More and more people are starting to take notice of CNBC's dramatic shift to the left and the liberal groups promoting it.
On Fox News Channel's March 27 "The O'Reilly Factor," host Bill O'Reilly and Bernard Goldberg, author of "A Slobbering Love Affair: The True (And Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance Between Barack Obama and the Mainstream Media" took a look at trends pointing to this shift that started after the feud between "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer and "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart.
O'Reilly cited a column written by NewsBusters Associate Editor Noel Sheppard on March 26 for The Washington Examiner that noted some of the things indicating CNBC's leftward swing.
"Writing in The Washington Examiner, Noel Sheppard reports that the far left outfit MoveOn and other loons are now attacking CNBC because of its economic criticism of the Obama administration," O'Reilly said. "The latest target is CNBC analysts Mark Haines. He's there on the left. He follows Jim Cramer and Rick Santelli, who were both savaged by the far left. In fact, MoveOn has forced NBC President Jeff Zucker to hire Howard Dean - as a CNBC analyst, Dr. Dean of course knowing little about economics."
O'Reilly also criticized the management of General Electric (NYSE:GE) for allowing the media coverage on MSNBC and CNBC to evolve ideologically to the left.
"Now many on Wall Street believe Jeff Immelt, the CEO of General Electric which owns NBC, has completely lost control of his company, including the actions of Mr. Zucker," O'Reilly added. "The evidence of that is that MSNBC is supporting and promoting the same far-left loons that are hammering the sister outfit CNBC. I mean, how rich is this?"
Goldberg, was not overly critical of CNBC's decision to push left, but did think that was the goal of the left-wing attack machine.
"Look, do I think that these left wing groups, do I think that their real goal is to create a media world that doesn't have any dissent, where everything comes from left field, where it's a media world that resembles MSNBC?" Goldberg said. "Yeah, yeah - I think that's what they are trying to do."
But he didn't fault them for striving toward goal, even though the result would violate the ethical standards of journalism.
"But I also think, Bill that they have every right to try to change the media the way they want, just as you and I have every right to want the media to change the way we want," Goldberg continued. "And then it's up to CNBC and any other news organization that they go after to either stand up or to cave in. And then if a news organization caves in, we'll have another segment about them."
However Goldberg did suggest this could backfire if the financial network follows the path of MSNBC, which is traditionally third behind Fox News and CNN in the primetime cable news ratings.
"Let me tell you something about CNBC - they have a small audience, but they make a ton of money," Goldberg explained. "And the reason they make a ton of money is because the people who watch CNBC earn a lot of money. I don't think they're going to let a bunch of band of left wingers kill the goose that's laying the golden egg. I don't think so."
