of leaving jobs, to get fed up and move on.
Boedeker is being a tad melodramatic here. A cease fire isn’t the end of the world or a free press. And don’t conflate the end of taking shots at your competition with the end of a free press either. All news organizations have standards and practices…things you can and cannot say on the air. Each news channel has its own customized version of that. So from the very beginning the “free press” is not really free. It’s only as free as the organization will allow itself to be.
In that regard, a change in how MSNBC and FNC treat each other over the air is just another example of the evolving world of standards and practices. It’s not some defining moment in the history of the American Media.
All that said, Boedeker has a point in regards to how Olbermann and O’Reilly are impacted by this deal. The downside is worse for Olbermann, though not as much as it would have been like a year and a half ago; back before Olbermann came out of his liberal closet. Before that he was more known as the thorn in O’Reilly’s side. Now he’s more known for being one of the “stars” of the progressive movement in the media. He’s changed one title for another.
But both Olbermann and O’Reilly have built reputations on being known for speaking their minds. Now that reputation has been negated by corporate meddling. But it’s only really become a PR nightmare for Olbermann, O’Reilly, News Corp., and GE because News Corp. and GE didn’t put a stop to this when they could have. Or should have.
It got so big with so much posturing on both sides that it had taken on this larger than life aspect, which was played up to the hilt by the press (and blogs like TVN, ICN, etc, etc) who like a good spat. We all share some responsibility in letting things get this out of hand. But, ultimately, the ones who could have nipped it in the bud, didn’t.
So now we are faced with the repercussions of that inaction. O’Reilly and Olbermann will look like they got muzzled. It will hurt Olbermann worse than O’Reilly because Olbermann was the far more tenacious instigator and O’Reilly’s response to Olbermann, his attacking of GE, was widely, and correctly, seen as a not at all clandestine attempt at payback. In other words, Olbermann’s attack on O’Reilly was based on genuine hatred. Update: Ok, maybe hatred is too strong a term, as one commenter complained about, but nobody could credibly argue that Olbermann had no feelings regarding O’Reilly. O’Reilly’s attack on GE, on the other hand, was only blowback due to Olbermann’s attacks and O’Reilly never would have gone on his GE crusade, certainly not to the degree he has, if it wasn’t for Olbermann.
News Corp and particularly GE will be seen as interfering in their respective TV News divisions. But that’s only because the news divisions themselves sat back and did nothing while the war between the two antagonists spiraled out of control. The blame for this lies more in NBC’s camp than FNC’s since Olbermann was the instigator. Early on FNC/O’Reilly couldn’t handle it. First O’Reilly tried some stupid stunts, like the “Get Donahue back on the air” petition, which blew up spectacularly, and predictably, in O’Reilly’s face. This was followed by a period of quiet from O’Reilly. But after a couple of months, O’Reilly was back at it, first criticizing NBC News, which didn’t go anywhere really, and then later seizing on criticizing GE, which had a real effect. Nobody at NBC cared, certainly not to the degree that they would do anything about it, until GE got dragged in.
In that respect, it could be viewed that O’Reilly won the war because his campaign on GE had the desired effect. It forced the muzzling of Olbermann.
August 1, 2009 at 9:19 am
Oh don’t be silly. Picking on rival networks (KO & BOR) and dredging up conspiracy theories (Dobbs) aren’t exactly exemplary examples of free speech. All journalists have to listen to the boss.
August 1, 2009 at 9:56 am
You directing that “don’t be silly” comment at me or Boedeker? I never said that what Olbermann and O’Reilly were doing amounted to free speech…
August 1, 2009 at 10:08 am
“In other words, Olbermann’s attack on O’Reilly was based on genuine hatred.”
So, now you’re in Olbermann’s head and you can conclusively state that you know what his motivations are? Yeah, okay. You have no more idea of his motivations than most of the idiot right-wingers that post here.
Your “analysis” is truly breathtaking.
August 1, 2009 at 10:08 am
Sorry, Spud. A little too early for specificity out of me. It’s directed at Boedeker acting as if news readers/opiners never have to back off something at the boss’s request.
August 1, 2009 at 10:11 am
So, now you’re in Olbermann’s head and you can conclusively state that you know what his motivations are? Yeah, okay. You have no more idea of his motivations than most of the idiot right-wingers that post here.
Come on. You don’t have to be a mind reader to see that the sheer scope and tenacity of Olbermann’s attacks on O’Reilly go beyond some mere enfatuation or passing fancy. It crossed the personal line long ago. You don’t go there if you’re totally disinterested.
August 1, 2009 at 10:17 am
That said, maybe hatred is too strong a term.
