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FROM HACK TO FLACK

Richard Wolffe Sells Out

Keith Olbermann will miss youPrint journalism and punditry are officially dead, because Richard Wolffe killed them. He has quit his job at Newsweek and will go work for Public Strategies, the PR outfit helmed by Dan Bartlett that also employs our beloved sad cowboy Mark McKinnon. Basically, any journalist who is sufficiently competent to pen a press release is fleeing to PR now because there are no news/media jobs of any sort left anymore, except at Wonkette, the NAMBLA house blog. [Austin Business Journal]


1:46 PM on Wed April 1 2009
By Sara K. Smith
1664 Views

  1. qwerty42 says at 1:51 pm, April 1st, 2009

    “… Wonkette, the NAMBLA house blog …”
    so, when will the t-shirts be offered?

  2. teebob2000 says at 1:52 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Does that mean no more elistist British pooves on with KO anymore??? Oh noes!!!

  3. Serolf Divad says at 1:53 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Face it guys: Wonkette is the Fourth Estate.

  4. user-of-owls says at 1:55 pm, April 1st, 2009

    qwerty42: Isn’t it candy that usually gets offered?

  5. Red Zeppelin says at 1:55 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Really, it must be a slow news day, because who the fuck cares? Guy looks like a douche, also.

  6. ManchuCandidate says at 1:58 pm, April 1st, 2009

    It’s not like going from hack to flack is that much of a stretch for most of the MSM. This is just a tad more up front honest, no?

  7. V572625694 says at 2:00 pm, April 1st, 2009

    teebob2000: KO and our beloved Rachel do have tendencies toward filling their respective hours with journalist chat-fest/circle-jerks. So this guy will be replaced by, oh who cares? Some other left-friendly teevee wannabe.

    Whereas Fox News is out there covering the story, ha ha ha.

  8. sarcasticusername says at 2:01 pm, April 1st, 2009

    i’m kind of going to miss his goofy face and british accent on countdown.

  9. Lascauxcaveman says at 2:08 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Red Zeppelin: And he looks nothing like Marlon Brando.

  10. user-of-owls says at 2:10 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Ok, I’m officially miffed. To recap today’s exciting news:
    –a journalist changed jobs
    –a car was parked
    –a restaurant opened
    –trees bloomed

    Why am I perturbed? Because I duly alerted the lizard people who monitor tips@wonkette of the REAL news of the day: Someone ripped Vlad Lenin a new one. From the BBC, we learn, “One of Russia’s most famous statues of Vladimir Lenin has been bombed, leaving the Bolshevik revolutionary with a gaping hole in his rear.” They even have a nice silly picture of the gaping new anus. So, harumph.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7976883.stm

  11. V572625694 says at 2:13 pm, April 1st, 2009

    user-of-owls: Hey, I told tips@wonkette.com yesterday about Miss Universe’s memorably vapid blog of her visit to Gitmo. It’s so hard to get published these days!

  12. gjdodger says at 2:15 pm, April 1st, 2009

    user-of-owls: Also, Putin’s
    dog
    ate everybody’s lunch.

  13. Kev-O-Tron says at 2:15 pm, April 1st, 2009

    user-of-owls: On that OT note. Method Man was “too high” to pay his back taxes.
    http://www.thecelebritycafe.com/features/26065.html

  14. Mild Midwesterner says at 2:16 pm, April 1st, 2009

    All kidding aside, it would be awesome if you could get Helen Thomas to guest blog one day.

  15. Serolf Divad: I’ll take the Fifth.

    Wait, weren’t you cheering over the demise of Tree-killing News Organs of Gloom earlier? Video Organs of Gloom are the next to go.

  16. They’re still printing Newsweek?

  17. magic titty says at 2:22 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Kev-O-Tron: Kev-O! Long time. Sup, dood?

    No one reads tips@wonkette, btw.

  18. Fivetree says at 2:23 pm, April 1st, 2009

    I will miss his triangular head on KO and the way he icily says “Thank you, Keith” at the end of all of his segments. This has got to be an April Fool’s joke because suddenly, I has a sad.

  19. Sussemilch says at 2:23 pm, April 1st, 2009

    “Better to sell out today than to be liquidated tomorrow” he stated, as he liberally applied his custom fragrance, which was made with bits of real nightsaber.

