The left may be known for a good number of things; Loyalty and Faithfulness to those who publish the message is not one of them. What I am referring to, is the new breaking scandal, uncovered by the New York Times:
It was a media cage fight, televised every weeknight at 8 p.m. But the match was halted when the blood started to spray executives in the high-priced seats.
For years Keith Olbermann of MSNBC had savaged his prime-time nemesis Bill O’Reilly of the Fox News Channel and accused Fox of journalistic malpractice almost nightly. Mr. O’Reilly in turn criticized Mr. Olbermann’s bosses and led an exceptional campaign against General Electric, the parent company of MSNBC.
It was perhaps the fiercest media feud of the decade and by this year, their bosses had had enough. But it took a fellow television personality with a neutral perspective to help bring it to at least a temporary end.
At an off-the-record summit meeting for chief executives sponsored by Microsoft in mid-May, the PBS interviewer Charlie Rose asked Jeffrey Immelt, chairman of G.E., and his counterpart at the News Corporation, Rupert Murdoch, about the feud.
Both moguls expressed regret over the venomous culture between the networks and the increasingly personal nature of the barbs. Days later, even though the feud had increased the audience of both programs, their lieutenants arranged a cease-fire, according to four people who work at the companies and have direct knowledge of the deal.
In early June, the combat stopped, and MSNBC and Fox, for the most part, found other targets for their verbal missiles (Hello, CNN).
“It was time to grow up,” a senior employee of one of the companies said.
The reconciliation — not acknowledged by the parties until now — showcased how a personal and commercial battle between two men could create real consequences for their parent corporations. A G.E. shareholders’ meeting, for instance, was overrun by critics of MSNBC (and one of Mr. O’Reilly’s producers) last April.
“We all recognize that a certain level of civility needed to be introduced into the public discussion,” Gary Sheffer, a spokesman for G.E., said this week. “We’re happy that has happened.”
Now this, unsurprisingly to this writer, has the left up into quite the tizzy. Glenn Greenwald is not happy about this at all:
Though Olbermann denies he was part of any deal, the NYT says that there has been virtually no criticism of Fox by Olbermman, or MSNBC by O’Reilly, since June 1 when the deal took effect. That’s mostly but not entirely true. On June 17, after President Obama accused Fox News of fomenting hostility towards his
agenda, and Fox responded by saying that the “other networks” were pure pro-Obama outlets, Olbermann did voice fairly stinging criticisms of Fox as “more of a political entity than is the Republican National Committee right now, only it’s fraudulently disguised as some sort of news organization.”
But a review of all of Olbermann’s post-June 1 shows does reveal that he has not ever criticized (or even mentioned) Bill O’Reilly since then and barely ever mentions Fox News any longer. And on June 1 — the last time Olbermann mentioned O’Reilly — Olbermann claimed at the end of his broadcast that he would cease referring to O’Reilly in the future because ignoring him (and “quarantining” Fox) would supposedly help get O’Reilly off the air (“So as of this show‘s end, I will retire the name, the photograph, and the caricature”).
So here we have yet another example — perhaps the most glaring yet — of the corporations that own our largest media outlets controlling and censoring the content of their news organizations based on the unrelated interests of the parent corporation.
Greenwald goes to make a very valid point, about Richard Wolfe:
Having Richard Wolffe host an MSNBC program — or serving as an almost daily “political analyst” — is exactly tantamount to MSNBC’s just turning over an hour every night to a corporate lobbyist. Wolffe’s role in life is to advance the P.R. interests of the corporations that pay him, including corporations with substantial interests in virtually every political issue that MSNBC and Countdown cover. Yet MSNBC is putting him on as a guest-host and “political analyst” on one of its prime-time political shows.
So, what does this all prove? It proves to any clear thinking American that; one, G.E. took a massive bruising from the attacks from Fox News and Bill O’Reilly for their allowing of the far left screed that came from that Network. Two, that the far left is so intolerant and dictatorial in its demand that the networks stick it its message of hate and intolerance that if a network decides that it will not kowtow down to the far left’s message, that other media types of the left will turn on them. That is proven here. It is like watching vultures! The New York Times; A Liberal Owned, Financed, and Published newspaper is now turning on one of its own! Then to top it off; Glenn Greenwald goes after MSNBC and points out that one of Keith Olbermann’s guests is a special interest P.R. guy!
I do not think that it would be bit overstating the facts that the vultures are circling over MSNBC. I cannot say that the do not deserve it, because they do. MSNBC was; and I do emphasis was, a bi-partisan network at one point. They had Chris Matthews, who at one point played the left of center, but would argue the rights points as well. Then they had Tucker Carlson, who was a Libertarian Conservative, who would argue the points of the left wing propaganda machine; albeit quite weakly at times. Then there was Keith Olbermann who was all Liberal and then Dan Abrams who was more of a legal guy, than political. However, that all changed; However, it was not a rapid change, it was a slow lurch to the far left. First Tucker Carlson was sacked, Then Dan Abrams was canned. Then MSNBC put in ultra-liberal and supposedly non-partisan Rachel Maddow in the 9 o’clock spot. Then after the election; 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Which was; I felt, a totally non-partisan show, was sacked and replaced by a show hosted by the insufferable idiot Ed Schultz. Thus completed the network’s total and complete lurch to the left.
I should add that for the longest time, I was a MSNBC viewer; after leaving CNN in utter disgust over their smearing of Christians in a documentary/liberal propaganda piece called “What is a Christian?” Even though I saw MSNBC beginning to tilt to the left in a way; I hung in there. Because I liked Matthew’s candor and the fact that he just did not allow guests to come on his show and spout talking points. He did this to Michelle Malkin and I thought it was done quite well; she came on, and accused John Kerry of some charges that were never proven and Chris challenged her on them; and Michelle like most people who do not back up what they say, went into meltdown mode. That was, and still is the beauty of Chris Matthews; the fact that he is not a partisan pundit. If you come on his show, you had better have your facts together and back up what you are saying. Otherwise, Matthews will eat you alive.
However, after the election of President Obama and after all the spending in the stimulus money and the upsurge in the TeaParty movement; MSNBC’s partisan roots began to show. This became very apparent after the hate-filled vitriol and screed of a one Janeane Garofalo; who went on Keith Olbermann’s show and proceeded to insult half of middle America. She basically accused anyone who disagreed with President Barack Obama’s politics as being “White Racists.” It was that little comment that basically sealed the deal for me. I was and still am forever done with MSNBC and turned to Fox News. I will not sit here and lie to you. I cannot handle watching of some of Fox’s personalities. Sean Hannity is the Conservative version of Ed Schultz; an insufferable ass; who always thinks that he is right. I can bear to watch Bill O’Reilly. Because he is; contrary to what some might think, non-partisan. O’Reilly does not carry water for the Republican Party. Bill is strictly a Traditionalist, This is why I like his show. Greta’s show is okay, but she has this sick and morbid thing about reporting child deaths. It is disgusting and is why I will not watch her at all.
So, in conclusion; while this whole situation might be a shock to some; it hardly surprises me at all. MSNBC and G.E. deserve every last bit of criticism that come their way. When you engage in the politics of hate, you get what it coming to you. It is too bad that G.E. has not went all the way and pulled the plug on that network for good.
Update: Thanks to Memeorandum, as always for the link in!