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Keith Olbermann Wishes CNN A Happy Birthday By Attacking Campbell Brown (Update: CNN Responds)

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Keith Olbermann celebrated 30 years of CNN by giving outgoing 8pm host Campbell Brown the bronze in his nightly “Worst Persons in the World” pseudo-competition, for arguing that opinion journalism has made objective news more difficult to sell to a wide audience. Or, as Olbermann put it, “I like [Campbell Brown]… but this ‘I am a martyr to real news’ tour has to stop.”

Something about Brown’s argument that opinion journalism was detrimental to object news reporting seemed to hit a nerve with Olbermann, because he went pretty hard on Brown, who usually manages to stay out of the fray:

“Firstly, enough with the false equivalency between Bill O’Reilly and this show. I have never knowingly reported anything false and we correct our mistakes. secondly, she doesn’t think the network’s problems have anything to do with, you know, hour long specials on Mick Jagger on primary night and the American Idol winner during the last hours of Top Kill?

[...]

CNN’s 8 o’clock news programs haven’t failed because they are competing with opinion and interpretative news programs. They’ve failed because CNN hasn’t figured out that everything it puts on the air is available to everybody who watches all day on the internet, and if you don’t bring something else to the table, they’re not going to watch. Let’s hope they don’t figure it out. Oh, and happy 30th birthday, CNN.”

Worst birthday present ever.

Update: CNN has responded to Olbermann’s criticism. A CNN spokesperson tells Mediaite:

“By the end of the day some people may know what’s happened in the world – but that’s no thanks to MSNBC, which didn’t even bother to cover the press conference announcing that Top Kill had failed to stop the Gulf oil spill. As a news organization, CNN provides viewers both content and context to the days’ news, unlike the partisan networks.”

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  • TROLLING4LIBS

    Yea Keith, and your MSNBC broke-ass network , resorts to Prison Porn , Child Pedophila, and dark depressing stories for your weekend lineup.

    Keep throwing shit out of your toliet, Keith .

  • http://www.sailrabbits.com Magister

    Apparently I missed the hour-long Mick Jagger interview and some kind of American Idol special that was “available to everybody who watches all day on the internet”, perhaps it got lost in all the blog content that Olbermann was mining for recycle.

    Oh, and by stepping out of the way wasn’t Campbell saying that what she was doing didn’t work? Was she somehow wrong to draw a distinction between her product and that of her competition and isn’t he asking her to admit that people didn’t want a straight newscast at eight, which is what she already did?

    Keith – It’s time to end this terrible feature because you’re grasping at straws.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Taj-Bozeman/661000669 Joshua Taj Bozeman

    LOL. Anyone ever watch Krazy Keith? He NEVER, and I mean NEVER has anyone on his show that disagrees with him. At least not that I’ve ever seen, and I’ve watched a lot just to see how loony the guy is.

    There is a false equivalency made between O’Reilly and Olbermann. Rational people can agree that Bill is pretty tame. He tends to be more conservative on a lot of issues, but he’s often down the middle of the road. He’s had some nutters on his show before, and during those interviews he’s gotten angry, but I think a lot of us are angry, and he’s voicing that. Olbermann is just flat out nuts. He comes off nuts after watching him for only a few mins.

    I was sitting in the living room with my liberal roommate…we grilled food, so we decided to eat together. He was flipping thru the channels and landed on Olbermann. My roommate is quite liberal, and even he thought Keith was a lunatic. He kept asking me, this guy’s joking right? He’s out of his mind! I had to convince him that Olbermann is truly like that.

    To hear Olbermann say he’s never knowingly reported bogus info is…well, it’s funny.

  • lonestar77

    Remember the this is your brain on drugs commercials from the 80′s? Well, now they could just show a picture of Olby. He is certifiable.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/SkylerMc-Mychiller/100000301260173 SkylerMc Mychiller

    Keith has no where to talk his network is the same channel that airs um… Lockup and other stupid stuff all weekend except for 5 or 4 hours. The Last Hours of Top Kill (Saturday CNN covered) Msnbc was on Lock UP.

  • Sunnyr

    Can this A$$-Klown be any more of an IDIOT? Just looking at this dweeb activates my gag reflex!

  • felixw

    Other news shows cover the news. Keith Olbermann ignores most of the important news stories of the day, and instead spends his air time smearing his competitors and settling personal scores. I know MSNBC has very low ethical standards, but how can MSNBC President Phil Griffin think this is acceptable?

