Posted on 02/17/2007 4:01:11 PM PST by Anti-Bubba182
Keith Olbermann's arrival as the lone commentator at NBC Nightly News is the first overt commentator NBC's hired since PBS omnipresence Bill Moyers in 1995. A quick Nexis search shows Olbermann has been very rarely on NBC News airwaves. He actually anchored NBC Nightly News as a weekend substitute on April 12, 1998 (Easter Sunday, see accompanying photo) and May 9, 1998. In recent years, he's surfaced a few times on the Today show. He was interviewed to plug his "Worst Person In the World" book last September 15. He reported on major-league shortstop Alex Rodriguez on February 16, 2004, and co-hosted the Saturday edition of Today with Campbell Brown on August 23, 2003.
In the commentary and prime-time special clauses of Olbermann's new deal, there are obvious parallels with Moyers. They are two fiercely left-wing commentators who oddly deny a liberal bias when asked by the press. In February 1995 promotional spots NBC promised: "Bold, clear, balanced and fair. Now NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw has a new dimension -- Bill Moyers." Moyers began his new duties on February 14, 1995, and NBC had no plans to provide a conservative counter-weight.
Just like the odd denials of Steve Capus that it's "really sad and pathetic" to think Olbermann tilts NBC further to the left, in February of 1995, we reported in MediaWatch that the New York Times relayed February 1 that NBC News President Andy Lack dismissed questions about Moyers' liberal bias at PBS, insisting "that perception is inside the beltway, and perhaps inside about ten blocks of New York and ten blocks of L.A. I don't think the American people give a whit about it." The same day the Baltimore Sun quoted Moyers: "I'm not in politics. I have no agenda. I'm not pushing a platform. I have no ideology." Really? In a 1989 Esquire profile Moyers tagged Newt Gingrich as "Joe McCarthy with a southern accent.............."
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Wow, couldn't they get Al Franken?
Al's busy with a senate run, but maybe he and Michael Moore can make guest appearances.
This man is a lunatic.
Think about how screwed up NBC is to hire Olbermann as a commentator.
He lacks Moyers' intelligence but certainly shares Moyers' closed-mindedness.
I'll give them credit for not pretending to be fair anymore.
"In a 1989 Esquire profile Moyers tagged Newt Gingrich as Joe McCarthy with a southern accent.............."
Joe McCarthy was right. He exposed commies like him.
I don't see how we can improve the nature of political debate in this country when a nut like this is considered a political commentator. Maybe it would be better if NBC News simply went out of business.
That, they might manage.
It's a race to the bottom. And NBC had to find a way to compete with Katie Couric.
Renewing Olbermann's contract was NBC's way of being "fair and balanced." They think Olbermann is a rightwinger.
You wouldn't think NBC could get any farther left and still be considered "mainstream", but by hiring Goebblesmann to do his unhinged rant on an acutal evening "news" program, they have gone totally moonbat. This will be good news for ABC, and maybe even good news for perky Katie. As far as NBC, it's just an overt admission that they've gone totally commie.
tagged Newt Gingrich as "Joe McCarthy with a southern accent."
He was pretty much wrong on both counts.
Absolutely. People will say that this is a case of media bias and NBC will re-visit the scene from Casablanca: "Bias? Olbermann? I'm shocked! Shocked that you would consider him anything but a completely objective journalist!"
The old media is dying. They haven't got a clue as to why.
I think the leadership of the old media is mainly urban chattering class that lives in that bubble. They have no clue.
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