Olbermann

I'm a fan of Keith Olbermann and it would appear that I'm not alone. I like his Edward R. Murrow style and, while acknowledging that the risks he faces are not quite what they were in Murrow's time, there are risks none-the-less* and it would appear that what shields Olbermann from these risks are his ratings. As NBC News senior vice president Phil Griffin put it: "People try to ascribe motives to us, that somehow we're trying to keep liberals off the air and it's all about ideology. If you get ratings, there's no issue".

In an AP article that came out this weekend we learn something that makes me feel hopeful -- there seems to be an audience for people who speak truth to power -- the Murrow audience.

Keith Olbermann's tipping point came on a tarmac in Los Angeles six weeks ago. While waiting for his plane to take off he read an account of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's speech before the American Legion equating Iraq War opponents to pre-World War II appeasers.

The next night, on Aug. 30, Olbermann ended his MSNBC "Countdown" show with a blistering retort, questioning both the interpretation of history and Rumsfeld's very understanding of what it means to be an American.

It was the first of now five extraordinarily harsh anti-Bush commentaries that have made Olbermann the latest media point-person in the nation's political divide.

"As a critic of the administration, I will be damned if you can get away with calling me the equivalent of a Nazi appeaser," Olbermann told The Associated Press. "No one has the right to say that about any free-speaking American in this country."

Since that first commentary, Olbermann's nightly audience has increased 69 percent, according to Nielsen Media Research. This past Monday 834,000 people tuned in, virtually double his season average and more than CNN competitors Paula Zahn and Nancy Grace. Cable kingpin and Olbermann nemesis Bill O'Reilly (two million viewers that night) stands in his way.

* UPDATE: Jeff Cohen is not quite so sanguine. Check out his piece at HuffPo called "Is Olbermann on Thin Ice?"