Media Alert – Did GE Stifle Keith Olbermann?
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting recently sent out this new Media Action Alert:
In the wake of an August 1 expose in the New York Times, an agreement reportedly reached by executives at the parent companies of Fox News Channel and MSNBC to rein in the networks’ two stars’ criticism of each other seems to have fallen apart. The behind-the-scenes deal-making, though, still illustrates the corrosive effect on media of corporate ownership.
The alleged deal concerned MSNBC‘s Keith Olbermann and Fox News Channel‘s Bill O’Reilly. Olbermann seemed to deny any arrangement limiting his speech, and criticized Fox and O’Reilly right after the Times story was published (8/3/09). O’Reilly, in turn, resumed his criticism of GE on his August 5 show. But many questions remain about the nature of the deal.
The two hosts have feuded for years; in response to Olbermann’s on-air criticism of him, O’Reilly attacked not only Olbermann but the entire NBC franchise, including NBC parent GE–zeroing in on the corporation’s business in Iran. “If my child were killed in Iraq,” O’Reilly once declared (4/14/08), “I would blame the likes of [GE CEO] Jeffrey Immelt.”
Olbermann’s rants helped make his show MSNBC‘s top ratings-getter; according to a May 19, 2008 account by the Washington Post‘s Howard Kurtz, Fox chair Roger Ailes “warned that if Olbermann didn’t stop such attacks against Fox, he would unleash O’Reilly against NBC.” As one GE spokesperson put it, executives at News Corp. “tell us if the attacks on O’Reilly end, the attacks on GE will end. They’ve had conversations with our news executives saying, ‘If you stop, we’ll stop.”’
More than a year later, the New York Times report depicted executives at both companies as eager to end the conflict–GE in particular had seen O’Reilly’s criticism spill over into a shareholder meeting (Reuters, 4/23/09). When Immelt and News Corp.’s Rupert Murdoch were interviewed at a Microsoft-sponsored CEO summit in May of this year, the Times report indicates that they expressed interest in a truce of some sort. Soon thereafter, an agreement was hashed out, and the criticism from both sides dramatically diminished.
According to the Times, MSNBC president Phil Griffin “told producers that he wanted the channel’s other programs to follow Mr. Olbermann’s lead and restrain from criticizing Fox directly, according to two employees.” For his part, Olbermann told the paper, “I am party to no deal.” While Olbermann seemed adamant that he was not under any obligation to stop criticizing Fox, other MSNBC sources indicated that they indeed felt muzzled. Indeed, Salon‘s Glenn Greenwald (8/3/09) reported that one regular MSNBC guest “was recently told by a segment producer that explicit mentions of Fox Newswere prohibited,” and that “there has been talk among MSNBC employees ever since the GE edict was issued about ways to protest it and to stand up for their journalistic freedom…. Everything has been discussed at MSNBC from joint defiance of this edict to mini-strikes in the form of prolonged vacations and absences.”
While one might expect little in the way of journalistic ethics from Fox News (CJR, 5-6/98), what about MSNBC? While the channel does have a more liberal political slant–at least for a few hours in the evening– it is certainly not immune from corporate pressure. Most notably, MSNBC canceled antiwar host Phil Donahue’s program in the run-up to the Iraq War, as NBC executives panicked about showcasing even the slightest dissent (FAIR Action Alert, 3/7/03). When host Ashleigh Banfield’s criticism of pro-war jingoism in the media offended NBC management (New York Times, 5/5/03), she was demoted and eventually fired. CNN‘s Jessica Yellin and CBS anchor Katie Couric made similar comments about the political climate at MSNBC and NBC (Salon, 8/1/09).
And Olbermann was not exempted from MSNBC‘s political pressures. In a 2005 interview with Al Franken, Olbermann said:
You were good enough to come on this newscast with me late in the summer of 2003. It was August or September. And by coincidence, either the next day or the day before, Janeane Garofalo had been a guest on the newscast. And I got called into a vice president’s office here and [was] told, “Hey, we don’t mind you interviewing these guys, but should you really have put liberals on, on consecutive nights?”
Olbermann’s criticism of right-wing demagogues at Fox News was one of the key features that made his show one of the most popular in cable news. But at MSNBC, evidently, ratings ultimately are not as important as the interests of its corporate parent. While it’s encouraging that Olbermann has made it clear that he intends to continue criticizing Fox where appropriate, what should one make of the silence of his bosses– the people who, apparently, arranged this “cease-fire”? If GE’s journalists indeed have freedom to report the news as they see fit, the company’s executives should say so. If not, they should explain how and why they put this policy into effect.
