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According to Nick Turse in an op-ed in the LA Times on Friday, General Electric, NBC parent and MSNBC co-owner, was one of the Pentagon's top 100 suppliers in 2006. Total GE defense revenues? $2,327,705,161.
Yes, the decimal's in the right place. GE grossed over 2.3 billion dollars from the DoD in one year.
Assuming that a news producer or commentator at either venue knew or suspected a military analyst was a Pentagon propagandist, what's the likelihood he or she would complain, or that the complaint, if voiced, would go anywhere?
Turse makes the point that Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and other traditional arms makers are now actually dwarfed by the sheer number of civilian suppliers, including innocuous household names like Procter & Gamble($362,461,808) and Kraft ($500,799,104). Even if a network's owner doesn't do business directly with the Pentagon, are broadcasters - even if they decide to practice serious journalism for novelty's sake and muster up the courage to admit their mistakes - ever likely to aggravate, not just the primary source of military-related information, but a top customer of many of their advertisers?
Unfortunately, one reason I suspect Glenn's blistering advocacy for this story hasn't received wider coverage even from friendlier outlets like Air America is the news black hole that is the ongoing Democratic primary. Absent incessant coverage of how-far-is-he-ahead and speculation on when-will-she-drop-out, this would be a perfect issue for the nominee to drop into John McCain's lap, with a request to either denounce the covert use of propaganda or defend it.
Meanwhile, any links anyone can provide to coverage of the Congressional end of the story would be appreciated.
