Report: Immelt and Murdoch Bring Cable Peace in Our Time

Did a New York Times reporter miss the story in one of his own stories? That's what Glenn Greenwald of Salon is arguing in his lengthy examination of Brian Stelter's front pager about the heads of General Electric and News Corporation reaching a gentlemen's agreement to muzzle their cable networks' clashing talking heads.

Stelter reported that Charlie Rose, the PBS talk show host who never met a mogul he didn't like, brokered a cease fire between Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, by bringing together G.E.'s CEO and chairman Jeffrey Immelt and News Corporation's Rupert Murdoch.

"Both moguls expressed regret over the venomous culture between the networks and the increasingly personal nature of the barbs," Stelter wrote. "Days later, even though the feud had increased the audience of both programs, their lieutenants arranged a cease-fire, according to four people who work at the companies and have direct knowledge of the deal."

What has Greenwald up in arms—and which he devoted numerous updates to over the weekend—was the fact that The Times barely acknowledges that Immelt and Murdoch's agreement was nothing less than "the corporations that own our largest media outlets controlling and censoring the content of their news organizations based on the unrelated interests of the parent corporation." (The Times' headline hinted at this—Voices From Above Silence a Cable TV Feud—but was too coy by half.)

Sprinkled among O'Reilly’s ad hominem attacks on Olbermann were serious critiques of G.E.'s dealings with Iran, which would mean that playing nice with the company and its subsidiaries means General Electric (per Greenwald) "is using its control of NBC and MSNBC to ensure that there is no more reporting by Fox of its business activities in Iran or other embarrassing corporate activities." Among the examples Stelter cited was an ambush interview of Immelt by an O'Reilly producer. O'Reilly has also attempted to start a letter-writing campaign against NBC and MSNBC, whom O'Reilly claims is bolstering the Obama administration in order to get valuable contracts, going so far as to give out his G.E. email address on air.

All of this seems to grow out of the Olbermann-O'Reilly feud. But should a drawn-out under card battle between two cartoonishly pugnacious anchors force an entire news organization to give a major American corporation a free pass?

To be sure, the O'Reilly-Olberman feud has grown extremely tiresome over the last few years. (When it comes to ratings, of course, it's not much of a feud: The O'Reilly Factor bests Countdown regularly.) But it should be noted that it's not just The O'Reilly Factor that has targeted the Countdown host. It seems more like a corporate policy when Rupert Murdoch's New York Post takes repeated swipes at Olbermann, claiming (among many other things) that he made a scene at Tim Russert's funeral (which Olbermann denied), that he requested extra security for last year's Republican National Convention in St. Paul, even questioning the anchor's masculinity because of his diagnosed Wittmaack-Ekbom's syndrome (a.k.a., "restless leg syndrome"). Wrote Page Six's Richard Johnson and crew, "There's a drug that can control the symptoms of Wittmaack-Ekbom's syndrome, which mostly afflicts women - but the MSNBC loudmouth's girlfriend, Katy Tur, might flip out at its side effects... Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals boasts its Mirapex can ease Olbermann's involuntary leg twitching, also known as 'the kicks' and 'Jimmy legs.' But the company warns the drug could cause 'increased gambling, sexual or other intense urges.'"

With highly personal attacks like that, it's no wonder Olbermann told The Times "I am party to no deal" when it comes to his boss' supposed truce. Then again, maybe Olbermann brought it all on himself. In a 2008 New Yorker profile of the anchor, Peter J. Boyer writes, "The Olbermann-O’Reilly feud, which is wholly Olbermann’s creation, began with a wisecrack in 2003, the first year of 'Countdown.' It evolved after Olbermann instituted a farcical segment called 'The Worst Person in the World,' in which O’Reilly, depicted as a pompous buffoon, was regularly cited. O’Reilly, the biggest draw of the highest-rated cable-news network, could only lose by engaging with Olbermann, but he could not resist."

With Olbermann back from vacation in Cooperstown tonight, and O'Reilly on at his usual 8 PM, it'll be interesting to see how each man addresses The Times' story and if there really is cable news peace in our time. No matter what, this story probably won't end any time soon unless the president invites Olbermann and O'Reilly over for a beer.