I woinder how much GE is influencing MSNBC's coverage of nuclear problems

[Armstead]

Even after the Comcast takeover, GE still has a stake in NBC Universal.

And nuclear power is a big bidness for GE.

And I wonder how much of their coverage of the nuclear problems in Japan reflects that.

There seems to be a lot of soft pedaling of the impact of the Japanese crisis on the US debate about nuclear power in their coverage...I just was watching Morning Joe, for example, and the tone seemed to be "We can't give up on nuclear power because of this one incident."

Last nite Rachael Maddow did a really good job of explaining what is happening with the power plants and discussing it. However, there was not much about it beyond that. Ed Schultz did blast Sen. Chambliss for defending nuclear power on the Senate floor, and pointed out that Chambliss had received a big donation from a nuclear maker -- but it wasn't GE.

It's possible that their staff really are trying to be fair and conscientious. But the very fact that the coverage might be compromised because it is owned by a big nuclear power corporation is yet another example of the problems raised by Media Consolidation and our Monopolistic Corporate economy.

[lbrtbell]

1. K&R

[originalpckelly]

2. I know that a few years back they put on this propaganda piece about nuclear...

it was even on their website. I posted about it on DU once, though I just cannot remember when. Sorry!

[jannyk]

3. GE built Fukushima Daiichi Reactor #1. Isn't that special?

[stockholmer]

8. all 6 units at Fukushima Dai-Ichi were either built or designed by GE

Units 1, 2, and 6 were GE-built, Units 3 and 5 were Toshiba-built, GE-designed, and Unit 4 was Hitachi-built, GE-designed.

Units 1,2,3,4,and 5 have the 'light bulb torus' Mark 1 GE containment system (the weakest type), and Unit 6 has the 'over/under' Mark 2 GE containment system.

[LiberalEsto]

4. The WashPost is certainly spinning things today

They have an article claiming the psychological fear of nuclear catastrophe may be worse than what actually happens
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/14/AR2011031405086.html?wprss=rss_nation

And an article on the reactor's GE design gave GE a hell of a lot of space to defend its technology.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/nuclear-experts-weigh-in-on-ge-containment-system/2011/03/14/ABspN1V_story.html

Busy busy busy

Must protect corporate asses

[Bragi]

5. I doubt there is much impact from owners

Seriously, given what GE is facing, whatever MSNBC has to say is of little importance since it has neither the audience or the gravitas to influence other media, or public opinion.

So I doubt a whole lot of effort is going into ordering MSNBC to cover matters froma specific direction.

Are their on-air people self-censoring? Maybe, that's another question.

Is mass media corporate consolidation a bad thing? Absolutely, I agree with you on that.

[Lint Head]

6. You think?

[sixmile]

7. Nothing to see here, folks

Move along.
Hey, what's ____ doing over there?

[still_one]

9. CNBC has always been a rethug outlet, who have lost people a lot of money if they followed their

advice.

MSNBC is not a so-called financial network like CNBC, as far as GE's 80% interest in NBC/MSNBC and conflicts of interest I only know what I heard on another show on MSNBC. They made it clear that two of the reactors that were having problems were made in GE. That was a couple of days ago.

Will they exert influence on the network, I have no doubt they will soft-pedel it

[riverwalker]

10. I've wondered the same

There are 23 of the same GE designed/built reactors in the US. There have been concerns since 1985 about the flaws in the design. The media is not mentioning GE at all.