Keith Olbermann's departure from MSNBC caused quite a stir on the twitter feeds Friday night. The enthusiasm with which the progressive community discussed, debated and disparaged the Comcast takeover of MSNBC and the resulting departure of our progressive icon, Keith Olbermann, is notable. How much did personality conflicts enter into it? How much influence did the Comcast merger have? While it would be enlightening to know the details, we already know one thing: the march of corporate media continues.
The complexity of the issues around this single event is as notable as the event itself.
Is it simply that we have come to love Keith for having stood his ground against a seemingly overwhelming right-wing noise machine that has us all a-twitter? Or is it something much deeper?
It is quite possible that Keith's departure represents a much more fundamental concern within the progressive community: the loss of yet another important voice progressive voice from the airwaves.
Keith isn't the first victim in the media war against progressives. Have we forgotten Bill Maher?
Keith's sudden departure from MSNBC may not have been as sudden as it seemed. According to the New York Post, "Olbermann Wanted Out a Year Ago". However, regardless of whether it was Keith's choice or MSNBC's, the fact remains that this loss of yet one more progressive voice was directly related to the Comcast merger with NBC-Universal. The media assault on America from the right has been growing for 30 years since Reagan led us down this slippery slope of deregulating the airwaves. There is no sign that we have reached the bottom of this slippery slope that has led to less broadcast accountability and looser antitrust standards for mergers.
Keith is not the first victim, nor will he be the last, in this war. Knowing the corporate media as we do, is it possible that Keith's departure stirs in us a sense of injustice that inspires us to want to fight back? The twitter stream was full of advice to Keith on what he should do next. Is our concern primarily focused on Keith's best interests or our own sense of urgency to do something to fight back? In fact, maybe it's both of these reasons because fighting back is what Keith does best.
Considering the larger context surrounding Keith's departure, what should he do next? What should we do while we wait for his next step?
There may be yet another, deeper reason why this event stirs such passion and inspires several days of non-stop twittering. Even with the Steelers-Jets game going on, Keith's is commanding equal time on the Twitter feeds. Is it possible that Keith and, more generally, progressive voices in the media really represent our hopes and fears about the future? Are we concerned that Keith's absence from the airwaves will threaten our hopes and fuel our fears? Do we see Keith's efforts in the media on par with Ted "The Lion of the Senate" Kennedy's efforts in governing? Keith will be back, but what do we do in the meantime?
The "lazy" 99ers, the first victims of the GOP-induced depression, are still without assistance. "Irresponsible" Americans are still losing their homes to foreclosure in record numbers. "Benevolent, job-producing" corporations are still exporting 80,000 jobs to India while whitewashing their records with claims of bringing 10,000 jobs back from Inda.
Progressive media should be on all of our minds.
A strange phenomenon happened Friday night. When the news broke about Keith`s departure from MSNBC, I engaged in discussion with many of my twitter colleagues about what his departure meant to our NewStand Media team. We have been working for months on establishing a new progressive media network to challenge corporate media. I have written about this effort in a previous diary called It's Time To Rebuild The Free Press. Many other folks were discussing the need for a progressive media network. So, far, it's a pretty normal night on Tritter. But then something strange happened. My gmail account started sending alerts in rapid fire succession. I suddenly had 70 more followers than I had at the start of the conversation. This event made it clear to me that our progressive media project is the right initiative at the right time.
I won't presume to tell Keith what he should do as he moves on from here. I will leave that to people who are a lot smarter than me. But I DO know that we can never expect corporate media to voluntarily represent the interests of the middle class which I submit is one and the same with the progressive community. I also know that in every discussion I have had concerning the need for a progressive media network, I have received unanimous agreement that it is both needed and timely. I will make this appeal to "The Progressive Lion of the Media." Keith, your efforts to promote a new progressive media network would be invaluable. We're fighting your battle for you. Any help you could give us would be greatly appreciated.
Now it's our turn to take a New Stand for progressive messaging and to work together to ensure that our message is heard.
In the meantime, I propose that we let Keith take a break from shouldering the messaging needs of the progressive community and take a little initiative of our own. The NewStand Media team has been working tirelessly to put the infrastructure in place for the second quarter roll out of our first progressive media affiliates. We'll soon be publishing a book entitled "FIX America! How Each of Us Can Help All of Us". We'll make the book available on our Progressive Leadership Action Network (PLAN) website. I encourage everyone to buy the book, which will help fund the roll out of NewStand Media. Then, I encourage each of you to read it to get ideas about how you can help shoulder some of the progressive messaging needs.