I'm just sayin'.
(The DC) When MSNBC discarded Keith Olbermann, al-Qaida mourned.
So reports David Ignatius, the Washington Post columnist who has gained exclusive access to some of the documents recovered from Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
In his Wednesday column in the Washington Post, Ignatius reported on the details of a 21-page letter to bin Laden written by al-Qaida media adviser Adam Gadahn. Though the letter was undated, Ignatius says that it was likely written sometime after November 2010.
Laying out the current media landscape for the now waterlogged terrorist kingpin, Gadahn, an American-born Jewish convert to Islam, lamented the “firing” of Olbermann from MSNBC.
“In the letter, the media adviser focuses on ‘how to exploit’ the 10th anniversary of 9/11 on television,” Ignatius writes.
“He worries that CNN ‘seems to be in cooperation with the government more than the others,’ though he praises its ‘good and detailed’ Arabic coverage. ‘I used to think that MSNBC channel may be good and neutral a bit,’ he continues, but then notes the firing of Olbermann.”
Olbermann’s final show on MSNBC was in January 2011.
According to Ignatius’ reporting, Gadahn’s letter only fully disparages one news organization: Fox News.
“As I wrote last week, Gadahn hated Fox News,” Ignatius writes. “[H]e liked MSNBC but complained about the firing of Keith Olbermann; he had mixed feelings about CNN (better in Arabic than in English) and made flattering comments about CBS and ABC. Basically, he wanted to play them all off to al-Qaeda’s best advantage.”
In a previous column, Ignatius reported more fully on Gadahn’s hate for Fox News.
“‘As for Fox News let her die in her anger,’ Gadahn wrote,” as reported by Ignatius. “At another point, he said of the networks: ‘From a professional point of view, they are all on one level — except [Fox News] channel, which falls into the abyss as you know, and lacks objectivity, too.’”
