MSNBC, Fox News Execs Call A Truce Between Olbermann & O'Reilly -- Will They Listen?
By Logan Murphy Saturday Aug 01, 2009 9:00am
From the New York Times:
It was a media cage fight, televised every weeknight at 8 p.m. But the match was halted when the blood started to spray executives in the high-priced seats.
For years Keith Olbermann of MSNBC had savaged his prime-time nemesis Bill O’Reilly of the Fox News Channel and accused Fox of journalistic malpractice almost nightly. Mr. O’Reilly in turn criticized Mr. Olbermann’s bosses and led an exceptional campaign against General Electric, the parent company of MSNBC.
It was perhaps the fiercest media feud of the decade and by this year, their bosses had had enough. But it took a fellow television personality with a neutral perspective to bring it to an end.
Come to think of it, Keith did announce he was dropping his signature "BillO" voice -- but it's not clear that he's going to play ball:
Mr. Olbermann, who is on vacation, said by e-mail message, “I am party to no deal,” adding that he would not have been included in any conversations between G.E. and the News Corporation. Fox News said it would not comment. Read on...
Here's the conundrum for Keith Olbermann -- Does he obey the corporate bigwigs and ignore O'Reilly, or does he continue to expose and publicly humiliate a lunatic, right wing bully who picks on kidnapped and sick children, and played a very public role in the murder of Dr. George Tiller? Keith...what say you?
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If GE silences Olbermann, I have to wonder what Olbermann's viewers will do.
It is Corporate Media, Olbermann works within the narrow range permitted by his masters.
The feud between O'Reilly and Olbermann was a rare and narrow case of real journalism, certainly at Fox News which claims to be journalistic. Olbermann of course, is opinion.
Glenn Greenwald writes in far greater penetration of the issue than is found in this title, here
Sounds like GE is caving in to the bully. Reminds me of the Scientologists who would sue everyone up, down and laterally in a corporate organization to bring people to their knees.
Major funder of the war on terra and a major Bush cabal supporter, all the way.
This is armchair politics and armchair politics only.
So, who wins and/or loses in this grand squabble between Keith and Billo, really...? Why, the War Machine, of course..
They both will be sitting pretty no matter what happens here. Didn't mean to defend GE fer sure.
Of course the only problem is that he may end up losing his bully pulpit in the end. Then we'll have no K.O. and BillO will continue on and on and on and on......
Because we all know there is NOTHING BillO can do that would cause Fox to fire him. Especially considering he blatantly condoned (even if in a veiled way) the murder of Dr. Tiller and more.
Bill O'Reilly is a very bad human being.
do you let off?
Olbermann tells them to go pork themselves. Is BillO going to stop being the coprocephalic dickhead he's been all these years? I don't think so. So why should Keith stop calling him on it?
THAT is what they don't like. Not the name-calling or any of the rest of it. (FOX cares about the quality of a debate? You're kidding, right?) BillO wants a free rein without anybody pissing on him. FAT CHANCE, BILLO.
.
KO pisses in Bill-O's cereal, and Bill-O isn't really man enuf to do anything about it? Why...cause he's got NOTHING. Just like he had NOTHING when he made unfounded accusations against Franken.
FOX sees a potential slander lawsuit coming...again...caused by Bill-O again.
Anyone that's worked in a large corporate environment knows what's happening at FOX. Murdoch told O'Reilly..."STFU...I"m not bailing your ass out this time...you're wrong....you're a douchebag...get the fuck out of my office...ARRRRRR!"
He discusses this and points out what is actually being discussed but not being acknowledged is that the corporate owner of a media outlet is interfering with that media outlet in order to protect other interests of the corporate parent that aren't related to the media outlet.
Thats the real story here and the NYT reported it without even noticing it. If we had real media with real journalism this would be a huge story.
Sad
The article also shows that KO pretty much has listened - and obeyed.
E tu, KO?
Keith has every right to do what he's doing. O'Reilly is the one who attacked GE and MSNBC directly initially, and not in terms of editorial view. He has made direct implications that the owners are corrupt, and that the parent company is somehow some covert terrorist organization bent on world domination. Projecting much, Bill?
Yes, KO has attacked Rupert Murdoch and Fox but he typically does it with tongue firmly in cheek and doesn't make unfounded accusations as Bill-O does. KO typically will call into question FOX's editorial stances AND motivations of FOX based on facts and events and yes, even pick on Murdoch but again...most is to generate a laugh...ARRRR.
My view, and yes I can be objective. Bill-O escalated this BS because of his ego. He's made the same mistakes that he made in taking on Al Franken.
You know with a truce being called that Bill-O got called on the carpet. Obviously, KO did not. So, even FOX knows that O'Reilly has been waaaay out of line.
