Olbermann’s abrupt departure from MSNBC should be another wake-up call to American progressives

[Emit]

Robert Parry:

The Disappearance of Keith Olbermann

Keith Olbermann’s abrupt departure from MSNBC should be another wake-up call to American progressives about the fragile foothold that liberal-oriented fare now has for only a few hours on one corporate cable network.

Though Olbermann hosted MSNBC’s top-rated news show, “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” he disappeared from the network with only the briefest of good-byes. Certainly, the callous treatment of Olbermann by the MSNBC brass would never be replicated by Rupert Murdoch’s right-wing Fox News toward its media stars.

~snip~

Media Orphans

The troubling message to progressives is that they remain essentially orphans when it comes to having their political interests addressed by any corporate news outlet. While the Right has built its own vast media infrastructure – reaching from newspapers, magazines and books to radio, TV and the Internet – the Left generally has treated media as a low priority.

Though some on the Left saw hope in the MSNBC evening line-up, the larger reality was that even inside the world of NBC News, the other content ranged from the pro-Establishment centrism of anchor Brian Williams to the center-right views of MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough to CNBC’s mix of free-market extremism and corporate boosterism.

While gratified to be given a few hours each night on MSNBC, the Left surely had nothing to compare with Murdoch’s News Corporation and its longstanding commitment to a right-wing perspective on Fox News and News Corp.'s many other print and electronic outlets.

As I wrote in an article last November, “Olbermann and the other liberal hosts are essentially on borrowed time, much the way Phil Donahue was before getting axed in the run-up to George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq, when MSNBC wanted to position itself as a ‘patriotic’ war booster.

“Unlike News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, who stands solidly behind the right-wing propaganda on Fox News, the corporate owners of MSNBC have no similar commitment to the work of Olbermann, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz.

"For the suits at headquarters, it’s just a balancing act between the ratings that those shows get and the trouble they cause as Republicans reclaim control of Washington.”

~snip~

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2011/012211.html

[snappyturtle]

1. Yep. nt

[EFerrari]

2. K&R

[xchrom]

3. Interesting. Nt

[leveymg]

4. As always, Parry hits it straight and center. This firing has been in the works for months.

Don't fool yourselves into thinking that this is the end of the purge or isolated to Keith - it's just the beginning of the end for the "liberal" MSNBC lineup.

[zbdent]

5. and where is the compassion and concern of the way Olbermann was

forced out, from the right?

Like that they gave Juan Williams?

Of course, that will be rationalized away somehow ... ironic, when you consider that conservatives consider $$$ as "freedom of speech" ...

[no_hypocrisy]

6. The corporate owners of MSNBC don't even have commitment to profit.

Keith was their highest rated show. Even if they didn't agree with him, he was literally worth their support.

[LibDemAlways]

7. That's what's especially frightening about this. They are putting

ideology above all else. In a corporate, profit-driven business, they have made a move which assures loss of revenue. From a business standpoint, it makes no sense.

[SaveAmerica]

8. Another step towards muting progressive americans

[bobthedrummer]

9. K&R + WikiLeaks: Julian Assange has Rupert Murdoch "insurance files" (active LBN thread

started by sabra 1-12-11)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4693835