O’Reilly Blasts GE, NBC, Immelt

Now it’s Bill O’Reilly’s turn.

Two days after “Countdown” host Keith Olbermann denied a New York Times story about a “cease-fire” agreement between the cable news rivals by slamming the Times, its reporter, O’Reilly and News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch, the host of Fox News’ “Factor” used his “Talking Points” segment last night to attack G.E., its CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, and NBC News:

 

O’Reilly took Immelt to task for his current advisory post in the Obama administration, using G.E.’s $50 million settlement with the S.E.C. this week as timely fodder:

"A major American corporation promoting the election of Barack Obama and then seeking to profit from his policies. I mean, it’s very simple. The Security and Exchange Commissions says GE is guilty of fraud, so how can its CEO Jeffrey Immelt be advising President Obama? That’s insane. It’s high-time for the federal government to stop this nonsense."

To me, the “cease-fire” and apparent denial by the two hosts in question smacks of a manufactured, made-for-cable news controversy to battle summer ratings doldrums. There’s nothing else going on, right?

That it took O’Reilly two days to address the “controversy” isn’t surprising. As Murdoch boasted during a News Corp. conference call yesterday, Fox News has been the top rated cable news network for “90 months in a row.”

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