One Angry Man

[Bann]

One Angry Man

by Peter J. Boyer

When, in 1981, Olbermann arrived at CNN, then still in its startup throes, he was, at twenty-two, seen as a sportscasting wunderkind—smart, offbeat, and possessed of an encyclopedic range of knowledge. He also had the reputation, even among those who admired his talents, of being somewhat difficult. Growing up in suburban Hastings-on-Hudson, in Westchester County, he was the sort of kid who, when his parents thought psychological testing was in order, responded to the Rorschach test by saying, “It looks like an inkblot.”

This guy is certifiable. Why anyone would waste 2 seconds watching him is beyond me. I get the heebie jeebies just reading the article (which is too long)
The Political Scene: One Angry Man: Reporting & Essays: The New Yorker

 

[chuckster]

The sad thing is that MSNBC is afraid that he will quit, so they will not say anything to him. He is a 'Horse's Ass" and should go back to sports. However with all that has happened at NBC this weekend, you can bet that he is trying to figure out how the death of Russert is going to benifit him and what he can do to negotiate another high dollar ($4 million) contract.

 

[chuckster]

However with all that has happened at NBC this weekend, you can bet that he is trying to figure out how the death of Russert is going to benifit him and what he can do to negotiate another high dollar ($4 million) contract.

Let the games begin.
With Tim Russert’s Death, NBC News Must Replace a Man of Many Roles: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance


NYTimes.com
With Tim Russert’s Death, NBC News Must Replace a Man of Many Roles
Monday June 16, 10:35 am ET
By BILL CARTER and JACQUES STEINBERG

The sudden death of Tim Russert has left the management of NBC News, for the moment at least, at a loss to contemplate how to replace him.
Mr. Russert was not only the moderator of “Meet the Press,” television’s most successful political talk show, he was also the chief of NBC’s Washington bureau, responsible for the hiring of staff members and directing its operations. More significantly, he was NBC’s public face on politics, appearing regularly on the network’s full range of programs, including the <object.title class="Movie" idsrc="nyt_ttl" value="132576;437325;131090">“Today”</object.title> show, NBC’s “Nightly News,” and on its cable news channel MSNBC.

“It’s going to take four or five people to replace Tim,” said Bob Schieffer, Mr. Russert’s competitor for two decades on CBS’s Sunday program, “Face the Nation,” in a telephone interview from a barge in the Burgundy region of France, where he was vacationing.

“They’ve got to find a moderator for ‘Meet the Press.’ They’ve got to find a manager for that bureau. They’ve got to find someone who understands as much about politics as Tim does and there aren’t many people who do. They’ve got to find someone who is willing to get up in the morning and go on the ‘Today’ show and do the ‘Nightly News’ and then stay up late to go on MSNBC.”

Jeff Zucker, the president of NBC Universal, the parent company of NBC News, said the network was well aware of the issues it faced going into a pivotal presidential election.

“Nobody should even think about replacing Tim Russert,” he said in a telephone interview on Sunday. “What someone will need to do is find the next way to do ‘Meet the Press’ and provide political analysis. Anybody who thinks they can replace Tim Russert is kidding themselves.”

Any open speculation about whom NBC might turn to was muted out of deference to Mr. Russert and his family. One manifestation of NBC’s reluctance to engage in any planning for its future was the network’s decision not to name a host for next week’s edition of “Meet the Press.” The former NBC anchor, Tom Brokaw, filled in on Sunday, hosting a show devoted to a celebration of Mr. Russert’s career.

But the list of potential names to assume the moderator role on “Meet the Press” is already well known. From inside NBC, the potential candidates include the evening news anchor, Brian Williams, who would be doing double duty (as Mr. Schieffer did for a time at CBS), correspondents David Gregory and Andrea Mitchell and MSNBC hosts like Chris Matthews, Joe Scarborough and Keith Olbermann. Several of those names are already lightning rods for critics, however

 

[chuckster]

Here are more links that you can find on Olbermann Watch - MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann

links for 2008-06-16
Page Six: WHY KICKY KEITH CAN'T SIT STILL
THE perplexing mystery of why Keith Olbermann acts like a twitchy, hopped-up geek on his MSNBC show has been solved.

Daily Bulletin: Yesterday's news tomorrow
And that Keith, boy is he ever cool! Very hip. Very sophisticated.

The New Yorker: One Angry Man
Griffin added that a certain level of stress is part of the job of managing Keith Olbermann.
Talk Left: Olbermann Asked To Tone Down Hillary Hate, Refused
I will never come back to MSNBC and Keith Olbermann as a reliable source of news.
The Cable Game: Is Keith Olbermann changing TV news? Yes, But He's Not The Only One
Once again, it''s worth dwelling on this alliance between the lefty "netroots" and a TV anchorman.

The Democratic Daily: Olbermann, The Angry Man
I got turned off by the coverage on MSNBC and decided I had seen enough of Olbermann's "angry man" routine to last me quite a very longtime.

By The Fault: The Madness of Keith Olbermann
So Keith Olbermann has made his sick bed, now let him lay in it.

Random Thoughts from Reno: Speaking of Media Corruption...
He turned into a total hack, a total jerk.

Kansas City Star: MSNBC's Chuck Todd and Rachel Maddow are young, geeky and hot
As for Maddow, the onetime barista and morning-zoo sidekick has seen her airtime grow exponentially, most notably on "Countdown With Keith Olbermann," where she now fills in when the host is gone.
"She's terrific," Olbermann said.

 

[Larry Gude]

Yeah...

“It’s going to take four or five people to replace Tim,” said Bob Schieffer, Mr. Russert’s competitor for two decades on CBS’s Sunday program, “Face the Nation,” in a telephone interview from a barge in the Burgundy region of France, where he was vacationing.

“They’ve got to find a moderator for ‘Meet the Press.’ They’ve got to find a manager for that bureau. They’ve got to find someone who understands as much about politics as Tim does and there aren’t many people who do. They’ve got to find someone who is willing to get up in the morning and go on the ‘Today’ show and do the ‘Nightly News’ and then stay up late to go on MSNBC.”

...and it's completely lost on these folks why Russert croaked at 58.
He was overweight. He ate bad. He this, he that.

I don't suppose doing the job of four people had anything to do with it? I don't begrudge anyone the right to work as hard as they please, but, in a corporate environment where you are NOT self employed, NOT your own boss, your BOSS'S have a responsibility to you and, frankly, to themselves, to create an environment that doesn't just consume people.

Imagine the vicious cycle of starting to succeed in a business that leads to more work and more work. They all do it. They have no personal lives. They have no family lives. They are THE JOB and that's it. It would be nice to see one of them stand up and REPORT on just what kind of life 'successful' people have; the hours, the travel, the demands, the stress.

If nothing else, it would provide some nice stories and incentive for people who think 40-50 hour work weeks are bad.