The New Moonie Times

Jack Welch -- the hardcore conservative Republican who was one of those who early on heeded William Simon's call for rich cons to take over the US media -- has his sights set on destroying for good the once-proud Boston Globe:

Jack Welch gave a glimpse yesterday of what life might be like at The Boston Globe under his ownership. During a segment titled “Why Jack Wants The Globe” on the CNBC show “Squawk Box,” the former General Electric Co. chairman said local newspapers should get out of Iraq and focus on news closer to home. “You’ve got to make the newsroom not control the world,” Welch told the cable show’s host Carl Quintanilla and Michael Wolff, a media critic for Vanity Fair magazine. “I’m not sure local papers need to cover Iraq, need to cover global events,” Welch said. “They can be real local papers. And franchise, purchase from people very willing to sell to you their wire services that will give you coverage.” Welch’s vision for the editorial focus for local newspapers would be a departure for the Globe, which has staffers reporting from Iraq and Washington, D.C., and dedicates much of its opinions section to national and global issues.

Jack Welch is the guy who was CEO of General Electric from 1981 to 2001. He acquired NBC for GE in 1985 as part of the RCA deal, and in 1993 had hired former Republican National Committee chair Roger Ailes to rework NBC's news division, particularly its CNBC channel, to be more to the GOP's liking. (Ailes was then hired in 1996 by another right-wing media mogul, Rupert Murdoch, to create and run FOX News. Funny how that works.) Welch took great pride in corrupting former liberals like Chris Matthews and Tim Russert, seducing them with cold hard cash and then boasting about it:

In private, Welch was proud to have personally cultivated Tim Russert from a “lefty” to a responsible representative of GE interests. Welch sincerely believed that all liberals were phonies. He took great pleasure in “buying their leftist souls”, watching in satisfaction as former Democrats like Russert and MSNBC’s Chris Matthews eagerly discarded the baggage of their former progressive beliefs in exchange for cold hard GE cash. Russert was now an especially obedient and model employee in whom the company could take pride.

He also was rooting for George W. Bush in 1999:

Shortly after George W. Bush declared his candidacy for president in June of 1999, General Electric Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jack Welch was contacted by Bush political advisor Karl Rove. Welch later informed associates that Rove told him a Bush administration would initiate comprehensive deregulation of the broadcast industry. Rove guaranteed that deregulation would be implemented in a way that would create phenomenal profits for conglomerates with significant media holdings, like GE. Rove forcefully argued that General Electric and the other media giants had a compelling financial interest to see Bush become president.

Welch's interest in NBC's newsroom and in a Bush victory also showed in his activities during the 2000 election, as the Chicago Tribune's Phil Rosenthal noted last October and Robert Parry noted in January of 2003. It's obvious what Welch intends to do to the Globe. And not nice.