Covering — or not covering — the GE tax story

Paul Farhi of the Washington Post writes Wednesday about how NBC Nightly News did not cover the story that one of its parent companies, General Electric, paid no federal taxes last year.

Farhi writes, “Ignoring stories about its parent company’s activities is ‘part of a troubling pattern’ for NBC News, said Peter Hart, a director at Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), a liberal media watchdog group that often documents instances of corporate interference in news. He cited a series of GE-related stories that NBC’s news division has underplayed over the years, from safety issues in GE-designed nuclear power plants to the dumping of hazardous chemicals into New York’s Hudson River by GE-owned plants.

“What’s more, Hart notes, NBC News has covered corporate tax-avoidance stories before — that is, when they didn’t involve GE. All three networks’ news divisions, according to Hart, have become reliable sources of publicity for their parents’ other corporate interests, doing news stories about upcoming sporting events or new TV shows carried on their own networks.

“‘It’s very curious,’ Hart said. ‘Imagine if a different company were involved. If you changed the name to Citibank or Goldman Sachs, would NBC be interested in the story then? I suspect they would be.’

“NBC’s news division didn’t avert its eyes entirely. The subject came up briefly on Rachel Maddow’s Friday-night program on MSNBC (‘Why lower taxes when companies like this are already paying nothing?’ she asked). Another MSNBC prime-time host, Lawrence O’Donnell, was sharply critical (‘Shocking,’ he called it). The subject was also raised during a panel discussion Friday on a CNBC program hosted by Larry Kudlow.”

Read more here.