You know things are bad when your major TV news network is getting beat up
by the Hollywood media. Immelt is the worst CEO in the history of GE. He
should be flogged and run out of town on a rail. What a shame.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3i888016761f9ec824f862a5c265de605c

Jeff Immelt in 2007 (Getty Images photo)
Things got testy Wednesday at the GE shareholders meeting courtesy of
several complaints about political bias at its media division, NBC
Universal.

Just don't expect to see the fireworks at the company's webcast of
Wednesday's event, which contains prepared remarks from CEO Jeff Immelt and
CFO Keith Sherin but leaves out their interaction with shareholders.

Just before GE board members were re-elected, shareholders asked about 10
questions of a mostly political nature concerning the viewpoints of MSNBC
and CNBC, according to attendees.

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.

Immelt acknowledged a meeting took place but said no one at CNBC was told
what to say or not say about politics.

During the woman's follow-up question, her microphone was cut off. Later,
during the umpteenth question about MSNBC, another shareholder's microphone
was cut, according to multiple attendees.

"The crowd was very upset with MSNBC because of its leftward tilt," one
attendee said. "Some former employees said they were embarrassed by it."

One specific complaint about MSNBC concerned Keith Olbermann's interview of
actress Janeane Garofalo, who likened conservatives to racists and spoke of
"the limbic brain inside a right-winger."

"They were upset that Olbermann didn't bother to challenge her," one GE
shareholder said.

Immelt said 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 effectively.

"My biggest surprise was the open hostility to MSNBC," another shareholder
said. "It was noticeable and loud. I don't remember any of this going on
last year."

GE did not respond to repeated requests for comment.


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