KO did lay off of BillO big time, starting the day after the Murdock/Immelt meeting. KO got called to the carpet too. The feud between the two of them was impacting negatively KO's corporate bosses. So KO was told to back off just as BillO was. Read Glenn Greenwald @ salon.com
but I will never believe that those two conversations between management and participants were the same.
KO's response makes that clear.
KO's got walnuts. Bill-O's got peanuts.
its only because BillO probably had to have his ego stroked and use small words, while KO took it like a man.
Still the bigger story is a corporate owner of a media outlet interfered with the working of that media outlet due to financial interest not directly associated with the media outlet. I know we're all use to that now, and accept that thats just the way it is. But for it to be discussed so openly should really be an eye opener for everyone else.
kiss KO's ass.
Feck Billo and the horse he rode in on.
Hell, Billo is such a coward he can't even use Keith's name.
What a pussy the Loofa'd one is.
"We have reached an agreement with our opponents. They will stop telling lies about us, and we will stop telling the truth about them."
Exactly.
excellent point
This is another crap story that I don't understand. Why is there no difference between Olbermann's truth and facts and O'Reilly's lies and made up BS? So now Olbermann is supposed to ignore O'Reilly and O'Reilly is free to lie and make up the facts? Are we to believe that all of the cross talk between the networks was just some silly feud and had nothing to do with what each party was saying? It goes along with the idea that you must give both sides equal weight even if one represents a tiny minority of opinion and is pulling their facts from their ass. They don't have to win any argument just muddy the water enough to leave some doubt in the mind of the public. Another win for the corporations, another loss for the voting public.
Actually,
as pointed out earlier, the "reporting" done by BillO on some of the shadier dealings of GE, may very well have been true. Legal dealings, quite possibly, but still stuff that GE wanted kept away from scrutiny. Which made it possible to pressure them.
KO has got to keep reeming that lard-ass, or he will lose credibilty and respect....besides, Bill-o providesw sooooooo much material
The cockroach execs don't like it when the light starts shining on them. NO DEALS!
Personally, I'm more than tired of the news being the news.
All this "exposing" of the evil right only gives them free advertising and credibility.
When you consider the gazillions of dollars spent on this "exposure" and the net result of two people becoming enlightened, it's a huge waste of time.
Nobody on the left seems to understand the whole thing about ignoring people so they'll go away.
Don't say it's not true. It's never been even a little bit attempted and whatever the left is doing now is about, oh, 100% ineffective.
I think the wrong-wingers are like cockroaches. You can ignore them but they'll still crawl around spread their filth. Better to know your enemy in politics, it's not pleasant but politics isn't for the faint at heart either.
I agree that they won't go away completely.
But just by the act of acknowledging them and specifically by debating their nonsense, they are made twice as powerful.
I'm not talking about politicians. I'm talking about giving people like Fox "personalities" the time of day.
They really aren't relevant until the other side decides they are.
The other side decided they were relevant when they took the time to talk about them... and talk... and talk.
Do I really care that one wacko can influence a whole bunch of other wackos? Is it worth my time to try to debate him?
Its such a touch choice because for those people who actually care what the truth is, there is KO, but if all you hear are lies, and theyre never disproven, then what are you left with? If you lie to yourself enough, you'll eventually end up believing it and thats what happens and is why FOX folks say the same junk over and over and over
You make a good point, on the one hand there is the need to debunk lies from these clowns on the other you just wish you could ignore them and they'll just magically go away. I too think it's like free publicity sometimes but you have to remember the truth is what progressives are all about, and we have to stay vigilant or risk letting the rethug wrong-wing resurge. Corporate media throws us a couple of bones a night but that can go away in a heartbeat if the greedy ceos put a stop to too much freedom to the "serfs".
Charlie Rose is far from neutral, he is a corporate capitalist establishment whore of the highest order for brokering this deal between two of the biggest media monopolies' fat cats. Msnbc will soon be off my list of must watch media if this outrageous corporate censorship keeps up.
I already stopped watching Faux "news" many years ago when their political agenda became clear. KO was helping the naive to see how biased Faux is, but no more? Now the progressive blogs and forums become more important than ever.
That's not the kind of re-tooling we have in mind guys. O'Liely and Olbermann don't have to be muzzled. That's not the answer. that's just going backwards.
it's like MSNBC and FOX have decided they can double-team the game! screw that.
. . . Be there!
So is G.E. trying to silence Keith?
These two pompous twits deserve each other.
..I've always felt that way too about it.
Is there an echo in your chamber?
remains a ridiculous rag, fit only for the bottom of a bird cage.
presenting this story as yet one more "he said, she said" line of mush brained nonsense, rather than delve into the actual meat of the story:
O'Reilly lies, obfuscates, distorts, attacks and smears daily.
