Did GE Stifle Keith Olbermann? Fox and MSNBC's Gentlemen's Agreement

[Mira]

8/7/09

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 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.'''

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