ACTION:
Call on General Electric to renounce any corporate agreement to limit the expression of Countdown host Keith Olbermann and other MSNBC/NBC journalists.
CONTACT:
General Electric
Jeffrey Immelt
CEO
jeffrey.immelt@ge.com
Gary Sheffer
Executive Director, Communications & Public Affairs
203-373-3476
gary.sheffer@ge.com
Local Group kicks off Food Diversity Project
The Grand Rapids-based organization Our Kitchen Table (OKT) held an event on Tuesday, August 4 to kick off their new Food Diversity Project. GRIID intern Sheri Munsell did a short interview with OKT organizer Lisa Oliver King.
After the OKT presentation in the community garden next to the Southeast Community Association (SECA), people had the opportunity to hear presentation from Clinton Boyd with the Sustainable Research Group. Clinton provided the aufience with some data on lead and mercury poisoning in Kent County. He stated that people who grow gardens should have their soil test first to see if there are any contaminants in the soil before they grow food. People should also think about where they plant their gardens, since gardens closer to road, particularly busy roads, will be at greater risk of contamination.
Malik K. Yakin with the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network was the keynote speaker for the event. He discussed the reality that Detroit residents face with over 100,000 vacant lots in the city, poverty and institutional racism. He also said that all of the major food grocery chains have left Detroit city proper, so most people are limited to where they can buy food, which means that there are less healthy food items available to many Detroit residents.
It is within this context that the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network was born. This organization has been able to acquire land in one of the Detroit parks to begin a small farm project. People are learning how to grow food, they are creating compost and providing some employment for youth.
In addition, the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network has helped begin 200 community gardens in the city, as well as 40 school-based gardens. However, they are not just interested in promoting urban agriculture, the organization wants food justice. Recently they were able to get the City of Detroit to pass an impressive Food Security Policy, a policy, which could be a model for other communities to adopt if they are serious about sustainability.
West Michigan Media Responds to New Blackwater Allegations
Within the last 24 hours it has been reported that Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, is being accused of committing murder. Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, broke the story yesterday that 2 former Blackwater employees testified under oath in a Virginia federal court.
Blackwater has been under investigation for some time over charges of killing several Iraqi civilians during a contract operation in September of 2007. In the new allegations, the former Blackwater employees now are stating that Erik Prince ordered Blackwater operatives to kill people who were going to provide information on the September 2007 civilian shootings committed by Blackwater contracted workers. Democracy Now! has posted the transcripts from both former Blackwater employees, who are referred to in court documents as John Doe 1 and John Doe 2.
The other major revelation in the court testimony from John Doe 1 & 2 is that Erik Prince “views himself as a Christian crusader tasked with eliminating Muslims and the Islamic faith from the globe”:
To that end, Mr. Prince intentionally deployed to Iraq certain men who shared his vision of Christian supremacy, knowing and wanting these men to take every available opportunity to murder Iraqis. Many of these men used call signs based on the Knights of the Templar, the warriors who fought the Crusades.
Mr. Prince operated his companies in a manner that encouraged and rewarded the destruction of Iraqi life. For example, Mr. Prince’s executives would openly speak about going over to Iraq to “lay Hajiis out on cardboard.” Going to Iraq to shoot and kill Iraqis was viewed as a sport or game. Mr. Prince’s employees openly and consistently used racist and derogatory terms for Iraqis and other Arabs, such as “ragheads” or “hajiis.”
West Michigan Media Reactions
So far there has been a significant amount of local news media response to the allegations that Holland, MI native Erik Prince ordered the murder of Iraqi civilians. The Grand Rapids Press posting on Wednesday afternoon does provide the basics around these new allegations and even includes part of the interview that MSNBC did with journalist Jeremy Scahill. This is a significant improvement from previous GR Press coverage when Prince spoke in Grand Rapids or when the Grand Rapids Press did a feature on Blackwater founder Erik Prince in 2007. It is interesting that the Press now considers Scahill a credible source, considering the very short article they did on Scahill when he spoke in Holland in May of 2007.
The leader in local TV news, WOOD TV8, has a very short piece on their website that provides limited information about the allegations and only cites CNN as a source on the story. WOOD TV8 also does not mention anything about the comments from the two former employees in regards to the company seeing its mission as a Christian crusade. WZZM 13 had a much shorter story on these allegations and they also ignore the Christian crusade aspect of the story.
WXMI 17 (as of 2:30pm) had no stories online about the new Blackwater allegations. Instead, the lead story was that Paula Abdul was quitting American Idol. WOOD Radio also had no information on the Blackwater story as of Wednesday afternoon on either their local or national news sections.
