Glenn Greenwald: When MSNBC Lets Wolffe Host, They Give "An Hour Every Night To A Corporate Lobbyist"

salon.com:

This week, former Newsweek reporter Richard Wolffe was a guest-host on MSNBC's Countdown while Keith Olbermann is on vacation. When Olbermann is there, Wolffe is a very frequent guest on Countdown, where he is called an "MSNBC political analyst" and comments on political news. All of this, despite the fact that Wolffe left Newsweek last March in order to join "Public Strategies, Inc.," the corporate communications firm run by former Bush White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett, its President and CEO. According to the Press Release they issued to announce Wolffe's joining the company:

Read the whole story: salon.com

Comments

[nico89]

gullibility is amazingly profitable.

[Alablanca]

i am in shock about the news that Richard Brown is a lobbyist for special interests - I'll never watch MNSBC program unless Olbermann and Maddow are their main commentators. It seems that Brown is a hypocrit and was posing as a neutral commentator. I was very happy to watch Olbermann make his comeback last night and not at all intimidated by his bosses. So, now we have CNN with Lou Dobbs (a very dark horse), NBC tied in with this big lie about Brown, FOX news and what else? We can't get any news unless you depend on the Internet. MURDOCK RULES! How sad? I was further puzzled why Mr. Ed was not on last night. Are they trying to get rid of him also?

[kylie]

Lawrence O'Donnell, who is hosting while Ed Shultz is on vacation, has been allowing lots of Republicans and insurance companies to use scare tactics, has made defeatist remarks about the public option plan, and has been a terrific source of misinformation.
While the host is away, the guests will play---with the insurance lobbyists and companies!
The "guests" and commentary are the opposite of what the regular host would endorse.
It is irritating.

[bobsee]

General Electric Co. spent $21.5 million last year trying to influence the US government, the most of any corporation, as total lobbying costs rose even as Congress began looking at ways to rein in such activities.
GE's relationship with the U.S. Government is a vital aspect of its business:
Federal contracts for General Electric, based in Fairfield, Conn., rose to $3.8 billion during the two years ending Sept. 30, 2004, the last period for which figures are available.

[Lee Boatright]

Greenwald is pulling lies out of thin air. There's nothing true in his article. Move on people.

[bobsee]

how about trying to refute some of his arguements. This is an excellent article.

[kylie]

No, he is not.
More than one fill-in host is distorting the real message and working for someone other than an unbiased news source.
The FCC needs to come back and stop these networks and their "conflict of interests".
Too many monopolies, corporate-bias, and conflicts of interests.
The media is a tool for the Corporate Conservatives and pseudo "Democrats" that are bought and paid for.
They are doing nothing. blocking any chance for healthy reform.

[beckpod1]

News making the news...damn we'll watch anything...

[IDIOTA]

I find Wolffe's commentary sound; he doesn't come across as a shill to me. But he's no comedian. Charlie Rose is not as smart as he wants others to believe. He makes me cringe in vicarious embarrassment.

[fedupwiththis]

Oh great. The left finally get a small piece of the disinformation pie and we absolutely must tear it down ASAP. Everyone knows that Olbermann and O'Reilly's bloviations are partisan. The problem has been there has been only one side presented in the partisan cable field. Now that there are two sides presented we are denied that privilege of hearing both. Why am I not surprised?

[10SNE1]

Deciding to watch Obermann vs O'Reilly is like choosing between Herpes or Hemorrhoids...

[shel3364]

One is curable.

[BOin08]

First KO stops hating on O"Reilly due to management pressure from GE and now Wolfe is a non-disclosed corporate lobbyist? Com'on now.

[Benton]

That turned out to be a lie.

[BOin08]

WTF MSNBC? First KO stops hating on O’Reilly due to management pressure from GE and now Wolfe is a non-disclosed corporate lobbyist? Com'on now.

[underoath]

This story should be a bigger story than huff po makes it out to be http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/08/03/general_electric/index.html

[jimfl]

Greenwald is in his own paranoid little world

[tokenconservative]

Right this just reinforces what we all know to be true - MSNBC is just an astroturfing tool of the corporate elite.

[kylie]

All the networks are corporate tools.
The media needs to be cleaned-up, just like the health care industry.
New strong FCC regulations and government regulations for health care, too.
They have been getting away with robbery and misinformation.

[weebils]

Is Wolffe an illegal immigrant? I demand to see his papers.

[1differentdrummer]

The corporate news, all the news that's fit to .......uh.... Never mind.