WAPO OpEd by Ted Koppel: Olbermann, O'Reilly and the death of real news

[shireen]

Another one who doesn' get it. x(


------------------------------------

Olbermann, O'Reilly and the death of real news

By Ted Koppel
Sunday, November 14, 2010


To witness Keith Olbermann - the most opinionated among MSNBC's left-leaning, Fox-baiting, money-generating hosts - suspended even briefly last week for making financial contributions to Democratic political candidates seemed like a whimsical, arcane holdover from a long-gone era of television journalism when the networks considered the collection and dissemination of substantive and unbiased news to be a public trust.

Back then, a policy against political contributions would have aimed to avoid even the appearance of partisanship. But today, when Olbermann draws more than 1 million like-minded viewers to his program every night precisely because he is avowedly, unabashedly and monotonously partisan, it is not clear what misdemeanor his donations constituted. Consistency?

We live now in a cable news universe that celebrates the opinions of Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly - individuals who hold up the twin pillars of political partisanship and who are encouraged to do so by their parent organizations because their brand of analysis and commentary is highly profitable.

The commercial success of both MSNBC and Fox News is a source of nonpartisan sadness for me. While I can appreciate the financial logic of drowning television viewers in a flood of opinions designed to confirm their own biases, the trend is not good for the republic. It is, though, the natural outcome of a growing sense of national entitlement. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's oft-quoted observation that "everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts," seems almost quaint in an environment that flaunts opinions as though they were facts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/12/AR2010111202857.html

[tularetom]

1. I think the marmoset on Ted Koppel's head ate his brain n/t

[RZM]

2. I don't really share his sadness

Mainly because one has many more options than this bunch for news.

But there are some things he certainly does 'get.' Mainly this bit:

'We live now in a cable news universe that celebrates the opinions of Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly - individuals who hold up the twin pillars of political partisanship and who are encouraged to do so by their parent organizations because their brand of analysis and commentary is highly profitable.'

Sounds about right to me ;)

[Newsjock]

3. Shorter Ted Koppel:

You kids, get off my lawn.

That said, however, he makes many valid points, at least to this old fart.

[Cogito ergo doleo]

4. How long has FOX been on the air? And he's just now

getting around to saying something about it when the progressives finally have some strong voices?

[patricia92243]

6. You are soooo right!

[Marie Marie]

9. EXACTLY!!!

[tomm2thumbs]

14. suddenly it seems so utterly important to him - what a joke he is, himself

hiding out until the final act, jumping on stage and waving down the spotlight

'over here, over here - now that the play is almost over, time to look at meeeeeee'

what a dolt

[Enthusiast]

18. Yup, just a tad suspicious.

Just like the GOP only now whining about the deficit. Same deal.

[Uncle Joe]

22. That's the way it works, the same can be said for class warfare; which is only brought up

when the fight is being taken against the mega-wealthy. Koppel even shows his concern in this paragraph of his OPed.

Perhaps it doesn't matter that we are being flattered into believing what any full-length mirror can tell us is untrue. But when our accountants, bankers and lawyers, our doctors and our politicians tell us only what we want to hear, despite hard evidence to the contrary, we are headed for disaster. We need only look at our housing industry, our credit card debt, the cost of two wars subsidized by borrowed money, and the rising deficit to understand the dangers of entitlement run rampant. We celebrate truth as a virtue, but only in the abstract. What we really need in our search for truth is a commodity that used to be at the heart of good journalism: facts - along with a willingness to present those facts without fear or favor.

He never even broaches the idea that continuous tax cuts for the mega-wealthy over the past half century could be having an adverse effect on the national budget, to Koppel it's "entitlement run rampant," he's just subliminally attacking social security and Medicare, programs that are funded and primarily help those without Koppel's financial means.

I remember the conclusion of one Nightline episode when Koppel mentioned that during a lunch with Al Gore, that Gore suggested he follow the money, Gore wasn't even present on this program but Koppel trashed him as abusing his power by suggesting such a thing.

