Ah... Gravitas!

Seriously... We need to get serious. And finally Keith Olbermann is giving true gravitas to the grave concerns of the state of the union.

As I read about the references to the traditions of network television news after Katie Couric's premiere performance, the accomplishments of those early pioneers in television news are indeed amazing. They were cowboys of their era, riding into a new frontier of journalism, with the ability to truly make a genuine difference to better this world because of their honest reporting.

Where have all the cowboys gone? Up until now, I thought they had gone to Comedy Central, because it seems in our culture today, the only way to say there's a major SNAFU here, is to pepper it with laughter. It takes balls to call out someone's bluff, or to point at authority and say they've done wrong, or to do some serious investigative reporting and publicize the real truth behind the smoke screens.

It was such reporting by CBS News that changed the tide for Nixon and quite possibly ended the Vietnam War. We, as the collective people, do not fully understand the impact television news has when they offer us their reporting perspectives on today's stories. And we should be concerned when the rhetoric of governmental offices are echoed in the evening news without the least bit of questioning, probing, or indepth independent investigation. We do not understand the full impact of the reprimand CBS News received after the whole investigation into the president's alleged time in the national guard. This was grave.

Maybe that is why people are turning to the lighter side for their news. We all need a laugh ever so often, and sometimes we like to know what's going on around us, too. Thank goodness for Comedy Central's Daily Show and Colbert Report, where gravitas is spoken with a sprinkling of jest.

A new cowboy is riding on the horizon. Keith Olbermann. I've watched his show a couple of times, as I get a chance, since he is one of a few television newsmen that tries to tell it like it is, beyond the propaganda from biased agencies. Thanks to another cowboy, I've been able to see the continued rise of prominent people to speak up about the concerning state of our country. A couple of days ago Olbermann spoke up about his concerns on the direction of our country, lead by President G.W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

At the end of Olbermann's perspective look, he quoted Edward Murrow: "We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty." Olbermann continues with a strikingly mellow and sobering countenance, in the fashion of those old cowboys, like Cronkite and Murrow: "We must remember always that accusation is not proof, and that conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in fear - one, of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of un-reason, if we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not descended from fearful men; Not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate, and to defend causes that were - for the moment - unpopular."

If you look up Murrow's quote, some sources take that first sentence and end it with, "When the loyal opposition dies, I think the soul of America dies with it." Murrow is not talking about terrorist opposition, but loyal opposition--a big difference. Loyal opposition, in my humble view, are among "we the people" who honestly question, research, and investigate actions and intentions that stray from our Constitutional foundations. Loyal opposition defends our Constitution.

Keith Olbermann is bringing television news back to the journalistic integrity of days gone by. (And for those naysayers who think the past is irrelevant to day, just look to our Constitution if you want relevence to your own freedoms.)

Keith Olbermann delivers gravitas! (And he does carry out, too! Check out his blog!)