I feel that the best way to start out is to explain the premise of this project. I plan to analyze MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann during a period between October 1 and Election Day, November 4. I will compare the show with the premises of Thomas Patterson's Out of Order, primarily elements of journalistic and political bias, the game schema, and interpretive journalism. Though I doubt Patterson would be a big fan of Countdown, I contend that even though I expect to find major flaws in the show through the lens of Patterson, the show will still be able to (at least somewhat) effectively report on issues and report news. This may be a tough case to make, and at the end of my analysis I may end up unable to make it, but it seems possible that even through Olbermann's noise -- and like him or not, one must admit that he is loud -- he should still be able to get facts through.
I will analyze each show by segment, but in each post I will typically only discuss the five numbered segments (hence the show's title). This is because they're the most important ones, and because they're the ones that change the most from day to day. Things like "Oddball" and "Best Persons in the World" aren't directly connected to the show and are just for laughs most of the time, and won't be as central to a critique based on Patterson (at least not on a day-to-day basis).
Let the great experiment begin.
