by Keith Olbermann
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/15/920896/-Ted-Koppel-And-The-Real-Death-Of-Real-NewsDuring my suspension weekend before last I got an email from the delightfully and improbably named Autumn Brewington, inviting me to contribute an Op-Ed piece to The Washington Post on the topic of journalistic objectivity (and, I’m assuming, how political contributions or mere identification fit into that sphere). Discretion being the better part of valor, I had to turn down all requests for comment at that point. Vanity being the better part of me, I have to assume she then turned to the former ABC anchor Ted Koppel.
The results were what you might expect. Sanctimony, condescension, nostalgia for a time when tv news was objective and neutral and giants walked the earth and they didn’t worry about profits and it was a point of pride that they lost money and everybody trusted them and it was never about ratings and hey you kids get off my lawn. Around dinner-time tonight, the fabulous Jack Shafer at Slate dismembered the we-lost-money meme with a splendid deconstruction of the cooked books of the news operations of the ‘50s and ‘60s that I have to admit was an education even for me.
(
http://www.slate.com/id/2274927/)
By accident, Mr. Shafer presented a wonderful preamble to the point I wanted to make in tonight’s Special Comment, a point I hope you’ll permit me to present here in the form of the script from tonight’s show:
Transcript at link
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