  20. magic titty: No one reads tips@wonkette, btw. Does that surprise you? It takes too long to filter out all the email tips of “OMG, OBAMA IS IN LONDON!!!”

  21. Godless Liberal says at 2:25 pm, April 1st, 2009

    The alt text makes an excellent point - how is he going to fill an entire hour now? Chris Hayes will really need to step up his game.

  22. Kev-O-Tron says at 2:27 pm, April 1st, 2009

    magic titty: Oh, just surviving in the bitter cold and SNOWY Northwest. I finally got a call about a new job. I’m heading to an interview at a four star hotel here at 3 PM. Wish me luck!

    Print Journalism will never die! You’ll have to pry the High Times from my cold, dead hands.

  23. gurukalehuru says at 2:29 pm, April 1st, 2009

    user-of-owls: I second your miffedness. That is an amazing photo. I don’t think it was a bomb, though. The old son of a bitch just farted.

  24. Professor Proffy McProfalton, Prof. says at 2:29 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Wonkette is the NAMBLA house blog?! What happened to chickenhawker.blogspot.com?

  25. V572625694 says at 2:36 pm, April 1st, 2009

    magic titty: That explains much.

  26. lawrenceofthedesert says at 2:37 pm, April 1st, 2009

    They’re changing the name to “Newsweak” any day now. But the industry’s “problem” isn’t technology; it’s awful, awful management and fatcat hacks. Bloomberg showed how using technology right leads to bigger profits; he cleaned Dow Jones’ clock when they thought they were a monopoly on biz info and made hisself a billion. If only old, degenerate media baron Lord Wonkette would divest himself of this site!!

  27. Hedley Lamar says at 2:56 pm, April 1st, 2009

    The problem is that without newspapers, most tv folks won’t have anything to talk about. Except Rick Sanchez and lemonhead.

  28. Holding Out for a Hero says at 3:00 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Fivetree: Aww…I haz a sad too. He’s actually funny sometimes.

  29. Jukesgrrl says at 3:17 pm, April 1st, 2009

    The word “flack” doesn’t begin to cover it. Did you delve into the Website? This organization Wolffie joined is owned by WPP, led by Wolffie’s new Overlord, Martin Sorrell. Sorrell started his empire fewer than 25 years ago when he bought a stake in Wire and Plastic Products Plc , a UK manufacturer of wire baskets(!). Since then he has acquired, among MANY others, Hill & Knowlton, Ogilvy & Mathers, and J. Walter Thompson (through a hostile takeover). They currently “partner” with Dell and have joint ventures with Google, thereby putting their fingers into the very computer on which I type this. According to Wiki, his personal motto is, “Act British, think Yiddish.”

    And yet, read the Website of Public Strategies, Inc. Wonkette has a challenger in the goofiness department. If 10th graders made up a PR company, they’d have a more sophisticated online presence than this. And Wolffie thought life on McCain’s Bus to Nowhere was weird …

  30. gjdodger says at 3:18 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Godless Liberal: That’s easy. “MSNBC Presents 120 minutes of Rachel Maddow…with her sidekick, Keith Olbermann.”

  31. El Pinche says at 3:32 pm, April 1st, 2009

    But who’s going to be Olbermann’s guest now ? I guess he’ll have to double book Turley.

  32. Godless Liberal says at 3:47 pm, April 1st, 2009

    gjdodger: I would happily watch such a show. In fact, I would greatly prefer it to the current format, and I like KO just find.

  33. Lascauxcaveman says at 4:03 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Kev-O-Tron: BELLBOY!

  34. bitchincamaro says at 5:59 pm, April 1st, 2009

    sarcasticusername: …and his dewey-eyed, slow drawled, “Good evening, Keithmmmmmm”.

  35. bitchincamaro says at 6:02 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Fivetree: You, too? I’m buying.

  36. Beltway Bully says at 9:56 pm, April 1st, 2009

    Did this guy ever say anything important? I always get distracted by his giant head.

  37. Lionel Hutz Esq. says at 11:50 pm, April 1st, 2009

    there are no news/media jobs of any sort left anymore, except at Wonkette, the NAMBLA house blog.

    There is a difference?

    user-of-owls: It is easy to see who is responsible. When it comes to violence and anuses, usually Rush Limbaugh is involved.

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