In a closing statement on his show, Mr. Olbermann said simply that it would be the last edition of the program. He offered no explanation other than on occasion “all that surrounded the show - but never the show itself - was just too much for me.”…. In a statement, MSNBC said: “MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract. The last broadcast of ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann’ will be this evening. MSNBC thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”
If you were to ask me about my favorite television shows, the easy choice for #1 would be Countdown with Keith Olbermann. In an era populated by bland, politically correct talking heads, Olbermann always managed to captivate me with his passion and his commitment to the truth. I’ve been a fan of Olbermann’s since his SportsCenter days with Dan Patrick. Even then, he was wry, quick on his feet, and able to have fun with just about any aspect of sports. I’ve always had a soft spot for smartasses…and few are smarter than Olbermann.
Yes, there were times when he clearly allowed his passion and the emotion of a moment to get the best of him. He could occasionally scream and shout, which, while over the top, was indicative to me of how much he cared. The emotion was genuine, even when it bordered on unseemly. Keith Olbermann was not a perfectly coiffed bloodless media creation concerned first and foremost with his own career path. I’d imagine that, from a management standpoint, he was a serious pain in the ass to deal with. He wasn’t willing to allow himself to be molded and plugged into a format that management felt would draw ratings and keep advertising rates up.
Friday night, I was watching Countdown in my recliner, as I have on so many occasions over the past few years. Olbermann quietly announced prior to breaking for a commercial that Friday’s show would be his last…and you could have knocked me out of my recliner with a feather. Given his previous face-offs with MSNBC management, Olbermann’s departure can hardly be seen as unexpected. Still, I didn’t see it coming in the way that it happened.
MSNBC over the past eight years has evolved from a struggling, irrelevant news network looking for some traction to a serious player in cable news. It doesn’t yet have the ratings of Fox Noise Channel, but MSNBC has developed a reputation for a commitment to facts and research that FNC can’t touch. Most MSNBC talking heads have a decidedly left-of-center political orientation, but FNC makes no secret of it’s Far Right agenda. From my perspective, the problem isn’t with political orientation, it’s with the devotion to facts and reality, which MSNBC excels at and FNC largely considers optional.
Keith Olbermann is arguably the single biggest reason the MSNBC finds itself in the position it does today. Olbermann provided a strong personality and a journalistic gravitas that helped to establish MSNBC as a credible and relevant alternative to FNC’s shilling for Right-wing causes and personalities. Having elevated MSNBC to its current position, Olbermann deserves a good deal of credit from those at MSNBC who benefit directly. Instead, MSNBC management determined that it was going to show Olbermann who was boss. Perhaps there was some jealousy involved. Perhaps management wanted to show who wears the pants at MSNBC. Or perhaps Olbermann just tired of dealing with those determined to demonstrate that he wasn’t the boss. Olbermann’s departure to me has the flavor of the goose killing the golden egg, though will both sides remaining mum, there’s really no way to know the truth.
In an interesting bit of timing, Olbermann’s firing/departure came just a day after the FCC approved Comcast’s takeover of NBC Universal. It’s been no secret that Comcast executives have long viewed Olbermann as a loose cannon and a dangerous voice. While Comcast executives have been saying all the right things about not interfering in the day to day operations of MSNBC, it’s hard to believe that the timing is coincidental. Again, who knows what the truth of the matter is…and in the end it doesn’t matter.
I’m going to be interested to see where Olbermann ends up. I have a hard time believing that he’s simply going to ride off into the sunset. Olbermann’s departure appears similar to Conan O’Brien’s a couple of years ago in that he’ll be prevented from appearing on television for a period of time. Still, it’s not as if they’re aren’t other options…and there’s a lot of speculation out there. One has to wonder if he could establish a presence on the Internet in the way that Arianna Huffington has done with the Huffington Post. Whatever happens, Olbermann will not be worrying about where his next Big Mac is coming from.
Chalk this up as a victory for corporate media- the enforced blandness of commoditized news, where truth is less important and relevant than ratings and advertising rates. We- Left and Right- are poorer for Olbermann being forced out, because it means one less voice to provide a counterbalance to the corporate Right-wing Media (yeah, I said it…and it’s the truth). For all his faults, Keith Olbermann stood for something…which is more than you can say for most talking heads today.