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    Keith, you are WORSE than O”Reilly, but not as bad as Beck.

    You are like Fox and Friends, only you have no friends.

  • Big_F-ing_Deal

    “interpretative news programs.”

    What the f*ck is that?

    Is that like where they dance while they report the news?

  • MooseOfReason

    Really? She criticizes MSNBC’s AND Fox News’ ideological bents and Olbermann gets upset because he can’t acknowledge that, yes, MSNBC has a progressive bias?

    I don’t watch Campbell Brown’s show. Maybe I will tomorrow night to see what she says about Olbermann, but take some criticism with class.

  • Bunny

    Really, Olbermann…you think you and MSNBC are in any position to give “advice” to any other network? Good Lord! You truly do live in your own little world, don’t you? I guess it’s better to run Lock-Up, Contessa’s bloopers and stupidity show, the zillionth repeat of the same catching predators program? You, from the network that lags so far behind in getting on air with breaking news? Okay, then!

    Olbermann, you have the thinnest skin of any ego-driven bully I’ve ever seen. And you’re right — there IS a false equivalency. I don’t care for you, O’Reilly or Beck, but at least O’Reilly will have people on the show who vigorously disagree with him and actually have a debate or conversation. You, on the other hand, prefer to live in your insular bubble, interviewing only those who agree with you.

    I understand why you do that — (1) you wouldn’t be able to control yourself if you didn’t like what they had to say ; and (2) you simply couldn’t take it if a guest with an opposing view ever got the best of you, so it’s best not to even risk it. I mean, look at poor Donnie…then attacking Campbell Brown, your formal colleague, because you just can’t bear for anyone to say something you don’t like. Your obsession with so hatefully denigrating anyone/anything you don’t approve of is not an attractive attribute and has cost you many a viewer, I’m sure.

    Anyway, in the above regard, the false equivalency is that you are actually WORSE than O’Reilly. At least he brings people on to present some semblance of fairness between differing opinions. He apparently is a lot braver and more fair than you are (and I’m not tooting his horn since I don’t care for him, just making a relative comparison here).

  • NOTcrazylikeFOX

    felixw says: “Keith Olbermann ignores most of the important news stories of the day…”

    Yes, because talking about the gulf coast oil spill day after day after day at the very top of every program since it occurred 40 something days ago is ignoring “most of the important news stories of the day”, right? Good one, chief. Next time, do us all a favor and actually put an effort into THINKING before you make asinine statements that are factually incorrect. And, you’re crowing about the “ethical standards” at MSNBC? Why don’t you stop living up to the standards of Fox News where they don’t know facts if it was shoved up their ass and actually try and be honest? Give it a try.

    “…and instead spends his air time smearing his competitors and settling personal scores.”

    So, ONE (1) segment of what you call “settling scores”, which is something all media personalities do, you consider his “air time”? It’s not like he does it for the entire show, you jackass. In fact, he does it at the END of the show. O’Reilly opens EVERY SINGLE program with a “talking points memo” that does EXACTLY what you blame Olbermann for doing. Again, your lack of facts is mind-boggling. Get a new brain.

    By the way, tell your friend Joshua Bozeman over there commenting to check his facts, too… especially when they are stupid enough to think that Bill O’Reilly is “middle of the road” and claims Olbermann has “reported bogus info” when he can’t even cite an example of him lying about anything. You two must know one another.

    You people that obsess over Olbermann are simply out of material and you resort to bullsh*t that you know is bullsh*t, but you say it anyway because you’re desperate to complain about something in that evil “liberal media” that doesn’t exist. Then, you still like to claim Fox News is “Fair & Balanced” and treat it as a real NEWS network? Please… for the sake of mankind, seek help.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joshua-Taj-Bozeman/661000669 Joshua Taj Bozeman

    “Please… for the sake of mankind, seek help.”

    Funny, after finishing your novella, that was my first thought.

  • http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

    Olberman has some delusion that his show is #1? The clown lies all the time.
    FYI THE END IS NEAR…………………New Gallup Poll

    Republicans Jump Out To Historic Lead In Gallup Generic Ballot
    Posted by Sean Trende
    Gallup’s generic polling shows the number of voters saying that they would vote for Republicans rising three points from last week, while the number saying they will vote for Democrats dropped four points. The 49%-43% lead for the Republicans is the largest that the pollster has ever recorded for the party. Moreover, Democratic enthusiasm for voting this fall fell a point, while enthusiasm among Republicans stayed about fifteen points higher. This indicates an even wider lead for Republicans once Gallup imposes a likely voter screen this fall.

