By Paul Bond
April 22, 2009, 06:38 PM ETThe hostility between Fox News Channel and MSNBC reached a fever pitch Wednesday when a Fox producer infiltrated the GE shareholders meeting.
Just before GE re-elected board members, company brass were hit with questions from shareholders critical of an alleged leftward political slant at MSNBC.
But one of those questions came from Jesse Waters, a producer on “The O’Reilly Factor” whose criticisms were cut short when his microphone was cut off, according to several attendees. Waters apparently did not publicly identify himself as a Fox employee.
Bond convieniently omitted from his story that Jesse Waters is a GE SHAREHOLDER who had every right to be there and ask questions. Bond just as stilted as MSNBC.
Attendees who spoke to THR said shareholders asked about 10 politically charged questions concerning MSNBC as well as one about CNBC.
……First up was a woman asking about a reported meeting in which Immelt and NBC Uni CEO Jeff Zucker supposedly told top CNBC executives and talent to be less critical of President Obama and his policies.
Less critical? MSNBC is so far up Obama’s ass they can taste everything he eats.
Immelt acknowledged a meeting took place but said no one at CNBC was told what to say or not to say about politics.
Especially since their politics lean one way.
During the woman’s follow-up question, her microphone was apparently cut off. A short time later, Waters asked a question and his mic was cut, too.
“The crowd was very upset with MSNBC because of its leftward tilt,” one attendee said. “Some former employees said they were embarrassed by it.”
When he got the floor, Waters focused his question about MSNBC on Olbermann’s interview of actress Janeane Garofalo, who likened conservatives to racists and spoke of “the limbic brain inside a right-winger.”
“He (Waters) was complaining that Olbermann didn’t bother to challenge her,” another GE shareholder said.
Immelt told the assembled he takes a hands-off approach to what is reported on the company’s news networks, which prompted a shareholder to criticize him for not managing NBC Uni more effectively.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i888016761f9ec8245aee50586df5ba1a
Waters isn’t the only shareholder at GE angry over MSNBC’s bias.
By the same token, they need to raise hell over GE’s business dealings with Iran.