Media Bites – Bank of America
In this week’s Media Bites we look at a recent Bank of America commercial. We discuss how the ad is deceptive since the commercial conveys nothing about the massive taxpayer bailout the company received last year. Bank of America is trying to present themselves as a company that helps Americans, but the fact is they are primarily interested in helping themselves. Bank of America was also cited in a new study of financial institutions that continued to pay huge bonuses to employees. Lastly, we look at how much money the company uses for lobbying and supporting political candidates.
Socialism Conference 2009 – Videos Part 2
In June, GRIID attended the 2009 Socialism Conference in Chicago. We taped several of the sessions, which are linked below. The conference featured dozens of speakers from all around the world providing excellent analysis and commentary on history and current politics. The theme for this conference was “Building a New Left for a New Era.” We are also putting these talks on DVD, which will be available for people to check out from the Bloom Collective – 1134 Wealthy in Grand Rapids.
What follows are four more lectures that are different from the ones we posted a few days ago.
Abraham Lincoln and the Abolitionists – Alan Maass, editor of the Socialist Worker newspaper.
Marxism and Alienation – Phil Gasper
CLR James and African American Liberation – Scott McLemee
How Capitalism Works, and How It Doesn’t: The ABC’s of Marxist Economics – Hadas Thier
The national media watch group FAIR and local healthcare advocacy groups will deliver a petition signed by over 12,000 people demanding that the TV networks include the single-payer proposal in their coverage of the national healthcare debate.
The petition will be presented to a representative of ABC News, which disinvited Dr. Scheiner (Obama’s former physician) from its recent forum on healthcare reform, where he’d been planning to ask Obama a question about single-payer.
FAIR, Physicians for a National Health Program, Healthcare Now!, the Private Health Insurance Must Go Coalition, Code Pink and the Raging Grannies are taking part in the petition delivery. In addition to the petition, the groups will be presenting a giant prescription–for a broader healthcare debate–to a representative of ABC News at the network’s NYC headquarters at 77 West 66th Street.
Please add your name to the growing list of people who demand that the news media include Single Payer information in the national health care debate.
Socialism Conference 2009 – Videos
In June, GRIID attended the 2009 Socialism Conference in Chicago. We taped several of the sessions, which are linked below. The conference featured dozens of speakers from all around the world providing excellent analysis and commentary on history and current politics. The theme for this conference was “Building a New Left for a New Era.” We are also putting these talks on DVD, which will be available for people to check out from the Bloom Collective – 1134 Wealthy in Grand Rapids.
Just Say No to the Olympics – A panel of speakers, which included Dave Zirin (Edge of Sports), Bob Quellos (Not in Chicago), and Chris Shaw with the 2010 Olympic Watch Committee.
How Capitalism Underdeveloped Africa – Brian Kwoba addresses the historical and contemporary factors that have contributed to the underdevelopment of Africa.
The Impact of the World Crisis on Latin America – Latin American scholar Claudio Katz talks about the current global economic crisis and its impact on Latin America. He also addresses how some Latin American countries are organizing to resist the neo-liberal model and create more independent/regional economic structures.
Afghanistan: Obama’s Vietnam? – Journalist Anand Gopal, who has been reporting from Afghanistan & Pakistan, addresses the current situation with these two countries and how the current Obama administration policies will impact that region. (Audio only)
This is the first group of video lectures. we will be posting more as they are edited.
Media Bites – Reeses Puffs Cereal
In this week’s Media Bites we look at a recent Reeses Puffs commercial that promotes material wealthy while selling the cereal. This commercial is a sequel to a commercial they produced last year which also promotes a materialistic theme. We also look at the Reeses Puffs website to see how they target children online.
IWW Protest Challenges Starbucks Unionbusting
On Saturday, the Grand Rapids chapter of the IWW held an informational picket outside of Starbucks in East Grand Rapids. The video below includes comments from IWW organizers Cole Dorsey and Erik Foreman, a short march through East Grand Rapids and police who were called to harass those protesting.
Dozens of local news media outlets were contacted about this protest, but only the Grand Rapids Press and WOOD TV8 showed up. However, as of Sunday morning, channel 8 had not posted anything on their website about the IWW action, instead they featured a 2-day event outside of one of the downtown bars that included trampoline demonstrations.
Sheri Munsell – GRIID Intern
Sheri Munsell is working through a program of the Steepletown Neighborhood Services and began her internship with GRIID one week ago. In this short interview Sheri talks about how Steepletown has impacted her life and what she has learned so far at GRIID.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 