News broadcasting is the broadcasting of various news events and other information via television, radio or internet in the field of broadcast journalism. The content is usually either produced locally in a radio studio or television studio newsroom, or by a broadcast network. It may also include additional material such as sports coverage, weather forecasts, traffic reports, commentary and other material that the broadcaster feels is relevant to their audience.

Television news

Television news refers to disseminating current events via the medium of television. A "News bulletin" or a "Newscasts" are television programs lasting from seconds to hours that provide updates on world, national, regional or local news events. Television news is very image-based, showing video of many of the events that are reported. Television channels may provide news bulletins as part of a regularly scheduled news program. Less often, television shows may be interrupted or replaced by breaking news ("news flashes") to provide news updates on current events of great importance or sudden events of great importance.

Cable news

Cable news refers to channels which are devoted to current events 24-hours per day. The originator of this format from which the name derives is CNN (as well as CNN International and CNN-IBN), which originally stood for Cable News Network in reference to the then-new phenomenon of cable television. As satellite and other forms have evolved, the term ''cable news'' has become something of an anachronism but is still in common use; many other television channels have since been established, such as BBC World News, BBC News, Sky News, Al Jazeera, ABC News 24, France 24, STAR News, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, Press TV, Russia Today, teleSUR and ABC News Now. Some news channels specialize even further, such as ESPNews (sports from ESPN); The Weather Channel (weather); CNBC, Bloomberg Television and Fox Business Network (financial).

A term which has entered common parlance to differentiate cable news from traditional news broadcasts is network news, in reference to the traditional television networks on which such broadcasts air. A classic example is the cable news channel MSNBC, which overlaps with (and, in the case of breaking world-changing events, pre-empts) its network counterpart NBC News.

Television news channel

Television news channels are television specialty channels which focus on presenting news content.

The world's first dedicated 24-hour news channels were BBC World News and CNN.

Radio news

Radio news is the same as television news but is transmitted through the medium of the radio. It is more based on the audio aspect rather than the visual aspect. Sound bites are captured through various reporters and played back through the radio. News updates occur more often on the radio than on the television - usually about once or twice an hour.

At most news/talk radio stations, newscasts run from :00-:06 minutes after the top of each hour. Some stations produce the entire six minutes on their own. Others begin with a network newscast, which covers national and world news, followed by a 2- or 3-minute local newscast. Most of the time, time is taken out of the news "window" for commercials and a weather forecast. In larger cities, traffic reports are also included. Some stations do traffic only during rush hour while others cover traffic around the clock.

Newscasts

Local TV news stations normally broadcast 3-4 times a day: 4:30, 5:00 and 6:00 in the morning; noon; 5:00 and 6:00 in the evening; and 10:00 or 11:00 at night. Some stations carry newscasts at 4:00, 4:30, 7:00, 8:00, 9:00, 11:00 or 11:30 in the morning, 4:00 or 4:30 in the afternoon, or 5:30 and 6:30 in the evening. Many Fox affiliates, affiliates of minor networks (such as The CW and MyNetworkTV) and independent stations air newscasts in the final hour of primetime (i.e., 10:00 p.m. in the Eastern and Pacific time zones or 9:00 p.m. in the Mountain and Central time zones in the U.S.). Many stations title their newscasts with catchy names like "Daybreak," "Good Morning (insert city or region here)," "First at Four," "Live at Five," "Eleven @ 11:00," or "Nightcast." These names are intended to set one station apart from the rest, especially for viewers who are chosen for audience measurement surveys. If the respondent was unable to provide a channel number or call letters, the newscast title is often enough for the appropriate station to receive Nielsen ratings credit.

Radio station newscasts can range from as little as a minute to as much as the station's entire schedule, such as the case of all-news radio.

More often, AM stations will air a 6½ minute newscast on the top of the hour, which can be either a local report, a national report from a radio network such as CBS Radio, Fox News Radio or ABC Radio, or a mix of both local and national content, including weather and traffic reports. Some stations also air a two minute report at the bottom of the hour.

FM stations, unless they feature a talk radio format, usually only air minute-long news capsules featuring a quick review of events and an abbreviated weather forecast, and usually only in drive time periods or in critical emergencies, since FM stations usually focus more on playing music. Traffic reports also air on FM stations, depending on the market

In some parts of the world there are 'rolling news' cable news TV channels that broadcast news 24 hours a day, such as CNN or Fox News in the United States or BBC News in the United Kingdom. Many news reports presented on the Internet are updated 24 hours a day.

Newscasts consist of several different elements, introduced by a news presenter or presenters. The presenters read 'links' and do interviews.

Most news stories come in the form of short 'packages'. These are pre-recorded reports usually lasting from one to five minutes. News reporters gather and edit together interview clips, pictures and their own 'pieces to camera' to tell a story. They script and record a 'voice-over' to explain the pictures and link the elements together.

Local television news stories are done as live television reports. This can be a news reporter on the scene of a story either being interviewed by a news anchor (sometimes known as a 'two-way'), a reporter interviewing one or more other people, or simply live pictures and sound of an event. The sound and pictures are sent back to the TV station via fixed cable links, microwave radio, production truck or even satellite truck. With the growth of "rolling news" channels the use, with help of the technical director, floor director audio technician and a television crew of operators running, character graphics (CG), teleprompter and professional video cameras. Most news shows are broadcast live.