Olbermann calls him out on it.
It's too bad the NYT is such a waste of paper, but at least the crossword puzzle is still good.
Does this explain why Keith hasn't been on his own show in a while? (except that interview from Cooperstown...)
He's been on vacation for at least two weeks. But, instead of saying so, his substitutes would say every night that he had the night off. Don't know why except perhaps they felt the ratings would go down if they knew he was on vacation and his regular viewers would not watch but just wait for him to come back. I myself enjoyed Lawrence O'Donnell as a substitute host. Keith will be back on Monday -- they say.
The "feud" between this two is about as immature as it gets.
Seriously. I stopped watching Olbermann because I got very tired of this tit-for-tat pissing match. He has a platform he could be using for hard news, and instead he uses it for junior high school nonsense like this.
supposed journalists are nothing more than pompous windbags that seem to like hearing their own voices. Fire them both and bring back real journalism. You know, when the news wasn't the news?
O'Reilly lies through his teeth daily and Olberman and Rachel Maddow are the only ones calling Bullshit on him! That IS journalism when you tell the truth and expose a liar!
As far as the bosses having had enough? More BS! That is business they are in. If you can't stand the heat...
..in such flagrantly self-serving, self-inflating and boring ways as Olberman usually does though?
Sorry if I bored anyone with this comment, but holy crap. It just seems to me that Keith is mostly trying to show everyone how smart he is before eventually boring them to tears in his comments.
Maybe some dramatic lighting and more creative camera angles might enhance his editorials, but give me Jack Cafferty any day!
and KO and Rachel will show their REAL progressive values. They will do what their bosses tell them or not have jobs. It's an act, just as the foxSnooze hosts put one on. It's all about ratings, and bringing up this fake BS is nothing more than to boost ratings for both shows. All these people are fakes. They aren't even paid to deliver news, but to deliver commentary. Big damn difference. Next people will think Oprah, Geraldo and Phil Donahue are actual journalists.
When Ben Affleck played Olbermann on SNL he made him seem like a pompous ass, but in reality Keith is real progressive with a heart as he proves often on his show. America needs more people like him, in media and politics. The real problem here is with both corporate parents who made a bad deal that protects Oreilly's misinformation from being scrutinized on Msnbc's premier show.
To my knowledge, KO hasn't said a WORD about O'Really? since "Bill-O The Clown" vehemently denied any culpability for drumming up the hatred of Dr. George Tiller. My memory tells me that KO said something to the effect of "This is it, I'm finished with you," and has gleefully slid Rush Lamebrain into the buffoon-du-jour slot previously occupied by O'Really?
So, what's the story here?
...
When was Tiller killed? 31 May. KO blamed BO on 31 May, then on 1 June, Billo brought up GE + Iran and gave out Immelt's email very slowly, for emphasis, and suggested his followers use it.
The attacks stopped then, and KO swearing off the Billo thing was then too.
If you'd read the story, you'd know what the story is.
That picture looks like the subject of a horror movie, kind of like:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CofhQRjmsc
Looked like an old issue of Chilling Tales of Horror come to life!
Gotta see it..
I'll pass, thank you very much ...
Keith has not said anything about BillO for about a month now. He was infuriated with BillO and his denial of any culpability in the Tiller murder, so KO told his listeners he was going to stop giving BillO any mention. He told his viewers to boycott establishments which air Faux News at their place of business.
I understand that there was a meeting between network CEOs in May during which Rupert Murdoch and Jeff Immelt discussed the situation and agreed to get their employees to stop bashing the other network (at least KO and BO). I think there was a story in Salon about this...have to try to find it.
I'm sure KO will find some way to get back at BillO and Faux....and, lord knows, there are plenty of other right wing hacks out there for KO to expose.
So the execs step in to resolve a penis size contest but still let Beck out there be as clinically insane as he is? As far as I'm concerned I'd rather spend an entire hour looking at O'Reilley's prunish condescending facial expressions than listen to 5 more minutes of Beck's insanity.
the nuts on this deal.
Billo's been doing us all a favour -- he 'hates' KO so hard he won't even go after him -- he takes on the bosses. A nearly anonymous Immelt, CEO of GE is victim of a Billo ambush in a toney restaurant (how embarrassing for one. I mean. REALLY!) pummeled with rude questions about selling stuff to Iran. Share holder meetings disrupted.
KO went after Billo and Ailes and FOX, and Murdoch, but a load of KO fans did not interrupt FOX meetings, and no one, to my knowledge, has ambushed Murdoch yet.
GE was getting its arse handed to it in a paper sack by Billo, and MSNBC employees won't mud wrestle.