August 1, 2009 at 10:19 am
Of course Olbermann’s attacks on O’Reilly are based, to some degree, on real hatred (“intense dislike” if you want a less loaded word) and not artifice. He’s been pretty explicit in stating that O’Reilly’s journalism (as Olbermann sees it) is a disgrace and he’s also stated that Fox News has done more harm to the country than the KKK.
Those are pretty strong feelings, it seems to me.
As Spud argues, he’s not been faking it.
August 1, 2009 at 10:43 am
Spud, there’s no question Olbermann benefited greatly from the “war”, but in the end, O’Reilly won. He has no halted the attacks, his ratings are as high as ever, and GE took a big PR hit in the process.
Olbermann’s main goal was to eventually overtake O’Reilly in the ratings. That hasn’t come close to happening.
August 1, 2009 at 10:50 am
I disagree with your premise that Olbermann’s goal in attacking O’Reilly was to overtake him in the ratings. When Olbermann started attacking O’Reilly nobody outside the blogs was paying attention. And it didn’t move his ratings much. His ratings moved when he came out of his liberal closet. In other words, Olbermann’s “war” created buzz. His becoming a publicly avowed lefty created ratings. Not enough to topple O’Reilly of course but enough to put CNN in trouble, which was always the immediate goal.
And people are forgetting one aspect. The deal, as I understand it, was that FNC would not stop all criticism and neither would MSNBC. But the direct feud between Olbermann and O’Reilly would be throttled back hard.
August 1, 2009 at 11:11 am
KO’s goal was to call out comments he deemed genuinely offensive. You don’t have to agree with him, but he’s not trying accomplish anything other than tell the truth as he sees it. Same for BOR.
August 1, 2009 at 11:17 am
KO’s goal was to call out comments he deemed genuinely offensive.
Yep, for good or bad, right or wrong, he’s not been faking it.
Of course, it doesn’t make much sense, it seems to me, to condemn the inflammatory and ugly rhetoric by Limbaugh and O’Reilly and then make equally ugly comments.
Bill Moyers asked him this very question. To wit, “What’s the difference between the harsh rhetoric of Limbaugh and your own rhetoric?”
“Mine are better written, ” Olbermann answered.
Cute, but not really much of a response, Keith.
August 1, 2009 at 12:30 pm
“In that respect, it could be viewed that O’Reilly won the war because his campaign on GE had the desired effect. It forced the muzzling of Olbermann.”
Uh….you think, Spud…
O’Reilly not only muzzled Olbermann, he spectacularly maneuvered GE/MSNBC into illustrating his thesis about where the buck ultimately stops at MSNBC.
It stops at Immelt when he’s afraid of losing that Obama Administration buck.
Now THAT is a picture that speaks louder than all the “special comments” from Olbermann and all the darts and disses from Shuster, Maddow, and Matthews towards Murdoch and Fox News.
And yes, as someone who has made it his business to rail on media-government collusion by pointing at FNC and the Bush Administration for eight years, Olbermann is most certainly in a tougher position than O’Reilly, by continuing at a network that cared about professional standards between colleagues only after O’Reilly shined a light on its fiscal interests.
August 1, 2009 at 12:41 pm
It stops at Immelt when he’s afraid of losing that Obama Administration buck.
I’m not sure that was the motivation as much as the exposure by O’Reilly of GE’s business contracts, however tenuous, with Iran.
That, and the public backlash, had to sting. Badly.
Olbermann clearly tried to counter by attacking Roger Ailes and then Rupert Murdoch (including the Ozzie accent which Murdoch, of course, doesn’t have) but couldn’t gain much traction.
With Bush and the Republicans out of power, Olbermann’s target environment is diminishing rapidly. Take out O’Reilly and Fox and he’s left with what? Limbaugh again?
The biggest loser in this, as you point out, is Olbermann.
My guess is he’ll walk before the year is over.
August 1, 2009 at 1:06 pm
No, folks, Olbermann’s goal was not merely to call O’Reilly out on comments that he “deemed genuinely offensive”…
Olbermann’s goal was to demolish O’Reilly personally, as well as professionally, by calling him buffoon, a bozo and a vicarious murderer and rapist.
It was to make him the fodder of worst awards and puppet theater. It was to belittle him, marginalize him, and heinously insult him, all the while harboring an explicitly professed grudge against O’Reilly’s employer and a professional interest in O’Reilly’s undoing via sharing a time slot with him.
Spare me the stuff about Olbermann highly selective sensibilities when it comes to his being genuinely offended about anything. O’Reilly’s existence genuinely offends Keith Olbermann.