References

See also

List of news channels

United States cable news

United States television news

Television news music package

Category:Broadcast journalism Category:Television terminology

ar:نشرة الأخبار ca:Informatiu de televisió de:Nachrichtensender es:Informativo televisivo eo:Informa televido fr:Journal télévisé id:Berita televisi it:Telegiornale nl:Journaal (televisie) ja:ニュース専門放送局 pl:Telewizja informacyjna pt:Telejornalismo sh:Informativni TV-program wa:Noveles al tévé zh:新聞頻道

Chase Whiteside (born March 4, 1988) is a documentary filmmaker, journalist, and founder of New Left Media. Whiteside is perhaps best known for his films documenting the participants at Tea Party events. Those documentaries, which IndieWire called "a perfect example of where documentary form and style is headed," have received more than 5 million views on YouTube. Henry Rollins wrote of his interviews with conservatives in a ''Vanity Fair'' column, "The very talented Mr. Ripley is a good interviewer and puts his subjects at ease." The Advocate calls him an "ambitious gay reporter."

Whiteside has been notably critical of cable news, telling the Washington Post's David Weigel, "CNN, like Fox News and MSNBC, should be largely dismissed as serious sources of news... as these outlets are all in the market of selling journalism through personalities, talking haircuts who report as much on what each other are saying as they do on reality."

References

Category:Living people Category:American journalists Category:LGBT journalists Category:1988 births

Name	Andrew Breitbart
Birth date	February 01, 1969
Birth place	Los Angeles, California, United States
Residence	Westwood, Los Angeles, California
Occupation	Writer, Columnist
Alma mater	Tulane University (B.A.)
Gender	Male
Spouse	Susie Bean (m. 1997)
Children	4
Religion	Agnostic
Website	}}

Andrew Breitbart (; born February 1, 1969) is an American publisher, commentator for the ''Washington Times'', author, an occasional guest commentator on various news programs who has served as an editor for the Drudge Report website. He was a researcher for Arianna Huffington, and helped launch her website, The Huffington Post.

He currently runs his own news aggregation site, Breitbart.com, and five other websites: Breitbart.tv, Big Hollywood, Big Government, Big Journalism, and Big Peace.

Early life

Breitbart is the adopted son of Gerald and Arlene Breitbart, a restaurant owner and banker respectively, and grew up in a family with secular liberal views, in upscale Brentwood, Los Angeles. He was raised Jewish (his adoptive mother had converted to Judaism when marrying his adoptive father). He explains that his birth certificate indicates his biological father was a folk singer, and that he is ethnically Irish by birth. His adopted sister is Hispanic. He changed his political views after experiencing an "epiphany" during the Clarence Thomas hearings, and now describes himself as "a Reagan conservative" with libertarian sympathies.

Breitbart earned a B.A. in American studies from Tulane University in 1991, graduating with "no sense of [his] future whatsoever". His early jobs included a stint at cable channel E! Entertainment Television, working for the company's online magazine, and some time in film production.

Public life

Authorship, research and reporting

In 1995 Breitbart saw the Drudge Report and was so impressed that he emailed Matt Drudge. Breitbart said, "I thought what he was doing was by far the coolest thing on the Internet. And I still do." Breitbart described himself as "Matt Drudge’s bitch" and selected and posted links to other news wire sources. Later Matt Drudge introduced him to Arianna Huffington (when she was still a Republican) and Breitbart subsequently assisted her (after she became a progressive) in creating her website.

Breitbart's work has been published in the ''Wall Street Journal'', National Review Online and the Weekly Standard Online, among others. He writes a weekly column for ''The Washington Times'', which also appears at Real Clear Politics. Breitbart also co-wrote the book ''Hollywood, Interrupted: Insanity Chic in Babylon'' with Mark Ebner, a book that is highly critical of U.S. celebrity culture. On January 19, 2011, the conservative gay rights group GOProud announced Breitbart had joined its Advisory Council.

Breitbart recently authored ''Righteous Indignation: Excuse Me While I Save the World'', which discusses his own political evolution and the part he took in the rise of new media, most notably at the Drudge Report and at The Huffington Post.

Breitbart has said that his next launch will be called "Big Education," and will take on the "academic establishment".

In June 2011 Breitbart was involved in the Anthony Weiner Twitter photo scandal posting photographs of Weiner on his websites.

Commentaries

Breitbart has appeared as a commentator on ''Real Time with Bill Maher'' and ''Dennis Miller''. In 2004 he was a guest commentator on Fox News Channel's morning show and frequently appears as a guest panelist on Fox News's late night program, ''Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld''. Breitbart also appeared as a commentator in the 2004 documentary ''Michael Moore Hates America''.

On October 22, 2009, Breitbart appeared on the C-SPAN program ''Washington Journal''. He gave his opinions on the mainstream media, Hollywood, the Obama Administration and his personal political views, having heated debates with several callers.

In the hours immediately following Senator Ted Kennedy's death, Breitbart called Kennedy a “villain,” a “duplicitous bastard,” a “prick” and "a special pile of human excrement."

In February 2010 Breitbart received the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award during the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. During his acceptance speech, he responded directly to accusations by ''New York Times'' reporter Kate Zernike that Jason Mattera, a young conservative activist, had been using "racial tones" in his allusions to President Barack Obama, and had spoken in a "Chris Rock voice." From the podium, Breitbart called Zernike "a despicable human being" for having made such allegations about Mattera's New York accent.

