Supplementing traditional media
According to Mike Daniel of the Houston Chronicle, Keith Olbermann's Countdown is the most popular show on MSNBC! I haven't seen much of it, but I wonder how much of the show and Olbermann's success are due to Olbermann's blog. Now here's an interesting idea -- instead of pitting the mainstream media against new media, why not use them to complement one another?!
5 Comments:
Well, as Mike Daniel notes, Olbermann does use humor and smart-aleck gimmicks. And as you suggest, Oblermann's blog is popular among some bloggers.
But more revealing, I would say, is that Daniel opens his article by comparing him to Jon Stewart. Like Jon Stewart, Olbermann's "humorous" approach to the news often takes the form of biting political commentary on issues that are ignored or barely mentioned by other TV news shows.
Examples: during the Ohio recount, just about the only sustained TV coverage was on the Olbermann show. As I recall, Olbermann also featured the Gannon/Guckert story before any others did.
He also covers what he views as attempts to corrupt or intimidate the media, such as when Armstrong Williams received payola for promoting administration policies, or the more recent incident in which Newsweek retracted its report of alleged koran abuse.
In general, he asks questions that more conventional news shows appear to be afraid to ask.
He also has stuff on his show that I consider a total waste of time — such as news about the Michael Jackson trial or the runaway bride. And I've noticed that when one of his assistants subs for him, there are no hard stories till Keith gets back. But he's worth recording on TiVo. You can always fly past the "funny animal video" stories and focus on the hard news.
Convergence. Of media delivery, of what we use to access the media, and ultimately of the media itself is only a matter of time. With on-demand technology, TV and Web will mesh ever closer together. All major print outlets already have huge online presence.
As for Olbermann, I can't get the ESPN tagline out of my head. I take my TV news about as dry as I can get it, PBS' News Hour. For some reason it is just more trustworthy without the entertainment pretense.
I usually grab news on the Web, though.
Olbermann used to be on when I got home from work last year, and he was certainly a fun way to wind down after spending 8 hours in front of a computer.
So when Olbermann's blog debuted, I gave it a few days and generally enjoyed it. But I never thought for a second that Olbermann himself actually wrote the blog.
As celebrities such as Olbermann--not someone known for his especially intellectual pursuits--jump on the blogging bandwagon, are we supposed to expect that they are the creators of the information on their blog, rather than the same writers and producers who help create every episode of his show?
Emi: Ditto! I love Keith Olbermann. He's shown real courage.
I think the point you make at the end is the most vital one. Campaigns, media, journalists, any one who is launching a grassroots advocacy program in any form should stop fighting between old and new, and use both mediums to complement one another.
In terms of political campaigns, in part I blame the old school media consultants who see blogs and the Internet as competition rather than another medium they could use to their advantage.
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