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May 26, 2012

Olbermann names Cooper a "Worst Person in the World"

by Bob Sassone, posted Feb 12th 2007 3:21PM

Anderson CooperI like Keith Olbermann. I've interviewed him in the past and I watch his show regularly. I find myself agreeing with him more than disagreeing, especially when it comes to his "Special Comment" segments and Bill O'Reilly. But I'm wondering if he hasn't gone too far (needlessly) this time.

I didn't see this episode of Countdown last week, but Olbermann named CNN host Anderson Cooper a "Worst Person in the World" because of something Cooper said in a Men's Journal interview, about being approached to do a nightly newscast on another network:

"Doing 22 minutes of news from a desk in New York is not for me."

That's the quote that earns him a "worst person" nod?

Here's what Olbermann said on his show:

"The first night he has 22 minutes of actual news in there, we should declare it a holiday...is Anderson Cooper the only person that doesn't know that Anderson Cooper is not actually a TV journalist but just an experiment in mass marketing?"

Ouch.

Sure, Cooper has had an astounding number of tabloid-ish stories on 360: interviewing Angelina Jolie, covering whatever the story-of-the-day is (Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole, etc), but he has also covered some stories that not a lot of people were covering, including what's happening in Darfur, the Middle East, and his Hurricane Katrina coverage. He's a guy who could have done nothing his whole life and lived off his mom's cash, but when he was really young he grabbed a video camera and sneaked into foreign countries to report news. Olbermann has some truly outstanding political coverage on his show, but he also ends most episodes with something about Michael Jackson, Paris Hilton, usually with a stand up comic or Michael Musto as the guest.

Which is fine, it's entertaining, and his show is a nice balance between the serious and the fun. I'm just trying to say that I'm not sure that Cooper has earned a "Worst Person in the World" nomination.

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Julie

While Anderson does do some tabloid-ish stories... I see it as a way of attracting the younger set of the population that could really care less about the news. It seems that if these stories are getting the younger generation to watch, maybe they will stick around and watch the rest and be more socially and politically aware.

February 13 2007 at 10:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
dan

Olbermann is an idiot. No one would be watching him if he didn't use other, more recognizable names, to be controversial. "Hey, everybody. Look at me--I'm controversial! Isn't that crazy?!"

February 13 2007 at 10:04 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Jana

Keith's remarks about Anderson were unfair. Anderson is always headed to far-flung dangerous areas to bring his viewers interesting stories. Even when he's in the studio, he generally focuses on war and politics, with the occasional foray into lighter topics. He is indeed a real journalist and Keith should maybe consider getting out of the anchor chair and doing some field work before he criticizes someone like Anderson Cooper.

February 13 2007 at 3:40 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
malren

When will you people learn that Bill O'Reilly IS NOT A NEWS CASTER? He is the host of an op/ed show.

Watching Olberman seems to make people stupid. Funny, watching O'Reilly also seems to make people stupid. Same coin. Two sides.

February 12 2007 at 6:32 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
mikopedia

Wait. Are we talking about Anderson Cooper... former host of the reality show "The Mole"?

February 12 2007 at 4:39 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David

Kieth is nowhere near as bad as Bill. Kieth reports on lame news stories that have been talked about on other shows. Bill just makes up the news, he has to, it is Fox.

February 12 2007 at 4:21 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
const

olbermann is the worst talking head out there.

February 12 2007 at 3:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TVblogger

Please, next time Keith Olbermann does some real journalism, will someone let me know?

Keith "jumped the shark" when he started ranting and raving about 24's political agenda, completely forgetting that if the show were on NBC, he wouldn't have said a thing.

Sure he's usually right about Bill O'Rielly, but what he doesn't understand is that if Bill is on one hand he's on the other. Keith is just as bad as Bill but on the other end of the spectrum.

February 12 2007 at 3:45 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
David

Olberman is losing his mind recently. I still enjoy the show and how he points out how dumb our government is but his leftisms are getting to him.

He did one of the worlds worst of a radio station that was going to call the feds because a contest winner was going to sue the station. I think the station was 100% right. If you aren't legally here you shouldn't win in a contest. So she sued the station and they threatened her back. He took the illgal woman's side!

February 12 2007 at 3:43 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Vince

Actually Anderson is one of the luckiest men in the world not the "worst".

A bit of sour grapes from KO methinks.

February 12 2007 at 3:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply

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