During the September 6 edition of MSNBC's Countdown, host Keith Olbermann named Fox News host Bill O'Reilly the “winner” of his nightly “Worst Person in the World” segment for, as Media Matters for America documented, calling Media Matters “assassins” who smear people with whom they disagree through The New York Times and NBC News. Olbermann stated: “But our winner -- oh, he's back from vacation. Bill-O, ripping the, quote, 'assassins' of the, quote, 'fringe element centered around an outfit called Media Matters. They have two primary mainstream media outfits to get their defamation out. That's The New York Times and NBC News.' ”

As Media Matters has documented (here, here, here, and here), Olbermann frequently names O'Reilly in his “Worst Person” segment. On his August 27 program, Olbermann named O'Reilly the “runner-up” for falsely asserting that “most journalists give money to Democrats,” apparently referring to an MSNBC report on journalists' political donations, which showed that far less than 1 percent of all journalists give money to Democrats.

Additionally, Olbermann awarded Colorado radio host “Gunny” Bob Newman the “bronze” for attacking Olbermann and MSNBC during the September 4 broadcast of his program for not airing Freedom's Watch advertisements supporting the Iraq war, as Colorado Media Matters documented. Olbermann stated: “The bronze to lunatic-fringe radio host 'Gunny' Bob Newman of KOA in Denver, demanding the NBC networks run these so-called Freedom's Watch commercials, the ones that insist more Americans must be killed in Iraq. 'MSNBC is the network,' he says, 'of the far-left, anti-American hate merchant Keith Olbermeinkampf.' ”

As Media Matters noted, Olbermann named Newman the “winner” of the “Worst Person” segment on August 3 for mischaracterizing comments that retired Gen. Wesley Clark had made on the July 26 edition of Countdown.

From the September 6 edition of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

OLBERMANN: The bronze to lunatic-fringe radio host “Gunny” Bob Newman of KOA in Denver, demanding the NBC networks run these so-called Freedom's Watch commercials, the ones that insist more Americans must be killed in Iraq. “MSNBC is the network,” he says, “of the far-left, anti-American hate merchant Keith Olbermeinkampf.”

He says he's been a guest on this network, but, quoting again, “I will never do so again unless MSNBC changes its policy and allows both sides of this argument to be heard. They do that, they call me again, fine.”

Hey, Bob, don't spend your lonely nights sitting by the phone. It ain't going to ring. Also, by the way, just to add to your evidently weak knowledge of 20th-century history, the guy who wrote Mein Kampf was a right-winger like yourself.

[...]

But our winner -- oh, he's back from vacation. Bill-O, ripping the, quote, “assassins” of the, quote, “fringe element centered around an outfit called Media Matters. They have two primary mainstream media outfits to get their defamation out. That's The New York Times and NBC News.”

You know what this is about, right? The NBC News part? Remember the ratings he used to boast about? How his show would beat Countdown 5- or 6-to-1 or more, how I'd be fired by January, last January? The last two nights since Bill-O got back from vacation, Tuesday, viewers age 25 to 54, Bill-O, 440,000, Countdown, 367,000. Last night, Bill-O, 442,000, Countdown, 389,000.

Bill, hope you enjoyed it while it lasted. Bill Orally, today's “Worst Person in the World!”