"Nothing is more vital to a free America than a free media... and nothing is more vital to my concept of a free media than news that is produced independently of corporate interference."
-- Keith Olbermann on his new gig as host of an hour-long prime time show on Al Gore's Current TV
Olbermann will also apparently be the network's "chief news officer" -- whatever the hell that is. He goes on to say that his new show will be "for all intents and purposes an improved and we hope amplified and stronger version of the show that I just did at my previous network."
Olbermann, more amplified?
God help us.
To say that this is a bold move for Olbermann is a bit of an understatement; to his credit, he really is putting his money where his mouth is when it comes to his advocacy of an independent press and his desire for creative control at any cost. Obviously, he could've gone just about anywhere; he may be a pain in the ass, but he's a talented pain in the ass and one with tremendous name recognition. By lending his substantial heft to Current TV he's guaranteed to be its marquee player and potentially put it on the map as a network.
Of course the negative way of looking at it is that Olbermann's ego is so vast that he'd rather be the genetically engineered giant SyFy-style mega-fish in the tiny pond than be forced to submit to anyone's will. That this is less the case of someone wanting to be an iconoclast than it is someone wanting free reign to be an asshole. And you can bet that Olbermann's many cable detractors -- and you know who I'm talking about -- will take exactly that tone, saying that their former foe has been vanquished to the cultural netherworld because he's a raging blowhard and from here on out he's to be considered a non-entity.
Either way, though, the Huffington Post goes corporate and Olbermann goes independent, all in the span of a day and a half.
Welcome to Bizarro world.
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