Saturday, January 22, 2011

MSNBC Fires Keith Olbermann

Back in early November I wrote about the fear that MSNBC might take a hard lurch to the right if Comcast's take over of NBC was approved and former Bush fundraiser Steve Burke (pictured at left) was placed at the helm of MSNBC. Sadly, such fears were apparently justified as evidenced by Keith Olbermann's departure from MSNBC which Olbermann announced last night. As I indicated in November, the boyfriend and I have been faithful in watching MSMBC, but if the management wants to kill the cutting edge and much needed investigative approach of Olbermann and Maddow - who may be next in Burke's cross hairs - then our viewing habits will change and MSNBC can kiss out loyalty goodbye. John Aravosis at America Blog is unhappy as well and here our some highlights (make sure you sign the petition backing Olbermann):
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Keith says he was told "this is going to be the last edition of your show." Here's the rather curt statement from MSNBC.
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Wow. Not a smart move by MSNBC. More than a few folks on Twitter, and elsewhere, are noting the interesting coincidence of Comcast being given approval to take over NBC just three days ago. Rather interesting timing. It's also interesting that the Republicans take over the House and suddenly Keith is gone - perhaps MSNBC has decided it wants more conservatives, or at least to lose its fiercest liberals.
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If I were CNN, I'd hire him fast. This is the kind of energy and intellect CNN needs in its evening shows (not that it doesn't have some good talent). But Olbermann knows TV. And he's no Glenn Beck, but at the same time is a perfect counterpoint to the Becks of the world.
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Again, it looks like my days of tuning into MSNBC all evening is a thing of the past. I will tune in for Rachel, but beyond that my comment to MSNBC is go f*ck yourself.

2 comments:

Carole said...

I signed the petition. I hear that KO can't join any TV broadcast for a year. Damn! We need him!

libhom said...

I wonder who Comcast will purge next. If I hadn't gotten rid of my cable TV, and we had Comcast here, I would certainly get rid of Comcast now.