Activism

Breitbart often appears as a speaker at Tea Party movement events across the U.S. For example, Breitbart was a keynote speaker at the first National Tea Party Convention at Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville on February 6, 2010. Breitbart later involved himself in a controversy over homophobic and alleged racial slurs being used at a March 20, 2010 rally at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. by asserting that slurs were never used, and that "It was a set-up" by Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic Party. Breitbart offered to donate $100,000 to the United Negro College Fund "for any audio/video footage of the N-word being hurled", claiming that they made it up. Breitbart insisted Congressman John Lewis and the several other witnesses were forced to lie, concluding that "Nancy Pelosi did a great disservice to a great civil rights icon by thrusting him out there to perform this mischievous task. His reputation is now on the line as a result of her desperation to take down the Tea Party movement."

Websites

|quote = I'm committed to the destruction of the old media guard. And it's a very good business model.}}

Breitbart has launched a number of websites, including Breitbart.com, BigHollywood.com, BigGovernment.com, BigJournalism.com, and BigPeace.com.

Breitbart launched his first website as a news site; it is sometimes linked to by the Drudge Report and other websites. It features wire stories from the Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse, Fox News, PR Newswire, and U.S. Newswire, as well as direct links to a number of major international newspapers. Its Blog & "Network" links tend to run to the right within the U.S. political spectrum (e.g., National Review and Townhall.com). The site also features a search engine powered by Lingospot and a finance channel powered by FinancialContent. In 2007, Breitbart launched a video blog, Breitbart.tv.

In 2008 Breitbart launched the website "Big Hollywood," a "group blog" driven by some who work within Los Angeles, featuring contributions from a variety of writers, including politically conservative entertainment-industry professionals. The site, an outgrowth of the column "Big Hollywood" that Breitbart wrote for the ''Washington Times'', addresses issues facing conservatives who work in Hollywood. In 2009, the site used audio from a secretly recorded conference call to accuse the National Endowment of the Arts of encouraging artists to create work in support of Barack Obama's domestic policy agenda.

Breitbart launched BigGovernment.com on September 10, 2009. He hired Mike Flynn, a former government affairs specialist at Reason Foundation, as Editor-in-Chief of Big Government. The site premiered with hidden camera video footage taken by Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe at Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now offices in various cities, attracting nationwide attention resulting in the ACORN 2009 undercover videos controversy.

In January 2010, Breitbart launched Big Journalism. He told Mediaite: "Our goal at Big Journalism is to hold the mainstream media’s feet to the fire. There are a lot of stories that they simply don’t cover, either because it doesn’t fit their world view, or because they’re literally innocent of any knowledge that the story even exists, or because they are a dying organization, short-staffed, and thus can’t cover stuff like they did before." Big Journalism was edited by Michael A. Walsh, a former journalism professor and ''Time magazine'' music critic. It is now currently edited by Dana Loesch. The site has a fictional contributor named "Retracto, the Correction Alpaca" who posts items requesting corrections from the traditional media.

BigPeace.com debuted July 4, 2010. The site covers topics such as international issues and foreign policy, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, terrorism, Islamic extremism, espionage, border security, and energy issues.

Controversies

On May 28, 2011, Breitbart posted a sexually explicit photo on his BigJournalism website of New York Representative Anthony Weiner obtained through Weiner's Twitter account. Initially Weiner denied that he had sent a link to the photograph to a 21-year-old female college student, but after questions developed, he admitted to inappropriate online relationships. On June 6, 2011 Breitbart reported other photos Weiner had sent, including one that was sexually graphic. On June 8, 2011, the sexually graphic photo was leaked after Breitbart participated in a radio interview with hosts Opie and Anthony, though Breitbart stated that the photo was published without his permission. Weiner subsequently resigned from his congressional seat on June 21, 2011.

On July 19, 2010, Breitbart posted two short videos showing excerpts of a speech by Shirley Sherrod at an NAACP fundraising dinner in March 2010. The videos ensuing controversy resulted in Sherrod being fired from the United States Department of Agriculture on July 19. After Breitbart was criticized for taking Sherrod's words out of context, he posted the complete 40-minute video of the speech. The NAACP stated that the video excerpts aired by Breitbart were deliberately deceptive and said that he had "snookered" the group. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack later apologized to Sherrod and offered her a new job. In 2011, Sherrod brought suit against Breitbart for defamation.

Breitbart was also involved in the 2009 ACORN video controversy. Hannah Giles posed as a prostitute seeking assistance while James O'Keefe portrayed her boyfriend, and clandestinely videotaped meetings with ACORN staff. Subsequent criminal investigations by the Brooklyn District Attorney's office and the California Attorney General found the videos were heavily edited in an attempt to make ACORN's responses "appear more sinister", and contributed to the group's demise. Breitbart then provided a forum for O'Keefe on his BigGovernment.com website and defended his actions on Sean Hannity's Fox News Channel program.

Breitbart has also been embroiled in a controversy within the conservative movement related to the participation of gay group GOProud in the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual conference held in Washington, D.C. by the American Conservative Union. In 2011 he was the primary host of a party that served to "welcome" the "homocons" to the convention (though it was the second year they had been participants). This flew in the face of a boycott staged by a few social conservative groups that were offended by the inclusion of GOProud within the conservative fold. Writer, producer, and publisher Roger L. Simon referred to the group as a "game-changer" for the Republican party, and asserted that it represented a turning point in the appeal that the conservative movement might hold for young people. Breitbart is now on the Advisory Board of GOProud.

Personal life

Breitbart is married to Susannah (Susie) Bean, the daughter of actor Orson Bean, and has four children.

