David Gregory, backup dancer to MC Rappin' Rove, Washington Correspondents' Dinner, 2007
Elder statesman of the NBC News Department Tom Brokaw has a very specific notion of how the people in the news division should comport themselves. He was so unhappy with what he perceived as the degradation of NBC News' objectivity that he demanded that Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews not be allowed to do any more live coverage of election events in 2008, actually offering himself up as a diplomatic liaison to the McCain campaign, smarting from some Olbermann barbs. Later, he played a key role in seeing that MSNBC rid themselves of Olbermann once and for all (not that Olbermann's actions endeared him to the NBC/MSNBC suits).
Oddly enough, Brokaw seems to have little issue with his Nightly News replacement spoofing the NBC News department on 30 Rock or participating in a Black Eyed Peas lipdub. That doesn't detract from the gravitas of the position at all.
Nor does openly working for a Republican advocacy group: (h/t Captain Kangaroo)
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which calls itself “the voice of small business,” is one of the Republican party’s strongest allies. The group spent over $1 million on outside ads in the 2010 campaign — all of it backing Republican House and Senate candidates (and, Bloomberg News reported last month, “another $1.5 million that it kept hidden and said was exempt” from disclosure requirements). The group is the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Obamacare law and bankrolled state governments’ challenges to the law. The NFIB has also taken stances against allowing the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases, opposing regulations on businesses, and supporting curtailing union rights.
Given the group’s obvious Republican alliance, it comes as little surprise that the NFIB’s three-day 2012 Small Business Summit, which begins Monday, will feature headliners Karl Rove and House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH).
But the first name and photo on the invitation for the $150-per-person event — Tuesday’s “keynote address” speaker — is NBC’s Meet the Press host David Gregory. He is marketed by NBC as an anchor and “trusted journalist.”
Trusted, really? That's a Caveat Emptor statement if ever I heard one.
It's interesting how inconsistently this "appearance of bias" is applied at NBC News, non?
