They Shoot News Anchors, Don't They?

Earlier this week I mentioned Jack Welch's interview on CNBC's Squawk Box. I'm still waiting to hear that he's been named the gulf coast czar. Stay tuned....

Welch was mentioned again today in an interesting article by Nikki Finke in LA Weekly:

If big media look like they're propping up W's presidency, they are.

Once upon a time, large corporations and their executives typically avoided any public discussion of their politics because partisan positions alienated customers and employees. But all of that changed after GE bought NBC in 1986. For seemingly eons, Immelt's predecessor, the legendary Jack Welch, was a rabid right-winger who boasted openly about helping turn former liberals Chris Matthews and Tim Russert into neocons. (And Los Angeles Representative Henry Waxman is still waiting for GE to turn over those in-house tapes that would prove once and for all whether Welch, in 2000, ordered his network and cable stations to reverse course and call the election for Bush instead of Gore.)

.... But the real test of pathos vs. profit is still before us: whether the TV newscasters will spend the fresh reservoir of trust earned with the public to not only rattle Bush's cage but also battle their own bosses. If not, it won't be long before TV truth telling will be muzzled permanently.

Read the entire column: Media moguls, not looters, killed Katrina's truth tellers