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.............."
NBC? Seriously, I think the last time I watched anything on NBC was an episode of ER, probably about 3 or 4 years ago.
It used to be, back in the 80's that Thursday night was pretty much dedicated to NBC's entertainment division. IIRC, there was Cosby, Night Court, and Hill Street Blues. There were other good shows on as well.
But then, back then, I wasn't really that interested in the "News." I do recall NBC running a number of faked "News" stories... Like pickup trucks that were supposed to explode when involved in an accident: The problem was that they couldn't get the trucks to do it for their "investigation." So they rigged the trucks with incendiary devices. Or another story about the environment, about how all life was being killed off in a river, or some such... But they didn't actually have any evidence. So they used some "stock footage" of a huge fishkill, and made believe that the footage was from the investigation. There were some others as well. I believe that for gun control, they showed some local sheriff talking about the difference between "hunting rifles" and "assualt weapons." 2 rifles, one bolt action .223, and one AR-15 .223 were fired at melons. When shot by the AR-15, the melon exploded. When shot by the bolt action, the melon didn't even move. On detailed inspection of the video run on the air, it seem that the sheriff MISSED the melon with the bolt action rifle. Any 3 year old should be able to figure out that if you shoot something with the same cartridge fired from 2 different guns, you'll get nearly the exact same result. Actually, this last one may be from CNN, I'm not 100% sure. I can't remember with 100% certainty.
Mark
Boy, I hope they end up as screwed as CBS when they hired that bimbo.
I doubt if they see it this way, but that is what is happening. The last election was encouraging to them.
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