Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

December 1, 2008 9:59:12 AM CST


Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann news stories

17 Stories

OPINION
(Newser) - Barack Obama has suggested voters are “seeing two different realities, a Sean Hannity reality and a Keith Olbermann reality”—and he’s right, Howard Kurtz writes in the Washington Post . "Adored by fans and derided by critics," Fox's Hannity is an unapologetic John McCain booster, while Olbermann uses his MSNBC pulpit to promote Obama. More »

More about:  television Fox News MSNBC Keith Olbermann Sean Hannity television personality Alan Colmes

Maddow Sends MSNBC Ratings Rocketing

Execs thrilled as new host grabs for
Larry King's crown

(Newser) - Rachel Maddow has made MSNBC a prime-time contender with dizzying speed, the New York Times reports. The liberal pundit's Rachel Maddow Show more than doubled the network's ratings in the 9 pm slot within days of its debut six weeks ago, and has beaten CNN's Larry King Live among viewers ages 25 to 54 more often than not. More »

More about:  MSNBC talk show Keith Olbermann Larry King Rachel Maddow talk-show host

ANALYSIS

Wrong, Lefties: Palin Didn't Cut Special Olympics Dollars

Declining huge budget increase, Alaska Gov. authorized 10% boost instead

(Newser) - Sarah Palin did not cut funding to the Special Olympics in Alaska, as many have said, professors Warren Throckmorton and Paul Kengor write in the National Review . In fact, this year she approved an increase in funding, from $250,000 to $275,000. Lawmakers had asked for $550,000, perhaps inspiring the liberal media to insinuate that Palin had cut, rather than denied, funding. More »

More about:  Election 2008 Sarah Palin Alaska Keith Olbermann National Review liberal media

OPINION

Maddow Is Sharp, But Still Just Another Partisan Pundit

Host only shines in clashes with the right

(Newser) - Despite all the hype and the glowing blogosphere reviews since she got her own MSNBC slot Sept. 8, Rachel Maddow’s program has turned out to be a clone of the Keith Olbermann vehicle that precedes her: “less a show than an annex,” Alessandra Stanley writes in the New York Times . With guests fitting MSNBC’s liberal, Anti-Fox News tilt, “that kind of echo chamber doesn’t make for very interesting television.” More »

More about:  Fox News MSNBC Bill O'Reilly Keith Olbermann Chris Matthews Rachel Maddow Pat Buchanan

OPINION

It's Not Too
Late, MSNBC: 'Stay Crazy'

Blogger calls for Matthews, Olbermann to keep their jobs

(Newser) - David Gregory will be the face of MSNBC's election coverage, and the ouster of "loud shouty people" Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews isn't sitting well with at least one viewer. "It's a stupid, stupid idea, for many reasons," Alex Pareene writes on Gawker of NBC Universal's decision. "If people wanted Brian Williams and David Gregory to cover everything quietly and politely they'd actually watch your evening news." More »

More about:  Election 2008 NBC MSNBC NBC Universal Keith Olbermann Chris Matthews NBC News Brian Williams David Gregory

Maddow, Set for MSNBC Debut, Aims to Avoid 'Homogenized'

Lefty has own ideas for mainstream medium

(Newser) - Rachel Maddow’s own show debuts at 9 EDT tonight on MSNBC, but the liberal pundit doesn’t sound so much excited as worried. TV has “homogenizing tendencies,” she tells the Boston Globe . “It’s like being put through a meat grinder.” But worried or not, the Air America host is making the leap, bringing another lefty to the brink of mainstream pundit stardom. More »

More about:  MSNBC Keith Olbermann pundits Rachel Maddow punditry

MSNBC Boots Olbermann, Matthews From Anchor Chairs

David Gregory will host election coverage

(Newser) - After months of criticism and pointed derision at the Republican convention, MSNBC will yank Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews from the anchor seats during this fall's debates and election. NBC News correspondent David Gregory will host election coverage, while Olbermann and Matthews remain as commentators. Ratings at the struggling network have been up, but critics of the network have questioned its more partisan coverage. More »