I quit watching Nightline after that episode, there is nothing neutral about Koppel and there never was.

[katty]

5. I agree on O'Reilly but KO? really? Ted is bloviating again

[Old and In the Way]

7. Thanks Ted!

Thinking back to your Nightline show, I now realize that you did more than your share to deliver Ronald Reagan and George Bush to us by the incessant focus on the Iranian hostages. Excuse me if I could care less what your serious thoughts are on today's politics.

[BlueMTexpat]

15. This was exactly what came to my mind when I saw his name here.

Night after night - showing rioting Iranian students - as if nothing else was happening in the world. That show was one of the beginnings of the end. Thanks a lot, Ted. Now go away and STFU.

:hi:

[Marie Marie]

8. This shit just makes my head explode!

IF, the main stream media had done it's job and uncovered & reported all the lies, cronyism and corruption that went on during Dumbfuck's 8 years as VP and Darth's as President like they covered every little detail about Clinton's sex life, maybe they would have a right to criticize. The fact that people like Keith and Rachel happen to lean left shouldn't preclude them from stepping in and filling that void and presenting some unpleasant truths. And, anyone who watches them regularly KNOWS that Keith & Rachel have quickly taken the Democrats to task when they do something boneheaded. Won't see that on Fox with the Republicans. Also, Keith will present a news story as news and then follow up with commentary & opinion. Fox starts spinning & lying with every story they present. Just so sick of this false equivalency between Fox & MSNBC.

[shireen]

11. +1

Yes! Exactly! I really resent his suggestion that FOX and MSNBC are equivalent. One makes up facts, the other presents commentary based on facts.
:mad:

[MyUncle]

20. Marie, Ted's right, read it again.

He is saying that because of budget cuts and the new economics, they can not investigate like they used to. The timing of the drastic cuts was in the mid to late 90's. So unfortunately Big Dog got the worst and the last of the mainstream media spotlight.

I think you wanted the main stream media to do what used to be their job and give Bush the same exam. Ted is saying it is very sad and bad for our country because they can not. He is saying the have less people in less places with less authority to investigate. If you can't build an audience that makes money you are out of business or cut down.

I agree with your emotion, but I think you are blaming the messenger.

Someone else mentioned Talk Radio - I leave them out of this because they were never in any way shape or form news nor do they even claim to be.

[stopbush]

10. This from a guy whose entire career was made by ABC launching a program to cover ONE subject -

the Iranian hostage crisis.

The success of Nightline in this respect paved the way not only for the 24/7 news cycle, but for the media obsessing over stories ad infinitum.

[BlueMTexpat]

16. Another kindred spirit who remembers this! Hurrah! n/t

[Bonhomme Richard]

12. Notice how this is now an issue that the left is......

challenging the right's lies. Never heard all this when it was just faux out there on cable.

[asjr]

13. I know exactly what Ted means. I can remember

when we got our news on the radio, newspaper and finally television--in black and white. For 15 minutes at night to begin with we heard the news. It expanded to 1/2 hour and we all wondered what on earth they could talk about for 30 minutes. That was back when most everyone was polite and not in your face. The newspeople did not editorialize, just reported the news as written. Nowadays there is nothing polite about our media. We blast O'Reilly and laud Olbermann. I love Keith, I love Rachel and we need them at this time because they tell it like it is. I think that is what Ted Koppel is missing in all this. Our political scene has been so dirty and mean there doesn't seem to be room for anything else now. I fear it will only get worse. This last election was so dirty nothing will take out the evil in it. It seems to be the face of our future politically.

[Enthusiast]

17. Ted Koppel is just dead wrong.

He and Stewart.

[donheld]

19. Why is it they never include talk radio in this

from what I understand only 10% of talk radio is from a progressive point of view the other 90% is conservative. Most of that Rush, Hannity etc.

[Moostache]

21. Still MORE false equivlency nonsense...

Here is what chaps my ass about the whole "MSNBC = Fox News from the left" meme:

A) Its patently untrue.
B) It gives cover to propaganda by falsely equating similarities of style or tone to similarities of substance or intent.

