The New Yorker profile of Keith Olbermann has an interesting lesson for news channels beyond the US (Sky News, BBC News, Al Jazeera English), from his longtime producer Phil Griffin:

At Fox News and MSNBC, the old pieties do hold less sway. Cable-news culture is informed more by the new media, blogs, and talk radio. “Cable’s about rejection,” Griffin says.

“Ninety-nine per cent of the people are passing you by. You try to stop them and grab them. That’s most of cable news. And then there are the élite in cable news—Olbermann, O’Reilly. They have audiences that come to them—and they’re unique.”