New Yorker Profiles MSNBC's Keith Olbermann

Image from source, The New Yorker

I've gotten into a battle or two over at a site called OlbermannWatch. It's even provided fodder for a few posts here on this blog. Now, I'm a fan of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, and watch it regularly. And so, it is interesting to check out what Olbermann's detractors have to say about him and the show. Well, not so much interesting as morbidly fascinating.

To that bunch, and others like them, you must hate or love news/political personalities. You must adamantly defend your heroes and viciously attack your "villains." It must be sad to live in a world with no colors between black and white. So while I have no problem saying I'm a fan of Olbermann's, I am not a disciple. I don't find it necessary to make excuses for him or anybody else when they screw up. And I can take it when my "heroes" are scrutinized.

Case in point is this article in The New Yorker. It is a lengthy profile of Olbermann, and it is not an entirely flattering picture. But it is fascinating just the same. It reminds me of a recent Entertainment Weekly article on actor Mike Myers, which was also a blend of negative and positive. Apparently, both men are extremely good at what they do, but tend to rub people the wrong way. That doesn't make me dislike their work.

[Excerpt]

One Angry Man: Is Keith Olbermann changing TV news?

[After a "Special Comment" against President Bush]

. . .At MSNBC, the feedback was slightly more cautious. Olbermann’s original script identified the “cold-blooded killers” as everyone at the Pentagon and in the Bush Cabinet; when a colleague noted that that would include such relative moderates as Colin Powell and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Olbermann modified the line. Phil Griffin, the senior vice-president in charge of MSNBC (“Phil thinks he’s my boss,” Olbermann says), raised the matter of tone. Why did Olbermann need to end his commentary by telling the President of the United States to “shut the hell up”?

“Because I can’t say, ‘Shut the f**k up,’ that’s why, frankly,” Olbermann responded. . .

Read more at: The New Yorker