First part A, there is a world of difference between making shit up from whole cloth (or running stories all day long, on multiple shows, KNOWINGLY failing to pick up a phone to fact check any part of it!) - like the recent nonsense about the cost of Obama's Asia trip or the ludicrous notion of "death panels" last year - and the delivery of a factual story with a liberal focal point. That should not even need to be said! It was not THAT long ago that CNN ran "Crossfire" and would actually have a nightly debate between right and left and an observant viewer could see the distinction in real time. Now, thanks largely to Fox News and their inherent dishonesty and mission as the media arm of the Republican Party, there is no longer any semblance of objectivity or fealty to facts.

From dawn to midnight, they run the same nonsense out of every single one of their on-camera cut-outs (there is NO distinction between "hard news" and "opinion" at that wasteland, no matter how badly Bill O'Reilly wants huff and puff about it). It is relentless and self-reinforcing and is nothing remotely like a biased version of reality, its a goddamn freaking alternate reality unto itself. It would be one thing if all Fox did was submit right-wing ideology and slant to every story. That is certainly their right to do so, but they go beyond that point and into manipulation and fabrication and censorship of the facts. Its the difference between accidentally sliding on ice and killing a deer and going into a hunting store, stocking up on ammunition and guns and laser sights and shooting the deer in the head from 10m! Sure, in the end, you can SAY the result is the same - dead deer; but in reality, there is no equivalence whatsoever.

This is not only Fox News by the way - it appears to be a continual pattern of denying reality for people attracted to their philosophy in general. Right Wing orthodoxy holds many factual based conclusions as anathema. Global Warming / Climate Change. Evolution. Sexual Orientation as a non-choice. This kind of all out attack on facts and objectivity is clearly manipulative to those who stand outside the bubble and watch it from afar; but to those who live inside the bubble, its an impenetrable fog of deception. The poor bastards who believe Obama RAISED taxes, recovered ZERO TARP funds or GM bailout money back, and LOST MORE jobs than Bush have been lied to to the point of no longer operating on the same factual plane as the rest of the world. What's worse, they feel belittled and put upon when people try to tell them they are wrong (just watch ANY interview that puts a microphone in front of one of the Tea Party people).

MSNBC is the guy in the bar, playing pool and talking too loud - and maybe having a beer too many; but he has a designated driver, and although he may be a bit of a boor after a while, he is just going to sleep it off.

Fox News is the short guy at the bar that should stay away from alcohol completely, but instead he has been doing shots of whiskey straight up for hours. Not only is he drunk, he is also mean spirited and going to drive drunk with no regard for public safety and when he gets home - either straight away or leaving a trail of mangled bloody corpses in his wake - he is going to batter his wife and possibly shoot the neighbor's dog for barking.

And that leads straight to part B, to say that anyone else on the PLANET is in the same ballgame as Fox is absurd. Actually, that's too lenient, to borrow from last decade's "Pulp Fiction" - "ain't no ballgame either, it ain't even the same fucking sport!" While KO can be blustery and at times obviously partisan, what you cannot make a steady case study of are examples of him torturing the truth into an unrecognizable bag of meat! The same applies to the entire MSNBC lineup. They do not engage in mindless speculation about unconfirmed rumors, nor do they sponsor rallies (like the TEA Parties or the Health Care scare wagons that Fox seemed to have a camera crew riding alongside of regardless of the news of the day), nor do they employee professional candidates from the Democratic Party.

The fact that Koppel fails to even acknowledge these very germane differences discredits his entire piece. He is nothing more or less than a has-been journalist who is bitter that he and his ilk caved into to the right wing after being called "liberal mainstream media" for decades and does not like it that instead of apologizing and backing down, Olbermann, Maddow, et. al. are simply firing back using the same substance that once marked all broadcasters (truth and facts) but doing so in the same tone (ie. non-apologetic partisanship) that the propagandists at Fox have perfected.

[Zoeisright]

23. [phone]

That's exactly it. Please send this to Keith Olbermann. It needs to be said on the national stage.