Fair and balanced? Um ... no

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by Riot

Sure. Nobody said it was illegal. Do you think it's ethical for a news organization to donate to political parties? How about the Associated Press - is it okay for that company to donate to a political party?

News Corp.’s million-dollar donation to the Republican Governors Association in June may have received a wave of press and critics yelling, “Told ya so.” But the company, owned by conservative Rupert Murdoch, has not been the only corporate conglomerate featuring prominent television media organizations to have donated big money to politics.


The parent companies of six major media outlets have all donated anywhere from five to seven figures to political organizations during the 2010 election cycle alone, according to an analysis by the Center for Responsive Politics.


The corporations include:
•News Corp. (Fox News Channel, FX, FUEL TV, others)
•General Electric (NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, Telemundo, USA, Bravo, others)
•National Amusements (CBS Corp. and Viacom)
•Comcast Corp. (G4, E!, others)
•Time Warner (CNN, TBS, Cinemax, TNT, Warner Bros./CW, others)
•Walt Disney Co. (ABC, ESPN, others)


These organizations have -- either through corporate treasuries, sponsored political action committees or both -- donated almost $7 million to political action committees and so-called “527 committees” during 2009 and 2010 and nearly $38 million since the 1990 election cycle.


These figures do not reflect additional money donated by individuals who work for the companies.