References

External links

Category:American activists Category:American alternative journalists Category:American adoptees Category:American bloggers Category:American political pundits Category:American political writers Category:Conservatism in the United States Category:National Review people Category:Online journalists Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:Tea Party movement Category:Tulane University alumni Category:The Washington Times people Category:American people of Irish descent Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:American Jews Category:Jewish agnostics Category:Jewish activists Category:Jewish bloggers Category:American Jews of European descent Category:Jewish American writers

sh:Andrew Breitbart

name	Cenk Uygur
birth date	March 21, 1970
birth place	Istanbul, Turkey
residence	Los Angeles
ethnicity	Turkish American
education	Attorney
alma mater	Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (B.S.), Columbia Law School (J.D.)
occupation	Internet and radio talk show host, political pundit
spouse	Wendy Lang
children	Prometheus Maximus Uygur (b. 2010)
religion	Agnostic
known for	''The Young Turks''
height
weight
movement	Progressive

Cenk Kadir Uygur (; born March 21, 1970), is the main host and co-founder of the Internet and talk radio show, ''The Young Turks''. Born in Turkey and raised in the United States, the Turkish-American Uygur worked as an attorney in Washington D.C. and New York after graduating from Columbia Law School. He was a political commentator on the cable television channel MSNBC in late 2010, and hosted an MSNBC prime time talk show from January 2011 through July of that same year.

Early life, education, and career

Uygur was born in Istanbul, Turkey and emigrated with his family to the United States when he was eight years old. He grew up in East Brunswick Township, New Jersey and graduated from East Brunswick High School. He attended the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in management and was on the Student Activities Council representing the Turkish Students Association. He earned a B.S. in management from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. He worked as an associate attorney at the law firms of Drinker Biddle & Reath in Washington, D.C. and Hayes & Liebman in New York City.

Uygur first appeared as a talk show host on a weekend radio show on WWRC in Washington, D.C. and on WRKO in Boston. He later wrote for, produced, and appeared on the WAMI-TV news show ''The Times'' in Miami, then started ''The Young Turks'' on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Political views

Early (1980s-1990s)

Uygur has described himself as a former "Northeast moderate Republican". He was a supporter of President Ronald Reagan, a member of the Republican student group at the University of Pennsylvania, and the conservative Federalist Society.

While in college, he wrote a column in the ''Daily Pennsylvanian'' decrying the lack of affirmative action recruiting for white Christian students at the university and suggesting that all students should be "judged on their merits rather than their physical characteristics." He supported the pro-life position on the abortion issue, criticized aspects of the feminist movement, and felt Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was treated unjustly during his Senate confirmation hearings. He also criticized organized religion as based on mythology and as a divisive force between peoples.

He has stated that he worked for a time for Republican former New York Congressman Joe DioGuardi. and voted for George H. W. Bush in the 1992 presidential election and for Bob Dole in 1996.

Uygur supported the Gulf War of 1990-1991, and supported the War in Afghanistan from its beginning in 2001 until 2009—though he has strongly opposed the Iraq War.

Later views

On social issues, Uygur is now pro-choice on abortion, and supports LGBT rights, including same-sex marriage. In 2009, he advocated the liberalization of drug laws, arguing that the War on Drugs has been a failure, as shown by the continuing violence in Mexico and the border region. He also opposes imprisoning non-violent drug offenders for marijuana possession. He previously supported capital punishment in the United States, but now opposes it largely due to multiple exonerations of death row inmates since the reinstatement of the death penalty.

Uygur has expressed support for a return to Clinton-era income tax brackets and has criticized the 2010 Obama–GOP compromise which provided for a temporary extension of the Bush tax cuts. Uygur has stated that he favored welfare reform as enacted under Bill Clinton. He has been critical of excessive regulation, but has argued that in recent decades, regulation of the financial sector has been inadequate. In particular, he faults the deregulatory policies of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush. He views the repeal (which Clinton signed into law} of the Glass–Steagall Act, as a major contributor to the late-2000s recession. However on many issues Uygur maintains that many of his Economic positions have not moved ( He describes himself as a fiscal Conservative in many cases) in instead the right wing has shifted has moved to the more extreme right even since the end of Bush's presidency, describing Rick Perry ( Former Texas Governor and 2012 presidential candidate) as "George Bush on Steroids".

Personal life

Though Uygur was born and raised in a Sunni Muslim family, he considers himself agnostic. He is married to Wendy Lang Uygur, a social worker by education. The Uygurs are the parents of one son, Prometheus Maximus Uygur, born July 2010. He was introduced live on MSNBC by Dylan Ratigan.

References

External links

''The Young Turks''

Category:1970 births Category:American agnostics Category:American former Muslims Category:American lawyers

Category:American political pundits Category:American talk radio hosts Category:Columbia Law School alumni Category:Living people Category:MSNBC Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States Category:People from East Brunswick Township, New Jersey Category:People from Istanbul Category:The Young Turks (talk show) Category:Turkish emigrants to the United States Category:Wharton School alumni

fi:Cenk Uygur tr:Cenk Uygur

Name	Keith Olbermann
Birthname	Keith Theodore Olbermann
Birth date	January 27, 1959
Birth place	New York City, New York, U.S.
Education	B.S., Cornell University
Occupation	Political commentator
Years active	1980s–present
Credits	''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' (2003–2011)''SportsCenter'' (1992–1997)''Football Night in America'' (2007–2010)
Agent	}}

Keith Theodore Olbermann (; born January 27, 1959) is an American political commentator and writer. He is the host of Countdown with Keith Olbermann on Current TV, an approximately hour-long nightly commentary program, and the Chief News Officer of the Current TV network. A former sportscaster and news anchor, Olbermann hosted Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC for almost eight years before moving the show to Current TV. The new show began airing June 20, 2011.

