Posted on 08/07/2009 9:11:08 PM PDT by iowamark
It was never intended to be a cease-fire.
The best that the men who run two of the nation's media giants were hoping to achieve was a ratcheting down of the rhetoric between their warring commentators.
But Keith Olbermann refused to play along this week...
Immelt detailed his grievances. His elderly parents in Cincinnati, he said, watch O'Reilly every night...
But the war was just beginning at MSNBC... The day after Olbermann's comments about the Tiller slaying, executives convened a large meeting and talked about Fox and the importance of striking the right on-air tone. Olbermann later expressed a willingness to make minor adjustments in his style, but he and his allies, concerned about setting a precedent, dug in for a fight. Olbermann left Zucker and executives with the impression that he might quit if the dispute wasn't resolved to his satisfaction.
Things mostly quieted down. Several MSNBC commentators ripped Fox host Glenn Beck late last month for calling President Obama a racist, but both sides felt such criticism was within bounds....
But with a GE spokesman quoted as saying the corporation was "happy" about the new "level of civility," Olbermann and others felt they could not live with the appearance of buckling under, executives say. Forty-eight hours later, Olbermann made a journalistic declaration of independence -- from his own company -- with a blistering "Worst Persons in the World" segment....
Fox felt the agreement had been shattered. "This is more of an internal issue that NBC and GE need to work through," a Fox spokesman said. Fox executives disputed the contention of some NBC officials that any understanding was amorphous. "There was an agreement for no personal attacks," one said. GE and NBC declined to comment...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
They so deserve each other.
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/generalities/was_olbermann_ready_to_quit_if_a_truce_was_called_123802.asp
“”Was Olbermann Ready to Quit if a Truce Was Called?
The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz fills in more of the gaps about the FNC/MSNBC agreement to tone down personal attacks on the cable networks’ hosts and their parent companies’ executives.
Kurtz provides more details on the discussions, first reported by TVNewser, between FNC founder and chairman Roger Ailes and GE chairman Jeff Immelt, which included a lunch at 30 Rock.
After using a side entrance to Immelt’s 53rd-floor dining room — their Manhattan buildings are a block apart — Ailes offered a blunt, if slightly jocular, diagnosis of the problem. He could control his nutcases, Ailes said, but Immelt couldn’t control his.
On June 1, the day after abortion doctor George Tiller was murdered, Olbermann punched at O’Reilly. The next night, O’Reilly punched up, at Immelt.
Immelt called Ailes the next morning, saying O’Reilly had gone way too far. Ailes was sympathetic and again said they should take a stand against personal and gratuitous attacks. The war, Ailes said, is over.
“But,” writes Kurtz, “the war was just beginning at MSNBC, where an opinionated culture is often at odds with NBC News.”
Kurtz reports that after Olbermann’s comments about the Tiller murder, “executives convened a large meeting and talked about Fox and the importance of striking the right on-air tone. Olbermann later expressed a willingness to make minor adjustments in his style, but he and his allies, concerned about setting a precedent, dug in for a fight. Olbermann left Zucker and executives with the impression that he might quit if the dispute wasn’t resolved to his satisfaction.”
Then, last Friday’s news of some sort of deal, which seemed to exacerbate the issue on-air this week.
“This is more of an internal issue that NBC and GE need to work through,” a Fox spokesman told Kurtz. “There was an agreement for no personal attacks,” a Fox executive said. GE and NBC did not comment for Kurtz’s story.””
Nothing like watching one idiot ridicule another.
I find this a little disturbing that Roger Ailes is willing to do deals with Jeffrey Immelda Marcos. Who knows what stories are being covered up?
Or might it just be, as Kurtz claims, an attempt to be more civil in tone?
Thunderdome with loofahs
http://www.redstate.com/absentee/2009/08/07/how-does-keith-olbermann-have-a-job/
How Does Keith Olbermann Have A Job?
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2009/07/28/the-ratings-trend-is-not-countdown-with-keith-olbermanns-friend/23783
The Ratings Trend Is Not Countdown With Keith Olbermann’s Friend
As long as MSNBC is the White House’s favorite network, GE doesn’t dare make changes to the lineup.
They could have expanded the headline by adding “and still jealous as hell of Rush’s success.”
Next we'll hear that they have sold their GE stock to protest the disgrace that is MSDNC.
GE has sold its soul to Obama. Is getting a multibillion deal to work on “green” projects.
Look it up on the internet.
The whole thing stinks.
This fight is a gimmick to increase ratings. Think of professional wrestling.
Exactly, Olbermann is simply a parasite living off the success of the “host” known as O’Reilly! Olbermann is simply another bloodsucking Marxist and O’Reilly should not feed the beast anymore.
Just what I was thinking. Heaven knows I can’t stand O’Borely, and it’s understood that Ubermad is a spittle-spewing rabid dog, but Ubermad is trying to gin up ratings on O’Borely’s coat tails. O’Borely himself should just ignore Ubermad and not give him the attention he craves, that’ll drive him to such heights of derangement that his head will explode on air one night.
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