We learn from today’s New York Times that Rosie O’Donnell is in “serious discussions” to return to television “atop a new soapbox: a prime-time show on the cable news channel MSNBC.”
That is a perfect fit. MSNBC, after all, is the cable news channel that features, among others, Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews. Why not add Rosie to the mix? Her qualifications as a news journalist certainly rival those of Mr. Olbermann, who came to NBC’s news division via ESPN and Fox Sports.
The Times tells us that Mr. Olbermann’s program, which is “riding a ratings wave,” takes “strong issue” with the Bush administration. That would be one way of saying it. Another would be that Mr. Olbermann is afflicted with Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS)—defined by the Pulitzer Prize winning columnist (and former psychiatrist) Charles Krauthammer as “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency—nay—the very existence of George W. Bush.”
Mr. Olbermann’s entire show is tendentious—but nothing quite approaches his “Special Comment” editorials. In his November 5 “Special Comment,” for example, Mr. Olbermann said, “The presidency of George W. Bush has now devolved into a criminal conspiracy to cover the ass of George W. Bush.” He spoke about “the petulancy, all the childish threats, all the blank-stare stupidity.” He referred to the “verbal flatulence of his apologists.” George W. Bush, Mr. Olbermann asserted, is a “mock president,” a “liar,” and, “if anybody had the guts to pursue it, a criminal.” Vice President Cheney is “unstable.” On and on (and on) his editorials go, with Olbermann playing a Lear-like figure, raging against the storm. One half-expects him to sign off his program not with his signature “Good night and good luck,” but with, “Off, off, you lendings! Come unbutton here.”
Yet reading Olbermann’s commentaries doesn’t quite do justice to them. What you would miss is seeing the haughtiness, the unsurpassed air of self-importance and arrogance, the sputtering hatred, and the boundless self-delusion (he seems to consider himself not just a journalist, but the heir of Edward R. Murrow). Of course Olbermann’s ratings have increased; this is, in its own way, riveting stuff. Never have we seen the mad utterings of a journalist put on display quite like this. It makes even the shallowness and odd obsessions of Chris Matthews seem normal in comparison. And that is no easy achievement.
One can only imagine what serious, even outstanding, journalists like Tim Russert, Brian Williams, and Pete Williams must be thinking to have their good name, and the name of NBC News, associated with the likes of Olbermann and Matthews. Tim Russert’s tough and fair-minded approach has made him one of the most widely respected journalists in America. How must he, as NBC’s Washington Bureau Chief, feel to have people like Olbermann, Matthews, and perhaps Rosie O’Donnell define the NBC News brand? It takes a long time to build up the reputation of an institution; it takes a lot less time to tear it down. Mr. Russert and his (responsible) colleagues deserve better, and can do better, than this.
