Olbermann: 'I Screwed Up,' But Current TV Had Problems

NPR | By Mark Memmott

Published April 4, 2012 at 9:05 AM EDT

Essentially saying that he should have known better than to go to work for Current TV, Keith Olbermann said Tuesday night that he "screwed up" by taking the job last year.

But while Olbermann said "it's my fault that it didn't succeed," he also figuratively pointed his finger at Current for why things went wrong before he was dismissed last week.

"If you buy a $10 million chandelier you should have a house" to put it in, he told CBS-TV's David Letterman. In that analogy, Olbermann is the chandelier and Current — in his opinion — didn't provide the adequate support (a "house") to make his show work.

So it's one of those mea culpas that you might say is also a youa culpa.

Mark Memmott

Mark Memmott is NPR's supervising senior editor for Standards & Practices. In that role, he's a resource for NPR's journalists – helping them raise the right questions as they do their work and uphold the organization's standards.

See stories by Mark Memmott