Keith Olbermann says he’ll run Current election coverage
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Keith Olbermann was AWOL for coverage of the Iowa caucuses, but now the opinionated host says he’s ready to roll for Al Gore’s Current cable network. However, a lot of questions still remain.
‘I’m pleased to tell you that I’ll be running the election coverage on Current, after New Hampshire,’ Olbermann tweeted to his followers late Sunday. He added, referring to his famously liberal viewpoints: ‘Not sure GOP will share my satisfaction.’
The network itself is taking a wait-and-see attitude.
“Keith has agreed to do special election coverage following New Hampshire,’ a Current spokeswoman told Show Tracker. ‘We hope it comes to pass, and we’re looking forward to it.”
If it happens, Olbermann will executive produce and host that coverage. But the network still has no idea what it might look like. It’s possible it may consist of hours of coverage on primary nights. Or, it may be contained in just the regular hour of Olbermann’s regular show ‘Countdown’ - which presumably would make the coverage not ‘special’ at all.
Olbermann had spent much of the previous week engaged in a strange standoff with his employers at the little-watched Current, where he landed last year after a falling-out with MSNBC.
Current says it had invited him to host coverage of the Iowa caucuses, but that he had refused without explaining why. The network went ahead without him, with an analysis team that included former Vice President Gore.
Olbermann - who’s made no attempt to hide his exasperation with technical snafus that have bedeviled his program - tweeted that he was ‘never given a legitimate opportunity to host under acceptable conditions.’
Olbermann did not drop his confrontational posture on Sunday. After he announced his agreement to host the election coverage, he renewed his attacks on the New York Times, saying that the news outlet had gotten the story’s new twist ‘all wrong’ in a Monday column.
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Now it’s Keith Olbermann vs. the New York Times
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Olbermann comes out swinging on Current
-Scott Collins (twitter.com/scottcollinsLAT)
