Glen Greenwald (Salon) on the corporate censorship of Olbermann and O'Reilly

[Lorax7844]

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/

An email from his blog:
"It's interesting and somewhat shocking to me that a NYT article wouldn't even mention the effect on the hosts' journalistic freedom. . . . I assume that both Olbermann and O'Reilly would not have agreed to the truce, as the battle is ratings gold for both of them, and I'm sure they frankly hate each other and enjoy it.
The sad truth is that what Olbermann and O'Reilly were doing in this particular instance was one of the rare examples of good journalism on these types of shows. Olbermann was holding O'Reilly's feet to the fire about his repeated falsehoods and embarrassing positions. In turn, O'Reilly was giving the public accurate and disturbing information about General Electric, including extensive technology dealings with Iran. In my personal opinion, this was one of the rare useful pieces of information O'Reilly ever presented to his audience, and Olbermann was there to show how lousy the rest of O'Reilly's information was. Though it was in the context of a bitter feud, the two men were actually engaging in real journalism, at least in this case."

[TreasonousBastard]

1. That's an odd way of looking at it...

these two guys were acting like spoiled little brats tattling on each other and somehow that gets translated into good journalism because they each made points on the other.

And, journalistic freedom my rosy red ass. An editor or publisher can do pretty much anything he or she wants with any talent under their thumbs-- up to and including firing someone for being an unprofessional asshole.

(Unless said unprofessional asshole is bringing in some big ad bucks)

[Bandit]

7. What Point did O'Really ever make against Olberman?

He rants about GE and how Liberal MSNBC is but what specifically did he ever say about Olberman?

[TreasonousBastard]

10. That's not the point-- it's a childish display on...

both sides that has no business on even cable news.

[bertman]

2. SOMEBODY needs to call O'Reilly on his lying bullshit propaganda. You'd think that

MSNBC would want to show FAUX up for what it is.

Glad to hear that O'Reilly has made an effort to do some constructive journalism for a change. I can't stomach the bastard, so I'll turn the channel.

[Adam Kirur]

3. "I had no idea, the extent of the lie."

That was Timothy Hutton speaking to Sean Penn in The Falcon and The Snowman, but it applies to this truly sad story as well.

AK

[Strong Atheist]

9. Welcome to DU!

:toast:

[proud2BlibKansan]

4. Keith said he didn't agree to any truce

[fasttense]

5. And our corporate masters slowly tighten the noose around democracy's neck.

How can the public possible make informed decisions when the corporations censors all the news? If an editor did that, we would simply stop reading his paper, when a corporation does it we seldom notice and readily accept it as just doing business.

Welcome to fascism where the corporations rule.

[KharmaTrain]

6. Be Sure To Be Watching...

That's all they care. The wingnuts will want to hear BillO's spin and we know many here want to hear KO's.

Yes...there is some "holding feet to the fire", but there's also PR and ego at play. Keith shows the tendency to let personal attacks make him want to hit back...like something in Page 6 of the Murdoch Post. Most of us never see this rag but it becomes personal and it would turn into picking on O'Reilly in hopes for a reaction back. Yep...like a bunch of kids in a sandbox.

While there may be a "truce"...and I don't mind it, I'm sick of O'Reilly...Olbermann has been taking aim at others; widening his range. So now instead of keeping one person's "feet to the fire", he's spreading it around. My take is that this is more like ridiculing and baiting...a game that gets people to watch and listen. Say good, say bad, just say...call me anything you want, but make sure you spell the name right on the check.

[Berry Cool]

8. I think it's bullshit, and Keith did it on his own

and if we hear no more about it than he's already said, it's only because he does more good having his TV show than not having it.