Olbermann spent the first twenty years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and radio stations in the 1980s, winning the ''Best Sportscaster'' award from the California Associated Press three times. He later co-hosted ESPN's ''SportsCenter'' from 1992 to 1997. After leaving ESPN amid controversy, Olbermann became a sports anchor and producer for Fox Sports Net from 1998 to 2001, during which time he hosted Fox's studio coverage of baseball.

After leaving Fox, Olbermann re-joined MSNBC after a hiatus, hosting ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' from 2003 until 2011. Olbermann established a niche in cable news commentary, gaining note for his pointed criticism of major politicians and public figures, directed particularly at the political right. He feuded with rival Fox News Channel commentator Bill O'Reilly and strongly criticized the George W. Bush administration and John McCain's unsuccessful 2008 Presidential candidacy. Although he has said on at least one occasion "I'm not a liberal; I'm an American", many describe Olbermann as a liberal.

Early life

Olbermann was born January 27, 1959, in New York City to Marie Katherine (née Charbonier), a preschool teacher, and Theodore Olbermann, a commercial architect, and is of German descent. He has one younger sister, Jenna, who was born in 1968. Olbermann grew up in a Unitarian household in the town of Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester County, and attended Hackley School in nearby Tarrytown.

Olbermann became a devoted fan of baseball at a young age, a love he inherited from his mother who was a lifelong New York Yankees fan. As a teenager, he often wrote about baseball card-collecting and appeared in many sports card-collecting periodicals of the mid-1970s. He is also referenced in ''Sports Collectors Bible'', a 1979 book by Bert Sugar, which is considered one of the important early books for trading card collectors.

While at Hackley, Olbermann began his broadcasting career as a play-by-play announcer for WHTR. After graduating from Hackley in 1975, Olbermann enrolled at Cornell University at the age of 16. At college, Olbermann served as sports director for WVBR, a student-run commercial radio station in Ithaca. Olbermann graduated from Cornell in 1979 with a B.S. in communications arts.

Sports broadcasting

Olbermann began his professional career at UPI and the RKO Radio Network before joining then nascent CNN in 1981. Among the early stories he covered was the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid including the "Miracle on Ice." In the early-to-mid '80s he was a sportscaster on the old WNEW 1130-AM radio station in New York City. Also in the mid-1980s, he did the voice-over on the USA Cable Network's "Cartoon Express", with cheering kids heard in the background. In 1984, he briefly worked as a sports anchor at WCVB-TV in Boston, before heading to Los Angeles to work at KTLA and KCBS. His work there earned him 11 Golden Mike Awards, and he was named best sportscaster by the California Associated Press three times.

ESPN

In 1992, Olbermann joined ESPN's ''SportsCenter'', a position he held until 1997 with the exception of a period from 1993–1994 when he was at ESPN2 on ''SportsNight''. He joined ESPN2 as their "marquee" personality to help launch the network. He often co-hosted ''SportsCenter'' 11 PM show with Dan Patrick, the two becoming a popular anchor team. In 1995, Olbermann won a Cable ACE award for Best Sportscaster. Olbermann later co-authored a book with Patrick called ''The Big Show'' about their experiences working at ''SportsCenter''; he also said that the short-lived ABC dramedy ''Sports Night'' was based on his time on ''SportsCenter'' with Patrick. He made $350,000 at the end of his tenure at ESPN.

Early in 1997, Olbermann was suspended for two weeks after he made an unauthorized appearance on ''The Daily Show'' on Comedy Central with then-host and former ESPN colleague Craig Kilborn. At one point in the show, he referred to Bristol, Connecticut (ESPN's headquarters), as a "'Godforsaken place." Later that year, Olbermann abruptly left ESPN under a cloud of controversy, apparently burning his bridges with the network's management; this began a long and drawn-out feud between Olbermann and ESPN. Between 1997 and 2007, incidents between the two sides included Olbermann's publishing an essay on Salon.com in November 2002, titled "Mea Culpa", in which he stated: "I couldn't handle the pressure of working in daily long-form television, and what was worse, I didn't know I couldn't handle it." The essay told of an instance when his former bosses remarked he had "too much backbone," a claim that is literally true, as Olbermann has six lumbar vertebrae instead of the normal five.

In 2004, Olbermann was not included in ESPN's guest lineup for its 25th anniversary ''SportsCenter'' "Reunion Week," which saw Craig Kilborn and Charley Steiner return to the ''SportsCenter'' set. In 2007, ten years after Olbermann's departure, in an appearance on ''The Late Show with David Letterman'', he said: "If you burn a bridge, you can possibly build a new bridge, but if there's no river any more, that's a lot of trouble." During the same interview, Olbermann stated that he had recently learned that as a result of ESPN's agreeing to let him return to the airwaves, he was banned from ESPN's main (Bristol, Connecticut) campus.

Post-''SportsCenter''

In 1998, Olbermann joined Fox Sports Net as anchor and executive producer for ''The Keith Olbermann Evening News'', a sportscast similar to ''SportsCenter'', airing weekly on Sunday evenings. While at Fox, he again hosted the 2000 World Series as well as Fox Broadcasting's baseball ''Game of the Week''. In May and July 1999, Olbermann also guest starred ten times on the ''Hollywood Squares''.

