Either Relevant or True » Backlash - Now In One Tidy Package!

I left off on posting about the most recent media type to join the “Pile On Olbermann” movement for no other reason than it was a beautiful sunny weekend and dammit, my feathers didn’t need ruffling. Not like there was anything new or interesting there.

Fortunately (?) for us, Danny Shea at HuffPo has gathered up all of the recent backlash in a single column! One stop shopping for all your indignant needs! This roundup was apparently spurred by last night’s choice of Katic Couric as Worst Person. Let’s look at some of what he’s rounded up, shall we?

From Rachel Sklar:

I find it a bit rich that Keith Olbermann would chastise anyone on the subject of “separating the hype from the news” or “the nonsense that Senator Clinton was a victim of pronounced sexism.” And yet he did just that last night in naming Katie Couric his “Worst Person in the World” for speaking out about the sexism evidenced in some of the media coverage of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Ms. Sklar, no KO fan she, cherry picks the one line about sexism missing the actual point Keith was making: Ms. Couric’s lack of fact checking regarding her words about Lee Cowan.

I actually flinched last night when I heard Keith denigrate the idea of rampant sexism against Hillary. While I did not see it lurking in every negative phrase uttered against her as some did, it was there and it was obvious. Keith apparently needs to get a 16 ton clue dropped on him on that count. But that was a footnote to the larger issue.

Next up, that paragon of truthful journalism, Jossip:

How did we go from naming Rupert Murdoch the “Worst Person in the World” to adding America’s sweetheart Katie Couric to that list? Ah, right: Because Keith Olbermann’s popular segment is as much a place to criticize world leaders guilty of human rights violations as it is for him to defend his own. And thanks to Couric aiming some “anonymous” critical comments at the NBC family, there she is, Keith’s No. 1 target.

“America’s sweetheart?” Really? Have you seen her ratings? While we’re at it, have you actually seen more than one segment of Worsts? When was the last time a “world leader” was nominated for “human rights violations?”

It’s not a secret that KO deserves some of the criticism leveled at him. We aren’t here to hold him up as a shining example of perfection. But I think it not too much to ask that his critics stay on point.

Rafismom had an excellent comment on this on the previous thread.

Keith can be a bit of a loyal attack dog when it comes to all things pertaining to the NBC family. Ms. Sklar may have cherry picked, but I can see a little bit why there is a bit of a backlash. It really has nothing to do with Couric. And lets be honest here, Keith certainly is not a saint. He’s uttered more than his fair share of snide little comments about women, in particular, their advanced age. (”flinch” worthy, indeed). But considering the flith and lies that the scum at FoxNews spew, I’ll put up with Keith’s occasional “guy’s locker-room” comments.

BTW, doesn’t Rachel Sklar look like Sean Young (think Blade Runner)?

http://www.philipkdick.com/films_blade-young01.html

I was about to comment on the following until I found out about Tim Russert. Anyway, from TVNewser:

“…In the comments section of a Daily Kos blog post he wrote, Olbermann responded to a commenter who questioned Sklar’s criticism of MSNBC and Olbermann. Sklar “has it in for you big time,” wrote the commenter. Olbermann responds:

Don’t know what to think about Ms. Sklar. Actually, I’m mildly alarmed, but not because of the criticism. She — let me phrase this gently — attended the Countdown 5th Anniversary Party in April, even though she had been denied an invitation and was not accompanying a guest.

But Sklar tells TVNewser, “Keith is mistaken. I’m sorry he was alarmed, but I was not at the event.”…”

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/msnbc/couric_v_olbermann_morphs_to_olbermann_v_sklar_87044.asp?c=rss

I am getting a little tired of Keith attacking someone in a personal manner, when they may have a valid criticism of his show. He seems to do this particularly when the criticism is coming from women. I am sorry, but what does whether Ms. Sklar has a date or not, or was invited or not to his party, in which she said she did not attend, have to do with the price of eggs in China. This is really an ugly side of Keith that he needs to really work on.

GM, you seem to have missed the point of what Keith was saying. What he was saying is that Sklar CRASHED his anniversary party. I.e., she was NOT INVITED to it, as in she requested an invitation and was denied one, yet she ATTENDED it anyway.

When he says she “was not accompanying a guest,” that is not meant as a snark on her for not having a date. What he is saying is that even having been denied an invitation of her own, Sklar could have legitimately attended the party as a guest of someone who DID have an invitation. According to him, she did not attend with someone who was invited, so she was a crasher.

She says she didn’t even go.

Who’s telling the truth? We can’t tell from this. But please, rid yourself of the notion that the remark about Sklar not being accompanied by a guest was some sort of attempt to snark at her for not having a date. It’s obvious to me that what he meant was that she wasn’t present as the guest of an invitee.

That makes a lot of sense Orin! Good catch! I feel like saying “nevermind” like Gilda Radner. ;)

The weird thing is, Sklar seems to cover all things media, esp. media parties (where she is at her snarky best), in her “eat the press’ blog, so the fact that she didn’t write about Keith’s 5-years, seems like she didn’t attend. Maybe that is why he made that comment, because he didn’t get the coverage, (other than TVnewser).

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