    There’s any number of reasons for this: the public’s perception of Obama’s response to the oil spill, the shaky stock market performance last week, continued concern about the economy and spending. The bottom line is that, despite what is perceived as an underperformance for the Republicans in PA-12 a couple of weeks ago, there are still plenty of Democrats in trouble for this November.

  • The Real Royal King

    Hey, there Gordon Blower (I Have a Series of Disjointed You Tube Clips I Made, But Not a) Show, Mr. Olbermann’s parents thought very highly of him, and I see no reason we need to disparage these fine people, of fond memory.

  • http://apostrophejones.com Apostrophe jones

    What a country . Wasn’t there a show that had David Hasselhoff judging whether people were talented or not ? This character Olby is deciding who the worst people are ? Well , I suppose deranged people need jobs , too .

  • Barney

    The Uberdouche once again shows what a misogynistic and classless piece of shit he really is

  • notsofast

    Talk about your unjustified arrogance! Who is Olbermann to call ANYONE a failure?

    After all, he continues to get absolutely trounced in his time slot by Bill O’Reilly.

    In fact, last Thursday, O’Reilly had 3.3 million viewers to Olbermann’s 1.1 million.

    Even more embarrassing, this pompous moron came in third that night in the all important demographic of viewers aged 25 to 54 — and he’s calling Brown a failure!

  • http://gordonbloyershow.com gordonbloyershow

    RRK is on crack again.

  • http://thedailybarb.com Burnnotice

    Keith, Beck ,O”Reilly…. Sensational Journalism at its finest. What you have to do to sell a story these days. No wonder people are turning off the news channels and relying on blogs. I liked Michael Savage before he went insane. I liked Beck before he went of fox and turned into Billy Mays reincarnation.,O”Reilly still acts like he is a high school teacher. Keith just your typical nerd that got picked on in school, that now has his own show to attack all the people he feels are superior to him.The only guy I like anymore is Shepard Smith.

    This is Great!………http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/shepard-smith/index.html#/v/4217266/dead-people-dont-travel-much/?playlist_id=86931

  • http://thedailybarb.com Burnnotice
  • writer

    Olbermann was arguing against opinion journalism? Was he wearing a lightning rod when he said that?

  • OxyCon

    Look for Keith Obamamann’s ratings to drop even more. He just lost nine viewers.

  • stoogedudes

    Burnnotice…

    I too liked Beck at one point. Sure I didn’t agree with him on everything, but he, at the time, used humor in his narrative and he did seem somewhat more balanced (yes, still conservative, but he wasn’t looney as he is now). Once Beck went on Fox News, he went bat-shit crazy.

    I agree with Olbermann though on his second point. People are turning away from CNN because it’s basically news that they got from the internet. When a big story starts out, it’s good to watch, but after 5 hours of reporting the SAME DAMN THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN, it gets tiring and I turn the channel.

    I like Keith at times. Most of the time, it’s complete hyperbole and I can only take so much of that. But his Worst Persons segment I watch to get a “liberal high” as he goes after the crazies like Beck and Savage. But that’s the extent of it. Sometimes he hits the nail on the head with things like his Special Comment after Prop 8 in California (terrific television). But for real information from a more sane personality, I wait unti he’s over to watch the superb Rachel Maddow….and QUE the conservative convulsions…

  • Penguin60

    Somebody actually defends this DB? Fascinating. It’s probably Keefy.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joe-Callan/100000200979966 Joe Callan

    Keith is very sensitive about his abilities to report on other reporters commenting on reporters who comment on (rather than report) the news.

    But he’s doing YOU a favor, America. HOW DARE YOU QUESTION HIS ALTRUISM. :D

  • drex94

    KO IS LIKE RUSH WINDBAG…PEOPLE COMPLAIN AND MOCK HIM…BUT THEY STILL LISTEN.

  • JohnSimpson

    CNN responds to KO:

    “”By the end of the day some people may know what’s happened in the world – but that’s no thanks to MSNBC, which didn’t even bother to cover the press conference announcing that Top Kill had failed to stop the Gulf oil spill. As a news organization, CNN provides viewers both content and context to the days’ news, unlike the partisan networks.”

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