According to Olbermann, he was fired from Fox in 2001 after reporting on rumors that Rupert Murdoch, whose News Corporation owns Fox, was planning on selling the Los Angeles Dodgers. When asked about Olbermann, Murdoch said: "I fired him...He's crazy." News Corp. went on to sell the Dodgers to Frank McCourt in 2004. That year, Olbermann remarked, "Fox Sports was an infant trying to stand [in comparison to ESPN], but on the broadcast side there was no comparison—ESPN was the bush leagues."

After Olbermann left Fox Sports in 2001, he provided twice-daily sports commentary on the ABC Radio Network, reviving the "Speaking of Sports" and "Speaking of Everything" segments begun by Howard Cosell.

In 2005, Olbermann made a return to ESPN on the radio when he began co-hosting an hour of the syndicated ''Dan Patrick Show'' on ESPN radio, a tenure that lasted until Patrick left ESPN on August 17, 2007. Olbermann and Patrick referred to this segment as "The Big Show," just as their book was known. Patrick often introduced Olbermann with the tagline "saving the democracy," a nod to his work on ''Countdown''.

On April 16, 2007, Olbermann was named co-host of ''Football Night in America'', NBC's NFL pre-game show that precedes their Sunday Night NFL game, a position which reunited him in 2008 with his former ''SportsCenter'' co-anchor Dan Patrick. Olbermann left the show prior to the start of the 2010 season.

News journalism

In 1997, Olbermann left ESPN to host a primetime show on MSNBC, ''The Big Show with Keith Olbermann'' (ESPN objected to the use of the title). The news-driven program, with substantial discussion, relied on Olbermann to carry the 8 to 9 PM hour. The show typically covered three or four topics in a one-hour broadcast. Olbermann also hosted two Sunday editions of ''NBC Nightly News'' and once co-anchored a Saturday edition of the ''Today'' show. During that period, Olbermann along with Hannah Storm, also co-hosted NBC Sports' pre-game coverage of the MLB 1997 World Series.

When the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke in 1998, ''The Big Show with Keith Olbermann'' morphed into ''White House in Crisis''. Olbermann became frustrated as his show was consumed by the Lewinsky story. In 1998, he stated that his work at MSNBC would "make me ashamed, make me depressed, make me cry." Olbermann left MSNBC for Fox Sports Net shortly thereafter.

After leaving Fox Sports in 2001, Olbermann returned once more to news journalism. In 2003, his network won an Edward R. Murrow Award for writing on the "Keith Olbermann Speaking of Everything" show. In addition, Olbermann wrote a weekly column for Salon.com from July 2002 until early 2003., worked for CNN as a freelance reporter, and was a fill-in for newscaster Paul Harvey.

Olbermann revived his association with MSNBC in 2003 briefly as a substitute host on ''Nachman'' and as an anchor for the network's coverage of the war in Iraq.

''Countdown with Keith Olbermann''

Olbermann's own show, ''Countdown'', debuted on March 31, 2003, in the 8 p.m. ET time slot previously held by programs hosted by Phil Donahue and, briefly, Lester Holt. On October 13, 2004, Olbermann launched ''Bloggermann'', his ''Countdown'' blog, hosted on MSNBC.com. Olbermann used the open format of the blog to expand on facts or ideas alluded to in the broadcast, to offer personal musings and reactions. However, in February 2007, Olbermann launched a new blog, ''The News Hole''.

''Countdown'''s format, per its name, involves Olbermann ranking the five biggest news stories of the day or sometimes "stories my producers force me to cover," as Olbermann puts it. This is done in numerically reverse order, counting down with the first story shown being ranked fifth but apparently the most important. The segments ranked numbers two and one typically are of a lighter fare than segments ranked five through three. The first few stories shown are typically oriented toward government, politics, and world events. His stories usually involve celebrities, sports, and, regularly and somewhere in the middle, the bizarre, in a segment he calls "Oddball." Opinions on each are offered by Olbermann and interviewed guests. Olbermann has been criticized for only having guests that agree with his perspective. Former ''Los Angeles Times'' television critic Howard Rosenberg stated that "Countdown is more or less an echo chamber in which Olbermann and like-minded bobbleheads nod at each other."

In a technique similar to that of former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite in connection to the Iran Hostage Crisis, Olbermann for many years closed the program by counting the days since May 1, 2003, the day that President George W. Bush declared the end of "major combat operations" in Iraq under a banner that read "Mission Accomplished", and then crumpling up his notes, throwing them at the camera and saying "Good night and good luck" in the mode of another former CBS newsman, Edward Murrow. Olbermann discounts this gesture to his hero as "presumptuous" and a "feeble tribute."

On February 16, 2007, MSNBC reported that Olbermann had signed a four-year extension on his contract with MSNBC for ''Countdown'' which also provided for his hosting of two ''Countdown'' specials a year to be aired on ''NBC'' as well as for his occasional contribution of essays on ''NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams''.

Olbermann co-anchored, with Chris Matthews, MSNBC's coverage of the death of fellow NBC News employee Tim Russert on June 13, 2008. He presented a tribute, along with several fellow journalists, in honor of Russert.

During the 2008 U.S. presidential election, Olbermann co-anchored MSNBC's coverage with Chris Matthews until September 7, 2008, when they were replaced by David Gregory after complaints from both outside and inside of NBC that they were making partisan statements. This apparent conflict of interest had been an issue as early as May 2007, when Giuliani campaign officials complained about his serving in dual roles, as both a host and a commentator. Despite this, ''Countdown'' was broadcast both before and after each of the presidential and vice-presidential debates, and Olbermann and Matthews joined Gregory on MSNBC's Election Day coverage. Olbermann and Matthews also led MSNBC's coverage of the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

In November 2008, it was announced that Olbermann had signed a four-year contract extension worth an estimated $30 million.