I am inclined not to waste my time on MSNBC. How can they be trusted? Richard Wolffe is a PR whore for big business, and they won't even disclose it. The lack of disclosure is unforgivable. He's been a guest on KO several times, and KO has not said.
But -- but -- but Wolffie has such a cool British accent!
(:<)
I heard him the first time and felt like Henry Higgins when I found out I was right -- I thought "Mancunian, a bit of Oxbridge and several years in the US." (Born and raised in Manchester, went to Oxford or Cambridge -- too lazy to check -- and a couple of decades in the US.
It's hard for me to listen to him, just with the accent. Now that he's being paid to pimp the party line, well, eff him.
Well, I'm from Illinois, so what do I know about accents? I, of course, have none.
I can't stop my brain sorting each word by its accent. I totally lose the thread of the discussion.
:D
I tried to watch a British series on Hulu starring the guy from Sean of the Dead and a woman, and I had to give up because I had to concentrate so hard on what they were saying. Or, listening to Arianna Huffington on the news -- her accent is so heavy that it quickly just starts sounding like birdsong to me. Is inability to understand an accent some kind of neurological problem?
=<8-;<>)
With Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson? Roommates in the small flat? That's a great show! You need to be able to watch that!
Those aren't much as far as Brit accents go, Kate. What you might do to familiarize yourself is, if possible, listen to the BBC news overnight if you've got a local NPR station that carries it. The newsreaders don't all have that standardized accent they used to have, but they're still easy to understand, and the people who are being interviewed have varying accents, most of which aren't too difficult. There are some accents though (Belfast, Geordie, South London and a few thick Scots accents) that can be tough. For the advanced course, get yourself Sirius satellite radio and listen to nothing but soccer programming.
one is just being around it and getting used to it. I grew up around many kinds of accents. When I see Shakespeare plays, which is seldom, I have to listen very hard for the first part of the play.
Another part is having an ear for it. There are some accents I don't get at all. I cannot understand Rab C Nesbitt (scots), and all my English friends can.
Looks like it was a meeting back in May....apparently, Charlie Rose set up the truce.
http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2009/0...
... that Keith went after O'Reilly, and, when Bill-o couldn't compete, he had to run and whine to mommy that the big, big boss was doing it.
Is anyone surprised that O'Reilly and Faux can't fight fairly?
I swear to you this is true -- I would put up ANY of my three children, when they were in Middle School, against Fox. And I assure you my children would win.
Fox is SUCH a baby network.
I'd make him join the Marines, after high school, because I am not going to be the father of some person so utterly devoid of balls.
turn off cable entirely.
the same media that gives voice to BOR is the same media that gives voice to KO.
no one wins except corporate media.
a few years back my partner and I signed up for FIOS. It was amazing all those bright colorful stations outputting that gorgeous picture. after a few weeks we came to the realization it was all the same shit, but in wondrous HD! and with a hefty price tag to match.
we then turned off everything but the web. and we get to chose what we watch, and we get the satisfaction of not tuning into this type of nonsense. we missed the Jackson horror show entirely, and in this instance we have no idea what's going on between the 2 political-pundit titans.
KO is easier on the eyes that BOR to be sure, but he's a tone deaf jock trying to be this generations Edward R Murrow.
dont fall for it.
I can't see him bowing down to this, And I bet this is why Olberman been on vacation for so long MSNBC is trying to get him to sign away his rights to bash Fox Noise and he has refused.
Countdown's rateing will Plumet without Olberman and now that this is out if they do fire him a lot of people will abandon MSNBC. MSNBC is now between a rock and a hard place where the rightly should be for trying to make deals with Fox Noise.
I'd like to think Keith would tell GE to suck it.
He made sure to have Billo on Worsts and to make fun of what fox news and MSNBC tryed to do.
..they should be called on it. I don't care if its BOR or KO or anyone..you call BS on BS.
I don't think KO was wrong. I wouldn't think BOR would be wrong if he had a good case against KO to call out KO. But BOR couldn't, so he went over KO's head; shootz, that's what I do when someone loses my luggage.
Clearly, there is a right and a wrong somewhere in all of this, but clearly BS is BS.
to take O'Lielly off the air. Then Olbermann could comply and everyone would be happy... and Fox viewers smarter.
To para phrase when you shake hands with a Russian be sure to count your fingers, your talking about the despicable Faux Noise nit wit network, I say keep the pressure on as the NIT WITS have said they would like to put this MORON O'Lielly in to the Racist hate Mongers spot of Dufus dobbs, remember the Clowns need time to cloud the issues so they can move this IDIOT so I say keep the pressure on KO.
This Idiot needs to be destroyed.
Were they expecting anything less than some Faustian deal with those roaches?
Hopefully Olberman continues to expose O'Shitley for the piece of human trash that he is.
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