New Yorker has a profile of Keith Olbermann out. The article attempts to present a neutral view of exactly what Olbermann's show has succeeded in doing, and what his show is indicative of in the broader picture. I'm not a big fan of Olbermann's approach to news, but I think this article does a thoughtful service to placing his rise in the appropriate modern context.
Link and a couple excerpts after the jump...
Keith Olbermann: One Angry Man
The article begins with the story of the composition of his most recent Special Comment against Bush -- the golf one -- and includes a mention of Daily Kos:
The jeremiad against Bush was a signature Olbermann effort, the sort of stylized, mocking tirade that has lately made him a cable-news sensation, the Edward R. Murrow of the Angry Left. Olbermann was pleased with the script, and the next day, before going on the air with it, he posted excerpts on the liberal blog Daily Kos, which is a fairly good representation of the Olbermann fan base. The Kossacks wholly approved. ("You excoriated the bloodyhanded, warmongering imbecile." "This country cannot survive without you." "Dude, you’ve got a pair of steel ones!" "I’m gonna print it out, hang it up and memorize it.")
Also included are anecdotes about his feud with Bill O'Reilly:
When "Countdown" was still new, in 2004, Rick Kaplan, then the president of MSNBC, told Olbermann that he wanted the program to be the cable network’s "newscast of record." Largely owing to the license that Olbermann took in his on-air duelling with O’Reilly, it has become more like a nightly political insult-comedy routine.
a broader look at the success of Countdown:
Olbermann’s success, like O’Reilly’s, is evidence of viewer cocooning—the inclination to seek out programming that reinforces one’s own firmly held political views. "People want to identify," (longtime Olbermann producer) Griffin says.
and the recent thoughts of Tim Russert:
As Russert put it to me shortly before his death, "Keith and I have each carved out our roles in this vast information spectrum." He continued, "What cable emphasizes, more and more, is opinion, or even advocacy. Whether it’s Bill O’Reilly or Keith Olbermann or Lou Dobbs, that’s what that particular platform or venue does. It’s not what I do.
To me, Olbermann's success is laudable because he has accomplished what very few thought could happen in cable news: do what Bill O'Reilly does for the other side. He has created a successful nightly staple that is entertaining and serves to forward the cause of progressivism in every way possible. But one thing this article also does well is to make clear that Olbermann should not be given moral superiority over his rivals in that pursuit.