Feud with Bill O'Reilly

Since beginning ''Countdown'''s "Worst Person in the World" segment in July 2005, Olbermann has repeatedly awarded Bill O'Reilly, host of ''The O'Reilly Factor'' on Fox News Channel, the dubious honor. The feud between the anchors originated with Olbermann's extensive coverage of a 2004 sexual harassment suit brought against O'Reilly by former Fox News Channel producer Andrea Mackris during which Olbermann asked ''Countdown'' viewers to fund the purchase of lurid audio tapes allegedly held by Mackris. In 2008 O'Reilly decided to avoid mentioning Olbermann's name on the air, and once cut off a caller who mentioned Olbermann. O'Reilly has also led campaigns against MSNBC's political coverage without ever specifically mentioning Olbermann. The rivalry continued when in 2006 at Television Critics' Association in California, Olbermann donned a mask of O'Reilly and made a Nazi salute, leading to a letter of protest from the Anti-Defamation League.

In an article on "perhaps the fiercest media feud of the decade", the ''New York Times's'' Brian Stelter noted that as of early June 2009 the "combat" between the two hosts seems to have abruptly ended due to instructions filtered down to Olbermann and O'Reilly from the chief executives of their respective networks. On the August 3, 2009 edition of ''Countdown'', Olbermann asserted that he had made statements to Stelter before the article was published denying that he was a party to such a deal, or that there was such a deal between NBC and Fox News, or that any NBC executive had asked him to change ''Countdown'''s content. Olbermann maintained that he had stopped joking about O'Reilly because of O'Reilly's attacks of George Tiller, and soon resumed his criticism of O'Reilly.

Suspension

On October 28, 2010, days before the 2010 U.S. elections, Olbermann donated $2,400 each to three Democratic candidates for Congress: Kentucky Senate candidate Jack Conway, and Arizona Democratic Representatives Raul Grijalva and Gabrielle Giffords. Grijalva had appeared on Olbermann's show immediately before Olbermann mailed the donations. In response, on November 5, MSNBC President Phil Griffin suspended him indefinitely without pay for violating a network policy which required employees to obtain approval from management before making political contributions. An online petition calling for his reinstatement received over 250,000 signatures; two days after the suspension began, Griffin announced that Olbermann would return to the air on November 9.

Departure

On January 21, 2011, Olbermann announced his departure from MSNBC and the episode would be the final episode of ''Countdown''. MSNBC issued a statement that it had ended its contract with Olbermann, with no further explanation. Additional reporting in the days immediately following suggested that the negotiations for the end of Olbermann's tenure at MSNBC had begun soon after the end of his suspension.

Current TV and FOKNewsChannel.com

On February 8, 2011, it was announced that Olbermann had taken the position of Chief News Officer for the Al Gore/Joel Hyatt public affairs channel Current TV. It was confirmed that he would begin hosting a one-hour prime time program on the network "sometime in the spring." The new show was scheduled to air at 8 PM Eastern — the same time slot that ''Countdown'' was in. On April 26, 2011 it was announced that Olbermann's new show would debut on June 20 and would be named "Countdown with Keith Olbermann". Olbermann will also be heavily involved in the development of the rest of the network's news programming. The deal includes an equity stake in Current TV.

During the interim between shows, Olbermann also launched an "official not-for-profit" blog called FOKNewsChannel.com, "FOK" being an abbreviation for "Friends Of Keith". The blog features political commentaries by Olbermann—including viral video versions of ''Countdown'''s "Special Comment" and "Worst Person" segments—as well as photographs of his outings at professional baseball games. On May 29, 2011, the FOKNewsChannel.com domain redirected to the Current website promoting the June 20 launch.

Political positions

Viewpoints

Although it began as a traditional newscast, ''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'' eventually adopted an opinion-oriented format. In a ''Countdown'' interview with Al Franken on October 25, 2005, Olbermann noted that in 2003, after having Janeane Garofalo and Franken on his show, a vice president of MSNBC had questioned him on inviting "liberals" on consecutive nights, contrasting that occurrence to the apparent ideological latitude he enjoyed at the time of the second Franken interview. In January 2007 ''The Washington Post'''s Howard Kurtz wrote that Olbermann was "position[ing] his program as an increasingly liberal alternative to ''The O'Reilly Factor''." Much of the program has featured harsh criticism of prominent Republicans and right-leaning figures, including those who worked for or supported the George W. Bush Administration, 2008 Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain and running mate Governor Sarah Palin, and rival news commentator Bill O'Reilly, whom Olbermann has routinely dubbed the "Worst Person In The World."

During the 2008 Democratic Party primaries Olbermann frequently chastised presidential aspirant Hillary Clinton for her campaign tactics against her principal opponent, Senator Barack Obama, and made her the subject of two of his "special comments". Olbermann has also posted on the liberal blog Daily Kos.

In November 2007, British newspaper ''The Daily Telegraph'' placed Olbermann at #67 on their Top 100 list of most influential US liberals. It said that he uses his MSNBC show to promote "an increasingly strident liberal agenda." It added that he would be "a force on the Left for some time to come." Avoiding ideological self-labeling, Olbermann once told the on-line magazine Salon.com, "I'm not a liberal, I'm an American."

