An O’Reilly-Olbermann truce?
Why Fox and MSNBC want Keith Olbermann and Bill O'Reilly to stop feuding
Keith Olbermann, left, and Bill O'Reilly
(Corbis/Evan Hurd, Retna Ltd./Corbis/Dennis Kleiman)
Keith Olbermann and Bill O’Reilly have been ordered to cease their long-running on-air “feud,” said Glenn Greenwald in Salon, according to a “remarkable story” in The New York Times. Jeffrey Immelt, the chairman of General Electric (which owns MSNBC), and News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch (owner of Fox News) had Charlie Rose mediate an end to the sniping, because it was bad for GE and News Corp. That’s “nothing less than corporate censorship.”
It sound more like the “grown-ups” at Fox and MSNBC finally putting an end to this “silly feud,” said Don Suber in the Charleston, W. Va., Daily Mail. “Good call.” It was a “great marketing tool” for Olbermann, but GE didn’t need the “bad publicity” and News Corp. was wary of angering “a major advertiser.” And you know what? “Immelt and Rupert Murdoch are the bosses. They sign the paychecks.”
The real tragedy of NBC’s cowardly promise to ease off on Fox, said Ryan Tate in Gawker, is that it ruins the rare reminder that “corporate media didn’t have to be toothless or dull media.” The feud also made for surprisingly “good journalism,” with each host calling out the other side’s falsehoods, mistakes, and “tasteless moments.”
Olbermann “isn’t declaring peace, he’s declaring cease-fire,” said Aaron Barnhart in The Kansas City Star. (Watch Olbermann's explanation) But even as a temporary detente, “I’m not buying it.” Show-business feuds are too good for business. So no, “the Billo-Keith feud is, like ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ on hiatus, and will return someday with new episodes. And boy, I can’t wait for that.”
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4 Comments
Posted by Aaron, Monday, August 3, 2009, 4:02 pm First, the real problem lies in that they each have their dedicated followers who believe everything that comes out of their pie holes, and nothing else. Secondly, when the media becomes the message, it is time we all tune out.
Posted by Michael J. Gorman, Monday, August 3, 2009, 9:00 pm The difference seems to be that O'Reilly has real baggage. He allegedly paid a former female employee 10 million to settle a sexual harassment suit. He seems to support any war and calls war critics various names, but he was a draft avoider who taught in certain school districts during the Vietnam War to get a deferment, and bailed out of teaching as soon as the possibility of being drafted was removed. He can also be also be accused of stalking by proxy those whom he labels immoral, and he is the ultimate judge of morality. What a jerk!
Posted by Mike, Monday, August 3, 2009, 9:03 pm It will only hurt the public if corporate stops them from calling out each others false information. The truth should be spoken, truce or no truce. They each owe their audiences that much.
Posted by Kenny, Tuesday, August 4, 2009, 3:58 pm Keith didn't last a day, already went after O'Reilly again in his worst person in the world segment.
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