Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts said that his corporate management team does not monitor NBC News, MSNBC, or Sky News for accuracy and honesty in their reporting, according to a press release from the National Center for Public Policy Research.
At the company’s annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday, Roberts said Comcast promised NBC Universal and the Federal Communications Commission in the purchase contract that it “would not interfere” with their “news operations.”
Roberts’ admission came in response to a question from Scott Shephard, deputy director of NCPPR’s Free Enterprise Project.
Shephard highlighted NBC Universal’s partisan propaganda.
“Comcast’s news media holdings make a regular habit of labeling as ‘conspiracy theory’ or ‘fake news’ things that later turn out to be true, like the information on Hunter Biden‘s laptop that implicates the president, while asserting as true things that later turn out to be conspiracy theories, like the farrago of Russian collusion,” he said in his question to Roberts.
Shephard also noted the media corporation’s dishonest reporting about the coronavirus and its potential origin in a Wuhan, China virology lab where researchers conducted dangerous gain-of-function experiments.
Roberts dismissed Shephard’s evidence and said that he is “entitled” to his views.
“I would comment that I think we’re very proud of NBC News, and they’re committed to producing the highest quality of journalism across our platforms,” Roberts said.
He said NBC News’ “hardworking team of journalists” provides the world with a “wonderful service.”
But Shephard said that Comcast has betrayed its investors by allowing NBC News, MSNBC, and Sky News to act as partisan activists rather than honest journalists.
“[Comcast] has a responsibility to ensure that all of its subsidiaries perform in ways that do not bring the larger company into disrepute and even disgrace,” he said, adding that the company stands out as “one of the most hated companies in America by customers.”
“Shareholders must look harder at Comcast and its management team, and consider whether investment in such a badly run company continues to make sense,” he concluded.
