Now that Hillary Clinton has finally fulfilled Chris Matthews' year-long dream of exiting the race, it's time to make sense of all that was the 24-hour primary news cycle during the 16-month Barack v. Hillary battle. New York Knicks ticket policy violator and former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw has some thoughts:
"It was inappropriate, for journalists especially, to try to cut the process short," NBC News' anchor emeritus, Tom Brokaw, told The Associated Press. "It was an appropriate issue for people to report on, in context, but there was an awful lot of commentary disguised as reporting that gave the impression that people were trying to shove her out of the race."
Brokaw's old-school attitude often put him at odds with Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann when he joined them for primary night coverage on MSNBC this year. One example was last Tuesday. Brokaw was talking about the contrasts between McCain and Obama when Olbermann interjected about "a third one trying toshoehornn her way" into the coverage.
"Well, I think that's unfair, Keith," Brokaw replied. "I don't think sheshoehornedd her way in. When you look at the states that she won and the popular vote that she piled up, and the number of delegates that she has on her side, she's got real bargaining power in all of this."
Brokaw called all the discussion about Clinton's exit a product of "too much time and too little imagination." [AP]
Editorial Director
Tom Brokaw…..not only classy, but he's right!
Keith Olbermann is a left-wing nut job - he's really lost it this past year. I don't know who's made MSNBC worse…..the dick Olbermann or the even bigger dick, Chris Matthews…..
Matthews is an blathering idiot, but Olbermann is a total whack job. I stopped watching MSNBC months ago when it became perfectly clear that these two idiots were setting the pace for the rest of the followers. It's Fox News for me!
Mr. Brokaw showed what class is and Mr. Olbermann showed what it isn't.
Both Fox and Msnbc have highly opinionated speakers but they are not journalists.
The days of Tom Brokaw are gone…Class, manners, and tact have also departed.
Jere says:
Give Mr. Olbermann his due. His ability to pack venom, spleen and hate into a "special commentary" is as unmatched as his hubris in stealing Ed
Murrow's "Good night and good luck" sign off line.
Glad to see Im not alone in my thoughts regarding Olbermann and Mathews. I stopped tuning into MSNBC months ago as these (2)NitWits provided the most distateful coverage of the Primaries.Any time Hillary would speak you would hear these (2) in the background giggling like children. Im not a Fan of Fox so Im forced to get my updates from CNN…
Olbermann is a complete idiot, but he is only doing his job. He realized that he could make a million dollars a year (4 year $4 million contract) just by slamming George Bush, now he can't control himself. So he is doing what he learned.
However, MSNBC, who put him on as an anchor, has lost all credibility. They don't even know what journalism is. Tom Brokaw is disgusted with this and he is absolutley correct to be. I just fear that when guys like Brokaw finally retire, true journalism will be dead and all we will have left is extreme groups telling the people of the US what to think, rather than reporting the facts and letting them decide for themselves.
MSNBC should be out of business for putting Olbermann as anchor….
Despicable.