Olbermann-O'Reilly Feud Has Led to Top-Level Corporate Phone Calls

Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz reported on Monday’s front page that the on-screen feud between FNC’s Bill O’Reilly and MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has spurred high-level calls between the top executives at Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation and NBC: "What began four years ago as a colorful feud between rival commentators, instigated by Olbermann as a way of drawing attention, has become a tale of bruised egos and secret maneuvering at the highest levels of two multinational giants."

Murdoch, FNC boss Roger Ailes, NBC boss Jeffrey Zucker, and General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt have all been involved:

Ailes called Zucker on his cellphone last summer, clearly agitated over a slam against him by MSNBC host Keith Olbermann. According to sources familiar with the conversation, Ailes warned that if Olbermann didn't stop such attacks against Fox, he would unleash O'Reilly against NBC and would use the New York Post as well.

Both Fox and the Post are owned by Murdoch, who complained about Olbermann's conduct in separate calls to Zucker and Immelt.

The high-level appeals failed, and O'Reilly has escalated his criticism of GE in recent weeks, declaring, "If my child were killed in Iraq, I would blame the likes of Jeffrey Immelt."

...Fox News spokesman Brian Lewis said Ailes never offered a "quid pro quo" involving a cease-fire by O'Reilly and Olbermann. "That's editorial control of Bill's show, and we don't do that," he said. "Bill doesn't run topics by Roger, or anyone else for that matter." Lewis dismissed the notion that Ailes has ever suggested using Murdoch's tabloid for revenge, saying: "Roger doesn't control the editorial policy of the New York Post."

O'Reilly's been pounding away on GE's dealings with Iran:

Days later, O'Reilly interviewed Tom Borelli, a portfolio manager and dissident GE shareholder. The program played a clip of Borelli, at GE's annual meeting, telling Immelt that the company's products are keeping Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "comfy when he's plotting to kill U.S. troops and trying to annihilate Israel. It's just an outrage."

Last week, in an unrelated segment with CBS's Kimberly Dozier about being injured in Iraq, O'Reilly used a graphic that combined GE's logo with a photo of Ahmadinejad. The heading: "Business Partners."

GE spokesman Gary Sheffer called O'Reilly's remarks "offensive," saying: "He has a right to his opinion, and we equally have a right to be appalled by it. We felt he crossed the line. . . . Nothing we supply, or any goods and services we have supplied to Iran, is in any way endangering U.S. troops."

...Fox would not comment on the criticism of Immelt, and O'Reilly declined to be interviewed. Some Fox staffers say Olbermann was out of bounds last month when he imagined the fate of "a poor kid" born to a transgendered man who became pregnant, adding: "Kind of like life at home for Bill's kids."

NBC News President steve Capus called Ailes to complain about O'Reilly's criticism of pacifist war correspondent Richard Engel, but Ailes. Internal sources told Kurtz that Ailes said he agreed that "NBC was against the war and had aligned itself w ith Olbermann's mockery." They said Ailes told Capus he could shut down the situation by telling Olbermann to back off. Then there were calls between Ailes and Zucker:

In last summer's conversation between Ailes and Zucker -- the two men have known each other since Zucker tapped him as a commentator for the "Today" show in the early 1990s -- the onetime Republican consultant asked whether NBC still cared about the truth. Olbermann had inaccurately called Ailes "the lead political consultant for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign." Ailes worked for Giuliani's New York mayoral campaign in 1989, but no evidence has surfaced that he played a role in the presidential bid.

Zucker did nothing as a result of the call. "I have never asked Keith Olbermann to tone anything down," he said in a brief interview.

Olbermann said in an interview that his sources say Ailes was offering the campaign advice, which he did not explain or detail in his commentary. It would be a major breach of journalistic ethics for the head of a news channel to advise a politician, especially one his reporters are covering.

Fox's Lewis laughed off the charge, saying: "If he was offering Rudy advice, you think Rudy would have done as badly as he did? No way Roger was giving him advice."

Murdoch's call to Zucker, which was polite in tone, involved a request that Olbermann not air video from a Daily Kos blogger who had made a scene at O'Reilly's Long Island home. That, Murdoch said, should be off limits.

Activist Mike Stark had confronted O'Reilly when he was retrieving his newspaper, planted derogatory signs on his street and distributed derogatory material to neighbors. Olbermann says the only time he ever talked to Stark was to interview him about a stunt in which he called O'Reilly's radio show and mentioned Olbermann's name.

Olbermann says that NBC Senior Vice President Phil Griffin called to ask him to exercise restraint but that he had already decided to criticize Stark for going to O'Reilly's home. He told viewers, "with great regret," that Stark's behavior was "not acceptable."

He and NBC are fair game for O'Reilly, Olbermann says, but "when you start accusing a corporation of murdering Americans, with the thinnest and most ridiculous arguments behind it," it is unfair to GE employees.

This would probably make the GE the only American corporation with business in Middle Eastern hot spots that Olbermann wouldn't trash. It helps when they sign the paychecks.