More about:  MSNBC news anchor Keith Olbermann Chris Matthews David Gregory

analysis

Maddow Helps MSNBC Make Left Turn

Network hopes new anchor will translate into ratings, ad revenue

(Newser) - Rachel Maddow's promotion to prime-time at MSNBC more clearly draws the partisan lines among the cable networks, writes Brian Stelter of the New York Times : MSNBC on the left, Fox on the right, and CNN claiming middle ground. Now the big question: Will the Maddow move translate into more ads? It seems likely. Viewers seems drawn to outspoken views, and, in fact, Fox now brings in more ad revenue than CNN. MSNBC is in a distant third. More »

More about:  Fox News cable TV CNN MSNBC NBC Universal television news Keith Olbermann network news Rachel Maddow TV advertising

MSNBC Gives Lefty Maddow Prime-Time Slot

She will replace longtime host Abrams, following Olbermann

(Newser) - MSNBC is honing its left-leaning lineup in the “final leg” of the presidential election, swapping longtime host Dan Abrams for the more overtly partisan Rachel Maddow in its 9pm time slot. The switch has been long expected, reports the New York Times. Network execs see Maddow as a better fit with popular lefty host Keith Olbermann, whose show airs at 8. Maddow begins her full-time gig on Sept. 8, after the political conventions. More »

More about:  presidential campaign MSNBC media coverage Keith Olbermann Rachel Maddow Dan Abrams

Dan Patrick to Join NBC's Football Night

Move reunites him with former SportsCenter partner Olbermann

(Newser) - Dan Patrick will join NBC's Football Night in America this fall, in a move that reunites him with Keith Olbermann. The two men changed the field of sportscasting with their 1992 debut on ESPN's SportsCenter , writes Broadcasting & Cable . Patrick will keep his radio show and Sports Illustrated column while joining host Bob Costas at Football Night . More »

More about:  NBC Keith Olbermann sports journalism Tiki Barber Bob Costas Dan Patrick

glossies

Olbermann to Media: 'Shut
the Hell Up' 

Blunt host may be changing the news,
but is it for the better?

(Newser) - Keith Olbermann has always been mad as hell, and a parade of ex-colleagues tell the New Yorker they just couldn't take it anymore. The O'Reilly-pummeling, Murrow-channeling ex-sportscaster host of MSNBC's Countdown has consistently alienated both co-workers and higher-ups with the same brusque combativeness he applies nightly to the Bush administration. More »

More about:  MSNBC Tim Russert media bias Keith Olbermann NBC News Brian Williams

(Newser) - Wounds from Election 2008 aren’t quickly being papered over in Clintonland, the New York Times reports in a speculative piece about who is likely to be on the former first couple's enemies list. How deep will animosity toward Obama boosters Bill Richardson, Jim Clyburn, and Claire McCaskill run? Use of words like “ingrate,” “traitor,” and “enemy” by Clinton associates may not tell the whole tale, but Hillary ’08 chairman does say, “You have to keep track of this.” More »

 (MS)NBC Generates,
 Draws Heat 

NBC and MSNBC in culture clash

(Newser) - MSNBC's recent success is a thorn in the side of its competitors, the politicians who accuse the network of bias, and an unlikely third party—NBC News. The cable network's opinionated anchors and the broadcast sibling's more traditional approach are increasingly entangled, the AP reports, and critics don't share the NBC News president's confidence that viewers can make the distinction. More »

More about:  Hillary Clinton George W. Bush NBC MSNBC Tim Russert Bill O'Reilly Keith Olbermann Chris Matthews Tom Brokaw

O'Reilly Blasts
at GE Coming From Upstairs

Fox-NBC vendetta brings execs' bile into your living room

(Newser) - Bill O’Reilly’s campaign against General Electric—the Fox News host has called CEO Jeffrey Immelt a “despicable human being” for doing business with Iran—is part of a feud with NBC that extends far up corporate ladders, the Washington Post reports. Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes apparently loosed O’Reilly on GE in retaliation for attacks by host Keith Olbermann on GE subsidiary MSNBC. More »

More about:  NBC Fox News MSNBC General Electric Bill O'Reilly Keith Olbermann Roger Ailes Jeffrey Immelt