Before the 2010 Massachusetts special election, Olbermann called Republican candidate Scott Brown "an irresponsible, homophobic, racist, reactionary, ex-nude model, Tea Bagging supporter of violence against women, and against politicians with whom he disagrees". This was criticized by his colleague Joe Scarborough, who called the comments "reckless" and "sad". Yael T. Abouhalkah of the ''Kansas City Star'' said that Olbermann "crossed the line in a major way with his comments". Jon Stewart criticized him about this attack in his show by noting that it was "the harshest description of anyone I've ever heard uttered on MSNBC", following which Olbermann apologized by noting, "I have been a little over the top lately. Point taken. Sorry."

He has accused the Tea Party movement of being racist due to what he views as a lack of racial diversity at the events, using photos that show overwhelmingly Caucasian crowds attending the rallies. In response, the Dallas Tea Party invited Olbermann to attend one of their events and also criticized his network for a lack of racial diversity, pointing out that an online banner of MSNBC personalities that appears on the website shows only white personalities. Olbermann declined the invitation, citing his father's prolonged ill health and hospitalization and noted that the network has minority anchors, contributors and guests.

Criticism of the Bush administration

In Olbermann's "Special Comment" segment on July 3, 2007, he called President George W. Bush's commutation of Lewis "Scooter" Libby's prison sentence the "last straw" and called for the resignation of Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

On his February 14, 2008 "Special Comments" segment, Olbermann castigated Bush for threatening to veto an extension of the Protect America Act unless it provided full immunity from lawsuits to telecom companies. During the same commentary, Olbermann called Bush a fascist.

In a special comment on May 14, 2008, Olbermann criticized Bush for announcing that he had stopped playing golf in honor of American soldiers who died in the Iraq war. He stated that Bush never should have started the war in the first place, and he accused Bush of dishonesty and war crimes.

Baseball fan

Olbermann is a dedicated baseball fan and historian of the sport, with membership in the Society for American Baseball Research. In 1973, when he was only 14 years old, Card Memorabilia Associates published his book ''The Major League Coaches: 1921–1973''. The September issue of Beckett Sports Collectibles Vintage included a T206 card that depicted Olbermann in a 1905-era New York Giants uniform. He argues that New York Giants baseball player Fred Merkle has been unduly criticized for his infamous baserunning mistake. He contributed the foreword to ''More Than Merkle'' (ISBN 0-8032-1056-6), a book requesting amnesty for "Merkle's Boner". Olbermann was also one of the founders of the first experts' fantasy baseball league, the ''USA Today Baseball Weekly'' League of Alternative Baseball Reality, and he gave the league its nickname "LABR". Olbermann wrote the foreword to the 2009 Baseball Prospectus Annual.

In March 2009, Olbermann began a baseball-related blog entitled Baseball Nerd. He has also written a series of articles on baseball cards for the ''Sports Collectors Digest''.

Personal life

In June 2006, Olbermann began dating Katy Tur, now a reporter with WNBC-TV. According to Mediaite, the couple broke up in 2009 after three years of cohabitation.

Olbermann suffers from a mild case of coeliac disease, as well as restless legs syndrome. In August 1980, he also suffered a head injury while "leaping" onto the NYC subway. This head injury permanently upset his equilibrium, resulting in his avoidance of driving. Along with Bob Costas, he supports the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation as an honorary board member.

During a period in the mid-1990s, Olbermann appeared in a series of Boston Market advertisements, in which he would instruct a group of underweight models to "Eat something!"

Olbermann's father, Theodore, died on March 13, 2010 of complications from colon surgery the previous September. His mother had died several months before. Olbermann had cited the need to spend time with his father for taking a leave of absence shortly before his father's death, occasionally recording segments to air at the beginning of the shows which Lawrence O'Donnell guest hosted in his absence, giving his views on the state of the American health care system and updating viewers on his father's condition.

Career timeline

''SportsCenter'', co-anchor (1992–1997) ''The Big Show'', anchor (1997–1998) ''White House in Crisis'', anchor (1997–1998) ''Major League Baseball on Fox'', studio host (1999–2000) ''The Keith Olbermann Evening News'', anchor (1998–2001)

''Football Night in America'', co-host (2007–2010)

''Countdown with Keith Olbermann'', anchor (MSNBC: 2003–2011; Current TV: 2011–present)

Bibliography

''The Major League Coaches: 1921–1973'' (Card Memorabilia Associates, 1973).

''The Big Show: Inside ESPN's Sportscenter'' (Atria, 1997) (coauthor: Dan Patrick). ISBN 0-671-00918-4.

''The Worst Person In the World and 202 Strong Contenders'' (Wiley, September 2006). ISBN 0-470-04495-0.

''Truth and Consequences: Special Comments on the Bush Administration's War on American Values'' (Random House, December 2007). ISBN 978-1-4000-6676-6.

''Pitchforks and Torches: The Worst of the Worst, from Beck, Bill, and Bush to Palin and Other Posturing Republicans'' (Wiley, October 25, 2010). ISBN 0-470-61447-1.

References

External links

Fok News Channel

Keith Olbermann on Current TV

Keith Olbermann's blog on The Daily Kos

Baseball Nerd, Keith Olbermann's Major League Baseball blog

Keith Olbermann's biography at TV guide

Category:Article Feedback Pilot Category:1959 births Category:American broadcast news analysts Category:American political pundits Category:American television news anchors Category:American television talk show hosts Category:Boston, Massachusetts television anchors Category:Cornell University alumni Category:American writers of German descent Category:Living people Category:Television news anchors in Los Angeles, California Category:Major League Baseball announcers Category:MSNBC Category:NBC News Category:People from New York City Category:People from Westchester County, New York Category:National Football League announcers

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