August 1, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Olbermann’s goal was to demolish O’Reilly personally, as well as professionally, by calling him buffoon, a bozo and a vicarious murderer and rapist.
And how is that different to what he does to just about anyone who he deems to have violated whatever standard of the day he has established?
E.g., Fox News isn’t just a danger, no, it’s “a greater danger than the KKK”; Bush isn’t just bad, no, he’s a “fascist monster”; the Republicans aren’t just scaring people, no, they’re “the leading terror group in America”.
Ridiculing, mocking, smearing, lampooning….it’s in his DNA.
Limbaugh’s too. Twins separated at birth?
Hey, I’m a birther too.
August 1, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Hoisted on his own rhetorical petard!
Olbermann IS “the biggest loser”.
August 1, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I think it would be fair for KO to continue calling-out BO on his shortcomings. What I don’t think is “fair and balanced” is BO choosing to target GE and Immelt. Why not take on KO? Of course he would be more boring than usual if he did so. KO’s shots at BO are usually just replaying BO’s jibberish and hate.
If there is a deal I would still expect KO to use his blogging ability to keep the fire burning. At least I think he should.
August 1, 2009 at 8:10 pm
If not for orielly.fox,bush,cheney,palin,all consrvatives,republicans,hannity he would not have a show. that,s all he does is to trash them. At first i thought he was bateing them to mention him on fox because the few times they did he made sure to show the clip on his show. His ststement was that he has finally made it with the big boys. He seeed proud that fox had at last given him recognition.
August 1, 2009 at 8:28 pm
olbermann ruined only himself at the conventions cris mathews and ob were sicking, thet acted like they could eat the obamas. then at the republican convention they acted like a– holes. they try to batter all conservatives esp. the palins, i think most reasonable people can see what they are. I believe msnbc will put the republicans back in power with their liberal opinionated statements certainly they are not reporting anything that i have seen. I watch msnbc cnn and fox so i see what is reporting and what is B.S.
August 2, 2009 at 4:58 am
I thought I’d post this article from Salon. A very interesting read not only about KO/BOR but if you scroll down further about the relationship between Richard Wolfe guest hosting Countdown & his new position for a Washington Lobbying Firm…Public Strategies.
Here’s the link:
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/01/ge/
August 2, 2009 at 5:57 am
So here’s the deal. Olbermann used the death of Dr. Tiller as a cover story to “quarantine” O’Reilly when really he’d been ordered by the network executives not to mention him. In other words, he lied. And used the death of someone to do it. As awful as Bill O’Reilly may be (and I think he’s plenty despicable), Olbermann is just as bad, if not worse.
August 2, 2009 at 11:07 am
Ouchboy, try capital letters to begin sentences and for names. Might want to work on that spelling, too. This isn’t frickin Twitter.
August 2, 2009 at 5:00 pm
@ joeremi just like you ,olbermann and shuster to judge someone becase of their spelig.
August 2, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Ouchboy, I’m judging your laziness with capital letters and spellcheck, but mostly I’m just bustin’ your chops for being a ranting right wing wacko. It’s a hobby of mine.
August 2, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Heh.
August 2, 2009 at 7:11 pm
@ Joeremi, A right wing is a part of a bird or airplane. Everybody is a conservative thou, theres not such thing as a liberal actually. A so called liberal is somebody that only sees thing one way, their way or no way. So called liberals get mad if they don’t get things their way, so to me that makes them a conservative wacko, not a right wing or a left wing.
August 3, 2009 at 5:03 am
@ Joeremi, A right wing is a part of a bird or airplane. Everybody is a conservative thou, theres not such thing as a liberal actually. A so called liberal is somebody that only sees thing one way, their way or no way. So called liberals get mad if they don’t get things their way, so to me that makes them a conservative wacko, not a right wing or a left wing.
ouchboy…huh??? I’m a conservative & I’m still confused after reading your explanation of conservatism & liberalism. Also, as Joe mentioned please use some punctuation, capital letters, and proper spelling as it is extremely difficult to read/follow your postings. No one is asking for perfection however continually misspelled words & very little capitalization dramatically detracts from your point of view.
August 3, 2009 at 9:43 am
@ chipsohio, if you are confused it seems to me that you are the one with a problem. Don’t reply back to me if its to hard for you to read. thanks.
August 3, 2009 at 12:44 pm
ur welcum.
August 3, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Joe…hey buddy. I think it’s time for us two middle aged guys to ignore this person.
See, another instance where a conservative and a liberal can agree.
August 3, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Chips, I’m trying…but…resistence…futile. You’d think I would have learned my lesson with LareeImusMalkin.