Howie Kurtz has an interesting front-page article in today's WaPo detailing BillO's repeated attacks on NBC parent company, GE, and its CEO, Jeffrey Immelt. According to Howie, and not exactly "breaking" news, it's all an orchestrated payback for KO's treatment of "Fox Noise" and the beloved Loofah-man.
more after the jump...
Apparently, Roger Ailes doesn't like our friend Keith Olbermann.
Ailes called Zucker on his cellphone last summer, clearly agitated over a slam against him by MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. According to sources familiar with the conversation, Ailes warned that if Olbermann didn't stop such attacks against Fox, he would unleash O'Reilly against NBC and would use the New York Post as well.
Recently, BillO stepped up his attacks with a graphic that GE found particularly offensive. Of course, the Loofah-man is only concerned about our troops, right? Wrong.
Last week, in an unrelated segment with CBS's Kimberly Dozier about being injured in Iraq, O'Reilly used a graphic that combined GE's logo with a photo of Ahmadinejad. The heading: "Business Partners."
GE spokesman Gary Sheffer called O'Reilly's remarks "offensive," saying: "He has a right to his opinion, and we equally have a right to be appalled by it. We felt he crossed the line. . . . Nothing we supply, or any goods and services we have supplied to Iran, is in any way endangering U.S. troops."
Asked about O'Reilly's motivation, Sheffer said that executives at Murdoch's 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.' " An NBC spokeswoman confirmed the calls.
When BillO began attacking Richard Engel, NBC's reporter in Iraq, NBC News President Steve Capus called Roger Ailes to intervene. Of course Ailes responded like the rethug that he is:
"It is one thing to have corporate jousting between Keith and O'Reilly," Capus said. "When it becomes an over-the-top, inaccurate distortion and gross misrepresentation of the job being performed by Richard Engel, then I'm going to be concerned and feel the need to act."
Early last year, the sources say, Capus called Ailes to say that O'Reilly had gone over the line with reckless attacks on Engel. But, the sources recounted, Ailes said he agreed that NBC was against the war and had aligned itself with Olbermann's mockery. Capus, he said, had the power to shut down the situation by telling Olbermann to back off.
The conversation grew tense as Capus asked whether Ailes was threatening him with retaliation by O'Reilly and News Corp. if Olbermann kept up his criticism. Ailes kept returning to highly personal comments by Olbermann, whom he referred to with an expletive, and the impasse remained. The sources declined to be identified furnishing details of private conversations.
I urge you to read the entire article. It appears that, for now, NBC is not responding to this pressure the way that Ailes/BillO would hope. Let's make sure they don't cave!
Let KO know we have his back!
UPDATE:
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